War Department Communique No. 179

APRIL 7, 1942

The War Department issued the following communiqué, based on reports received until 9:30 a.m. today:

1. Philippine theater:
   The enemy continued heavy attacks on the center of our line in Bataan all day April 6, with some success. Casualties were heavy on both sides.
   Aerial bombing of our rear areas and the south coast of Bataan was particularly severe. An enemy amphibian plane was destroyed on the water in Manila Bay by the horizontal fire of one of our anti-aircraft batteries.
   Enemy artillery from the Cavite shore shelled Corregidor and Port Hughes for two hours on the afternoon of April 5. No damage and no casualties were sustained. The guns of our forts laid down a counter-battery lire on enemy mainland artillery emplacements.
   Australia:
   Dr. Hubertus Van Mook, acting head of the government of the Netherlands Indies, conferred at length today with Gen. MacArthur. They discussed the considerable part that the Netherlands forces are expected to play as the war progresses in the Southern Pacific. Dr. Van Mook informed Gen. MacArthur that resistance to the Japanese invasion continues in Java. Two Netherlands Indies forces of considerable size, one under Gen. Schilling and the other under Gen. Pressman, are fighting fiercely in the interior jungles and mountains of Java. They are well supplied with food and munitions and are engaging a considerable force of the enemy.
2. There is nothing to report from other areas.