FIGHTING NOW ENDED.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 63, Issue 89, 25 January 1943, Page 2

FIGHTING NOW ENDED.

ENEMY SMASHED AT SANANANDA LESSONS OF THFJ CAMPAIGN. (Special Australian Correspondent N.Z.P.A.) ' SYDNEY, Jan. 24. All organised Japanese opposition in Papua has been smashed and land fighting has ceased. Jlhe last three pockets of resistance round Sanananda were wiped out on Friday, and mop-ping-up operations were completed on Saturday. Enemy soldiers killed in the final week’s fighting are believed to number at least 1000. More than 100 prisoners were captured. A considerable amount of. equipment, including field guns, trucks and ammunition, has fallen into Allied hands. The only Japanese remaining in Papua are refugee bands hiding in the jungles and swamps. The strongest of these bands is thought to be established in the delta area of the Ambare River, 42 miles north-west of Buna. An enemy landing attempt was made in this area on December 14. Only a comparatively small number of the troops survived the Allied air attacks, and the delta has recently been heavily strafed by Allied attack aircraft. The last Japanese in the Papuan beachhead fortress area continued their suicide stand, and were killed or wounded almost to a man. Heavy mortar and machine-gun fire opened Friday’s final Allied assaults, and within six hours the enemy resistance had been crushed.

The Sanananda area had more artillery weapons and more stoutly-con-structed defences than any other enemy position encountered in Papua. The first large-scale attacks against {Sanananda were launched following the fall |of Buna on January 2. In the largest pocket of resistance more than 500 Japanese dead were counted. The bodies of many snipers were found lashed to trees.

The war correspondent of the “Sydney Sunday Sun” (Mr F C. Folkard) places the number of enemy killed in the fighting round Sanananda at 1500, but he says that, in addition, enemy deaths from tropical diseases have been numerous. '•

Summarising the offensive lessons learned by the Allies in the Papuan land fighting, another war correspondent says that these included: (1) • A need for the training of special antisniping units, who had later proved highly effective against Japanese treetop pests; (2) the value of close support from light artillery, which could be equipped with skids for movement along muddy jungle tracks; (3) greater use of incendiary weapons against wooden pillboxes. Japanese weakneses revealed during the campaign included: (1) Blind faith in fixed defences, combined with a tendency to panic when caught in the open, although Japanese troops would always die rather than surrender; (2) enemy equipment, particularly rifles and grenades, deteriorated in the humid tropical climate; (3) communication * services frequently broke down, leaving garrisons short of ammunition; (4) enemy artillery was inadequate and the intelligence service was poor.