JAPANIESE MUST BE COMPLETELY BEATEN

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 304, 23 December 1943, Page 5

JAPANIESE MUST BE COMPLETELY BEATEN

END NOT VISIBLE Enemy Reinforcements In New Guinea N.Z. Press Association—Copyight Rec. 1 p.m. SYDNEY, this day. The Japanese have in New Guinea reserves of troops which have not yet been used against Australians, and more are coming in. This was stated by General Sir Thomas Blarney, commander of the Allied land forces in the South-west Pacific, in an interview with war correspondents. These enemy reserves were at Wewak, Madang and other bases. General Blarney, who has been visiting the battle areas of Ramu Valley and the Huon Peninsula, said the Japanese were now fighting a rearguard action while they prepared defensive positions further north. "Unless we completely defeat and destroy the Japanese in this war we shall have to fight them again in 20 years," declared General Blarney. "With too many people the war that is out of sight is out of mind. We have come only 300 miles, and we still have 3000 miles to go. I cannot gee when it will end, but we are over the hill. There is now no danger that the Japanese will, or can, destroy us. But we still have to destroy them."

General Blarney said the recent land fighting in New Guinea proved the Japanese would be outmoded and outflanked and crushingly defeated. But it had to be remembered that Japan had tremendous resources of manpower. The Japanese losses all round had been at least 300 per cent greater than the Australians. "An extraordinary feature is the enemy's attitude to his troops in regard to supplies," explained General Blarney. "He puts his men into action, lets them stay there and fails to keep supplies up to them. The care of his men is neglected and his staff work is ineffectual. He lets his men live off the country, and we pick them up broken in health, living on sweet potatoes and native roots. This leads to an enormous wastage of troops." General Blarney will spend Christmas in New Guinea with his troops.