INITIATIVE TAKEN ON NEW GOINEA FRONT

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 230, 28 September 1943, Page 3

INITIATIVE TAKEN ON NEW GOINEA FRONT

ALLIED SUCCESSES

Definite Lowering Of Jap. Morale

Rec. noon. MELBOURNE, this day. "The initiative has been taken from the Japanese and we are now calling the tune," said General Sir Thomas Blarney on his arrival at an airport near Melbourne. "The campaign in New Guinea has gone very well and our losses have been very light. . "There has been a definite lowering of morale of the Japanese since the fighting at Buna and Gona. It is obvious the enemy has changed his opinion about his own invincibility. He has discovered things are a little more difficult than he expected. "The change has been brought about by our superior equipment, superior troops and superior Air Force and by our initiative. Our troops are of outstanding quality. They have a high standard of morale and training. You just cannot hold them. This is one of the outstanding features of the whole New Guinea campaign. "The co-operation by the American Navy and Air Force with Australian ground forces has been extraordinary good. It is a happy association altogether.' "The fighting in the Finschhafen area is a development of our successes at Salamaua and Lae. The fall of Finschhafen is only a matter of time." General Blarney said that at present he thought Wewak was the strongest of the other Japanese bases in New Guinea. Very considerable Japanese reinforcements had just arrived at Wewak when the Allies struck recently and destroyed the bulk of them. Allied forces, advancing from three sides, are rapidly closing the trap on the Japanese garrison at Finschhafen, New Guinea. General Mac Arthur's comimmique to-day reveals for the first time that Allied forces are moving up from Lae to complete the encirclement of Finschhafen. Meeting with little opposition, the force from Lae reached Hanisch Harbour, on the Huon Gulf, about 30 miles around the coast from Finschhafen. One Australian force, which landed six miles north of Finschhafen and pushed inland, is now approaching Satelberg, . about 10 miles north-west of the enemy base. The other Australian amphibious force has encountered sharp resistance around Bumi River, less than a mile from the base. Inland, in the area south of the enemy base at Madang, New Guinea, our heavy and medium bombers are causing havoc among the lines of communications, installations and defences.