Enemy installations on Biak Island fired by U.S. warships.

Enemy installations on Biak Island fired by U.S. warships. A plume of white smoke rises through the tropical trees on Biak Island, in Dutch New Guinea, indicating a hit on enemy target, as a U.S. destroyer pours shells into Japanese fortifications on the stronghold in the Schoutens group of the Southwest Pacific. Aerial and naval bombardment cleared the way for American forces which landed on the island on May 27, 1944, and captured the village of Bosnek. Advancing rapidly to the west, the U.S. troops took strategic Mokmer airdrome, 11 after their landings. Possession of Mokmer gives the Allies an airfield within bombig distance of the southern Philippine Islands less than 900 miles away.