OFFENSIVE FROM AUSTRALIA

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23739, 10 September 1942, Page 6

OFFENSIVE FROM AUSTRALIA

COMMANDO TRAINING URGED (Special Australian Corresp., N.Z.P.A.) SYDNEY, Sept. 9. “The South Pacific war against the Japanese is not going to be a war of army manoeuvres, but a commando war,” says the Sydney "Sun.” Recent Descriptions of the New Guinea land fighting against the jungle-trained Japanese have prompted Australian observers to express the ( pinion that changes in the standardised Army methods, particularly in training, are necessary if the Allied troops at the Pacific battle stations are to carry out a successful offensive against the enemy. These arguments, which are applicable to Australia, are considered to have equal point in New Zealand. They are forcefully expressed in a signed editorial in the Melbourne “Herald” under the signature of Sir Keith Murdoch. “Our army has a special job to do in the war which no other army of the Un.ted Nations is so well placed to do. and which must be done if the war is to be won.” states Sir Keith Murdoch. “Australia is too big aland for the army of a population of 7,000,000 to be able to defend if once Japan is in a position to land its forces where it pleases. Australia’s defences lie wherever the Japanese are gathered to attack. They lie now in driving the Japanese out of the islands they have occupied in the South Pacific. “Right Sort of Men” “We have the right sort of fighting men to do this job if they are organised, and equipped for it. They will have to be able to make landings on defended shores, as the American marines made landings in the Solomons. They will have to be able to storm, hold, and use enemy-occupied aerodromes. They will have to be able to fight in hand-to-hand jungle warfare more skilfully and with better weapons than the tough-trained Japanese. “Every army has its commando units to do a special job like this. Our army can be made the commando force in the Pacific for the army of the United Nations. It means a • bold departure from the old military establishments and training, It means that, with one definite job before us, we can concentrate all our resources for training and equipment upon this special task. It means one great commando army trained and dedicated to the only kind of offensive that will defeat the enemy where we can reach him. "It is the sort of warfare for which our soldiers are probably the best material in the world—in skill, initiative, courage and physique. What a small Australian band trained in these methods of warfare has done at Milne Bay, an army of such men could do throughout the islands of the South Pacific.”