NO PROGRESS MADE

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23742, 14 September 1942, Page 5

NO PROGRESS MADE

Fighting in New Guinea ACTIVITY NEAR EFOGI (Special Australian Corresp., N.Z.P.A.) (Rec. 11.30 p.m.) SYDNEY, Sept. 13. The Japanese forces have made no further progress across the Owen Stanley range, but the present sporadic patrol activity is described by a headquarters spokesman as merely “a pause for breath.” In the Efogi area patrol actions occurred. An Australian forward unit inflicted about 20 casualties. Their losses were light. The Japanese spearhead was reported on Saturday to be 50 miles from Port Moresby, but the last report states that the advance has been halted. The fighting is taking place in difficult jungle country on a winding trail, 2600 feet high, winding down to Port Moresby. Bitter fighting was still In progress, with heavy casualties on both sides. It was believed that the opposing forces were in close contact and hand-to-hand fighting has occurred between detached groups. Allied aircraft continue to give close support to the Australian troops. Attack bombers and fighters are strafing the enemy and bombing his supply dumps. The enemy is still fighting without the support of his air force. One war correspondent writes: “If we are holding our present positions at the end of next week it will be time ehough to say that the Japanese drive has been halted.” Both sides are now reorganising their forces for renewed combat which is expected at any time. The fact that the Japanese were able to master the

supply problem across the roughest country of the ranges leads many observers to believe that .they may be able to continue their advance, at least as far as Sogeri, in the southern foothills of the mountains. From here on they would face much greater Allied striking power. Distance to Port Moresby The Japanese have still to advance through 75 miles of jungle country to reach Sogeri, which is about 25 miles from Port Moresby, where “a sizeable garrison” is stated to be available for defence. “I believed the theory that the Japanese' could not penetrate the ranges if the mountains were intelligently and resolutely defended by jungletrained troops,”, writes the “Sunday Telegraph’s” New Guinea war correspondent, Mr.Osmar White. “This has proved wrong, but I still do not believe that the Japanese have any chance of capturing Port Moresby with an overland attack alone. Port Moresby is a strongly-garrisoned base with a perimeter of comparatively open country, It Is well equipped and is known ground to some of the world’s finest formal warfare troops. An attack on Port Moresby from the rear will not be jungle warfare of the type the Japanese like best. It will be an attack through fairly open terrain against considerable artillery concentrations and close air support.” Mr White says that as a purely defensive proposition, the area immediately south of Efogi is not particularly good. The next phase of the battle to be fought near Efogi will be for high ground dominating the southward trail. Mr Damien Parer, the official Australian war photographer, who has just returned from New Guinea, says that the Japanese are reported to be building mule tracks across another part of the Owen Stanley range. A Sydney engineer (Mr A. J. Gibson), who has had extensive mountain and Army engineering experience, believed that it would be possible for the Japanese to move adequate heavy equipment as well as thousands of troops across the ranges for a fullscale attack on Port Moresby. He says the Japanese can build an_ overhead “mechanical road” with “flying foxes winches. Cabled, these could quickly sling artillery, tank sections, and supplies over the gorges and jungle. “Japan has no labour shortage, Mr Gibson points out. “She can use hundreds of men to carry light “flying fox equipment. Heavier winches and other gear can be brought up. Engineers in peace time repeatedly overcome apparently impossible mountain transport difficulties by these methods.’ he says. Air Support Some observers now believe that Japan is waiting an opportune moment to throw a mass of aircraft into the New Guinea struggle. It is suggested that the Japanese regard it as wasteful to use aircraft against troops hidden in the shelter of the jungle, and will withhold air support until their forces reach the open country. Meanwhile, two aspects of the Japanese success are causing grave concern in the Australian public mind. First is the continued successes of the enemy’s infiltration method, indicating that the lessons of Malaya have not yet been learned. As the “New York Herald-Tribune” says: “One somehow fails to sense in the United Nations command that war suppleness and unity of imagination which is imperatively demanded in this modern war.” The second point is the division of the south Pacific control into separate commands. The New York “HeraldTribune” remarks: “General MacArthur’s Headquarters assisted in the Solomons with some Army bombers with noticeable coolness, as someone incautiously revealed when an unwise remark was let slip that the Solomons was a Navy show. One cannot help wondering whether the Navy now regards Port Moresby as an Army show and not worth naval attention.” It is believed here that the two commands co-operate closely and cordially, but the Australians would be happy to see them welded into a single command. Several war correspondents express the opinion that if the Japanese were able to take Port Moresby they would immediately invade Australia. However, quite apart from naval and transport difficulties involved, the more moderate belief is that Japan does not possess in this theatre an army vast enough for such a formidable operation. Japan is believed to have 100,000 troops garrisoned in the Rahaul area. At Amboina she has about 50,000 more. While these numbers may be sufficient for Japan’s defensive purposes they certainly would not comprise a force large enough for an all-out attack on Australia. Chungking reports say that Japan’s south Pacific garrison is being considerably strengthened and that large numbers of the reinforcements are mechanised troops. The Tokyo official radio states that the Allied scorched earth policy cut the rate of rubber production by 70 per cent, in Malaya and by 30 per cent, in Sumatra.