First photos show U.S. and British carriers combining forces to smash Jap. East Indies Base.

First photos show U.S. and British carriers combining forces to smash Jap. East Indies Base. A combined taks force of U.S. and British aircraft carriers, along with other Allied warships, struck a heavy blow at the Japanese base of Sabang in northern Sumatra on April 19, 1944. First major blow struck by the British Eastern Naval forces in the Indian Ocean since the fall of Singapor, the raid left the enemy stronghold in the Netherlands Indies burning, with drydocks, power stations, wharves, barracks, hangars, and the radio station aflame from direct bomb hits. Four enemy ships were sunk or damaged and more than 25 Jap. planes were destroyed at a cost of one plane shot down of which the pilot was saved in a daring rescue by an Allied submarine. Though the preponderance of shipping was British, 80 per cent of the air armada of the task force was American. Extending the laurel wreath of praise on behalf of Great Britain for the prowess and cooperation displayed by American officers and men on the Sabang raid, Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, Commander of Allied forces in Southeast Asia, voices his commendation over the ship's loud-speaker during a visit to an American aircraft carrier which participated in the raid.