RABAUL FORTRESS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 237, 6 October 1945, Page 7

RABAUL FORTRESS

IMMENSE STRENGTH

BEST SOUTH OF JAPAN R.N.Z.A.F. Official News Service RABAUL, Oct. 4. Rabaul was probably the strongest Japanese fortress south of Japan itself. Millions of pounds worth o£ equipment were taken there, and thousands of troops were being rapidly equipped for the next stage in the plan of conquest when the tide of war turned.

About a quarter of a million Japanese arrived at Rabaul, while the enemy brought 1200 planes and 300,000 tons of shipping there. They had 1300 trucks, and 500 cars, most of them 1942 American models captured at Singapore and Java.

Bombing greatly reduced the Japanese transport fleet, and the weather and insufficient maintenance did the rest. Allied aircraft shot the great enemv air force out of the skies. Out of the 1200 aircraft they had at Rabaul the Japanese at the surrender were able to hand over only half a dozen in any way serviceable. Burrowed into the hills around Rabaul are 300 miles of tunnels. They contain equipment once worth millions of pounds, but mould and dampness have made much of it worthless, and much had been destroyed by the Japanese. Most of it may be dumped in the sea. Probably the only people who will derive any benefit from it will be the natives. Many of them are now riding happily afound on bicycles, even though the tyres are fiat and perished. They are also enjoying Japanese rice and biscuits. One tunnel has a special Australian guard mounted at the entrance. Inside are stacked 8000 swords, many gold-mounted naval dirks and hundreds of binoculars and colt automatic revolvers. They were collected by the Japanese and taken there in 27 truckloads.

The Japanese brought thousands of Indians, Indonesians, Malayans, Javanese and Chinese with them to Rabaul as slave labourers. About 6000 Indians from well known regiments that fought at Singapore are still there. There are few of them who do not bear marks of violence. Of 1500 Chinese brought to Rabaul, most of them captured at Nanking, 748 remain.

An Australian brigadier commented that the conquest of Rabaul would have been a job for an army, not for a few divisions of brigades. The Japanese could easily have survived a long siege. In addition to huge stocks of rice in rubber bags they had 14,500 acres of food gardens.