TOKYO'S LAMENT OVER NEW GOINEA

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 34, 10 February 1943, Page 3

TOKYO'S LAMENT OVER NEW GOINEA

AUSTRALIAN PROWESS Very Fierce In Jungle And In The Air m ■ N.Z. Press Association.—Copyright Rec. 2 p.m. NEW YORK, Feb. 9. The Tokyo official broadcast announcing the withdrawal of the Japanese from Guadalcanar and part of New Guinea, quoted a Domei news agency correspondent who has recently returned from New Guinea as saying: "The Australian Army has made a careful stud 3' of jungle fighting. For example, an enemy sentry builds a seat in a large tree and shoots at us. I felt during the New Guinea campaign that the enemy strength was being constantly reinforced. The enemy has added strong elasticity to his fighting.

"The character of New Guinea's mountainous country is utterly beyond the comprehension of the Japanese people. The enemy waits for us to cross a bridge which we build across a valley. Then .he ambushes us • from the jungle with automatic rifles and guns. The enemy does not emerge from the jungle, but throws hand grenades. "Enemy air attacks are very fierce. Formations of five or six planes raid us five or six times each day. Planes frequently destroyed our bridges over swift-running streams. Consequently we sometimes were unable to send forward supplies. At one stage our troops went 20 days without a grain of rice.*' American reports point out that the correspondent's remarks are phrased as though fighting is still going on in Papua. Referring to Papua, Tokyo admitted the loss merely of the Buna sector.