On the fringes of Empress Augusta Bay U.S. marines and soldiers killed more Japs, expanded their positions. But the week's most spectacular killing of Japs in the Solomons theater took place many miles from Bougainville's steaming, hotbox jungle.
Thanksgiving Day, between midnight and dawn, a scouting U.S. destroyer force intercepted six Jap light cruisers or de stroyers in the waters northwest of Bougainville. Two of the surprised enemy were quickly dispatched by torpedoes. The remainder turned stern in a welter of American shellfire. Hard-driving Captain Arleigh ("31-Knot") Burke, the U.S.
force's chief, ordered...
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