Not since January 1942 had U.S. surface ships pushed through the Strait of Macassar, between Borneo and Celebes. The last time .they tried, the cruisers Houston and Marblehead were damaged and driven off by overwhelming Japanese air power. But by last week the wheel of Pacific war fortune had turned full cycle: an Allied invasion fleet steamed southward past captured Tarakan and into the Strait, brushing aside a Jap air attack.
Off Balikpapan (pop. 30,000), richest source of oil in all of oil-rich Borneo, the gunnery ships steamed back & forth for days, laying down the heaviest pre-invasion bombardment of the Southwest...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
