BRILLIANT WORK.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 64, Issue 80, 14 January 1944, Page 4

BRILLIANT WORK.

AUSTRALIAN PATROL UNITS. IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC AREA. PREPARING FOR OPERATIONS. (Special Australian Correspondent . N.Z.P.A.) (Rec. 1.30 p.m.) SYDNEY, This Day. Brilliant patrol work by a selected Australian unit is proving an important factor in speeding up the war in the South-west Pacific. For months one special force in Ramu Valley (New Guinea) has been detached from the main body of the Australian forces and has operated behind the Japanese lines. Supplies have been dropped to them from the air. These are the men who, early in the war against Japan, won renown as the famous commando of Timor. For many months they made harassing raids from a secret base in the hinterland of that island. Their activities provoked the Japanese to offer lavish rewards for their betrayal. In recent months the unit has roamed behind the Japanese lines in New Guinea. As well as gaining invaluable reconnaissance information, its men have killed about 100 Japanese with small loss to themselves. Their scouts were the first to supply information about the dispositions in the Finisterre ranges. These enemy positions are now under attack by the main Australian force. One of the most notable patrol exploits of the unit has been to cross the Finisterre ranges and reach within a dozen miles of the important Japanese coastal supply base of

Bogadjim, only 20 miles below Madang. The patrol took a month to accomplish its mission. News of a brilliant patrol in the South-west Pacific Sea (just released) tells how four nights before United States marines landed at Cape Gloucester (New Britain) on Boxing Day, an Australian naval man landed on a Japanese-held beach. He is Lieutenant Eric Howitt, of Brisbane, formerly captain of' the Administration yacht operating from Rabaul and now attached to an American patrol torpedo boat unit as pilot. To prepare the way for the invasion at 1 Cape Gloucester, Lieutenant Howitt led a convoy of torpedo-boats to a point near the air strips, where one landing was later made. For three hours during the night members of tlie convoy took soundings and located hidden reefs. The accomplishment of their mission was largely responsible for Ihe bloodless nature of the initial landings. It is officially reported that the total American casualties at Cape Gloucester since the landings are 400 killed, Wounded or missing, compared with 2400 counted Japanese dead and a great number of wounded.