ENEMY PUSH IN NEW GUINEA

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23740, 11 September 1942, Page 5

ENEMY PUSH IN NEW GUINEA

Advance Across Mountains

ALLIED POSITIONS OUTFLANKED (Special Australian Corresp., N.Z.P.A.) (Rec. 1 a.m.) SYDNEY, September 10. The Japanese forces striking overland against Port Moresby have outflanked the Australian outpost positions at Myola. Fierce fighting is now taking place south of Efogi, 53 miles by rf'Xil from Port Moresby, says the latest communique' from if general MacArthur’s headquarters. The enemy has launched a heavy infiltration attack, which is making headway. Efogi is 12 miles from Myola. The scene of the battle now progressing is along a narrow track leading across the ranges. The Japanese have passed the highest point in the Hell’s Gap pass and are now down to 4600 feet on the southern side of the mountains at Efogi. Though this new announcement from General MacArthur’s headquarters places an undeniably graver complexion on the situation, a final assessment is not possible at this stage. The Japanese are believed to be nearing contact with the main defensive line of the Australian forces. The present fighting may decide the possession of the pass area. A headquarters spokesman stated to-day; “The threat to our positions must be regarded as serious, though" it is not yet pave. The Allied air force continues to support the Australian ground troops by repeated bombing and strafing attacks against the advancing enemy. The Japanese air force has not been active in the area.

“Machine-guns and mortars have teen the principal Weapons used by the enemy in their advance. Though the main forces appear to have kept to the trail, the picked jungle troops have evidently been able to pursue their infiltration tactics in the rugged, heavy jungle country, where many observers believed the going to be beyond human endurance.” To-day’s communique says that the Australian brigades are “fighting tenaciously and gallantly under conditions of extreme hardship and difficulty. They are under the command of Lieu-tenant-General 'Sidney Rowell, who< was a Chief of Staff to General Sir fliomas Blarney in the Middle East. Efogl is 10 miles by trail from Hell’s Qap. From Efogf the trail winds across a series of saw-toothed subranges rising from 500 almost to 3000 Twenty-e*ght miles by trail from Efogl Is Sogeri, which is 25 miles by traffic road from Port Moresby. It is at the foot of the ranges, and the country near Port Moresby is flat. To-day’s communique also . reports increased Japanese activity in the Lae and Salaroaua sector, where enemy patrols are active forward of Mubo. On August 6 a headquarters spokesman described the Allies’ positions along the Owen Stanley range as “almost impassable.” Nothing in to-day’s communique reveals the actual time ,taken b,' the Japanese to advance from Myola to Efogi. However, Wednesday’s Communique described the situation at. Myola as static. . One factor in making the assessment of the situation difficult is that in the rear of the Allied main positions aomewhere in the Efogi area are 'numerous razorbdcks. The country •head of the enemy presents difficul-

ties quite as great as those left behind. There are many ravines deeper than 1000 feet. The Allied defensive positions are believed to have been established at strategic points along the way. Mr Walter Lucas, correspondent of the London "Daily Express,” says: "There is no need for undue alarm at this steady advance. Each step the enemy now takes forward complicates his supply problem and conversely relieves the Allies. It brings him into country where there is less and less space for manoeuvring and his favourite pastime of infiltration. “The gravest danger to Port Moresby comes from a sea attack timed to coordinate with the present land push. This is a contingency for which the defenders of the South Pacific Tobruk are prepared, and such an attack is likely to prove expensive for the attackers, particularly in the face of the Allies’ newly won air superiority.”