HACKING THEIR WAY THROUGH JUNGLE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 235, 5 October 1942, Page 3

HACKING THEIR WAY THROUGH JUNGLE

AVSTRALIAS PUSH

Malaya Simple Compared With Papua

Special Australian Correspondent United Press Association—Copyright Rec. 10.30 a.m. SYDNEY, this day. Australians advancing in New n H a h . ave , pushed forward up the rtllawV/w a - nd have occu Pied the Port® M E l og1 ' over 50 mile s from ThprA k n? y ' without opposition, iwil : f txl l no sign where the Japstand e to make their next

Mystery surrounds the continued pmh?^ Se withdrawal, which appar,ls . stlll hasty, since the latest A^l mu . niq T U T e f rom General MacArthur s Headquarters reports the capture of quantities of ordnance stores. No substantial enemy force nas been engaged since the Australians stormed the loribaiwi barricades at the beginning of their advance last Monday. Actual combat has been confined to sudden clashes between Australian forward elements and Japanese rearguards.

There is no certainty as to why the Japanese did not fight in these positions or on Efogi ridge. But as tne Australians are now three-quar-ters of the way to the gap the Japanese must soon give battle if they intend to hold territory on the Port Moresby side of the range. Unless their stand is made at tne summit, it now seems probable the enemy will withdraw off the range to the Kokoda area. In North Papua the Australian ground forces at Mubo, about 15 miles inland from Salamaua, have made a surprise raid on Japanese forward troops in the area, inflicting at least 25 'casualties. Japanese "Bridge of Sighs" The now famous Wairopi bridge (anglicised as "wire rope" bridge) across the Kumusi River, in Northe**n Papua, has become known as the Japanese "Bridge of Sighs." It has been strafed and bombed by Allied aircraft times without number Although frequently hit and often partially wrecked, it has escaped total destruction and the Japanese labour gangs have worked like beavers to repair it after each attack. They must often have sighed as their work has been completed only to be immediately destroyed. The span is 200 feet long, but only 10 feet wide, and thus presents a difficult target. However, week-end raids have rendered the bridge useless for the passage of supplies and the structure will probably need to be rebuilt. Two auxiliary bridges across the river at Wairopi have also been destroyed by our aircraft.

The hardships endured by the advancing Australian troops in New Guinea's Owen Stanley Range are greater than those of any other campaign in which the Commonwealth's soldiers have fought in this war. This is the view of fighting men who have been in action on all fronts. The Malayan campaign, which gave the Australians their first experience of jungle warfare, is described as "child's play" compared with the struggle in the rain-sodden, darkened jungles of the Owen Stanleys.