AUSTRALIAN TROOPS CAPTURE AIRFIELD

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 228, 25 September 1943, Page 5

AUSTRALIAN TROOPS CAPTURE AIRFIELD

FINSCHHAFEN PUSH Remarkable Weakness Of Japanese In Air N.Z. Tress Association—Copyright Rec. 1 p.m. SYDNEY, this day. Australian troops have seized the airfield at Finschhafen, in New Guinea, and are now one mile from the main base, states a communique from General Mac Arthur's Headquarters. Allied bombers made a tour of the Markham Valley, where they dropped tons of bombs and fired thousands or rounds of ammunition, blowing up many enemy dumps. There was no Japanese opposition.

Australian troops who landed on the beach six miles north of Finschhafen, in New Guinea, encountered fiercer resistance than that in the landing near Lae a fortnight earlier. The enemy strengthened the force guarding the beach after the fall of Lae, and it was covered from well-made defence positions with machine-guns, mortars and grenade throwers. Our casualties were officially described as light and considerably fewer than those of the enemy. U.S. Warships Assist

The landing was considerably aided by American warships, which fired broadsides into the foreshore behind the beach, smashing the Japanese pillboxes. A bayonet charge wiped out the last pocket of enemy resistance at the beachhead and one Australian force went inland while another spread along the coast. Enemy resistance may strengthen as the approach to Finschhafen continues. It is possible that the garrison at the base has been supplemented by troops who were on the way down to reinforce Lae when it was taken. A remarkable feature of the landing was the absence of enemy aircraft. A hot reception had been expected by the landing force because the Japanese had attempted to bomb the convoy the previous evening. The manifest weakness of the Japanese in the air was a repetition of the landing near Lae. It was probably due in large measure to the work of Allied airmen in blasting the enemy airfields and maintaining an effective fighter screen. Forty Jap. Planes Down One of the fiercest air combats of the South-west Pacific war, in which 40 Japanese planes were destroyed and ■ five probably destroyed over Finschhafen area, New Guinea, is reported in to-day's communique from General Mac Arthur. The battle broke when 20 to 30 Japanese bombers, escorted by 30 to 40 fighters, came over as Allied naval units were withdrawing after covering the landing of Australian troops six miles north of the enemy s base at Finschhafen. Allied fighters intercepted and for 25 minutes dogfights raged at altitudes up to 27,000 ft. The anti-air-craft guns of ships in the convoy joined in the action. Not one ship was damaged and no casualties were suffered. Of the three Allied fighters lost the pilot of one was saved. More than 6300 Japanese dead have already been counted m the Lae-Salamaua area of New Guinea and final estimates will be very much greater. About 600 of the enemy "believed to be scattered in the hills north of Lae are being hunted down.