ENEMY WITHDRAWS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 62, Issue 306, 8 October 1942, Page 3

ENEMY WITHDRAWS.

NO CONTACT IN NEW GUINEA. AUSTRALIANS MOVE THROUGH GAP. (Special Australian Correspondent N.Z.P.A.) SYDNEY, October 7. The Japanese are believed to have evacuated the Owen Stanley langes. The Australian forces; moving forward from Kagi towards the highest point of Hell’s Gap have not encountered any of the enemy. The original cautious theory thai the Japanese would make a. stand on the highest ground of the ranges is being replaced by the view that the enemy, having proved the impracticability of a back-door land offensii e against Port Moresby, is now following his Milne Bay precedent and with-drawing-forces which have proved unequal to their task. The war correspondent of the Australian Broadcasting- Commission today goes so far as to suggest that “the Japanese, having bitten off more than they can chew in the Owen Stanley area, may now be preparing to abandon New Guinea.” Allied bombers and fighters yesterday broke off their attacks on the Japanese bases north of the mountains, which have been bombed and machine-gunned continuously for 31 days.

Several factors support the impression that a single Japanese transport which left Buna early on Monday may have evacuated enemy troops who have survived the Owen Stanley jungle campaign. First, for eight days since the capture of the loribaiwa ridge, the advancing Australians have encountered no organised resistance; second, in the 45 miles from the loribaiwa ridge to Hell’s; Gap no enemy prepared positions-have been found; third, our fighter aeroplanes strafing the trail from Kokoda to Buna- have detected no heavy movement of enemy troops and supplies; fourth, for some weeks the Japanese have made no attempt to fill in a bomb crater on the now useless Buna airfield; fifth, the Wairopi bridge has not been atacked by our aircraft during the last two days, leading to the conclusion that the Japanese have made no attempt to repair the damage done in the earier attacks; sixth, a small convoy leaving Buna, apparently for Rabaul, was strongly protected by Zero fighters, suggesting that troops may have been carried.

“Buna by Christmas,” which at first was a wishful catch-cry among the Australian troops, lias become invested with the possibility of earlier fulfilment as the Australian advanced patrols move on through the deserted villages.