AIR ATTACKS IN NEW GUINEA

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23751, 24 September 1942, Page 5

AIR ATTACKS IN NEW GUINEA

Enemy Bases And Supply Lines LAND SITUATION UNCHANGED (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright.) (Rec. 11 p.m.) LONpON, Sept. 23. There is no mention of operations in the Owen Stanley mountains in today’s communique from General MacArthur’s headquarters. It was explained at headquarters that this meant there had been no change in the general situation on land in New Guinea. One of the most widespread air offensives yet launched against Japanese bases is reported in the communique. The enemy’s supply lines from Buna were heavily attacked. At

Buna itself warehouses and dumps were left burning, and 44,000 rounds of ammunition were poured into the targets. Three launches and a barge were set on fire, an anti-aircraft gun position was silenced, and casualties were caused among enemy troops. At night the aerodrome at Buna, already heavily damaged, was again attacked.

Two strong fighter sweeps were carried out on the road from Buna to Kokoda. The suspension bridge over the Kumusi river, below Kokoda, repaired by the Japanese after it was damaged two days ago, was again damaged. Positions at Kokoda were shot up. Fires were started and antiaircraft guns were silenced. _ Threat to Port Moresby A stronger attack against Port Moresby is considered an early probability. The “New York Times” says: "The present lull in the fighting in New Guinea does not mean that the Japanese have been stopped. It is more likely that they are gathering strength to strike again, since every pause in their advance from Buna has been followed by a more powerful forward thrust.” . Remarking that the New Guinea campaign so far bears “a disquieting resemblance to the disastrous defence of Malaya,” the “New York Times says that the bright spot in the picture is the United Nations’ air strength, which the British lacked in Malaya and the United States in the Philippines. "Our aeroplanes seem to have complete control of the sky over New Guinea,” it says. "This complicates the Japanese supply problem, although the enemy manages to move on the thinnest lines of communications. The chief Allied problem, however, is to solve the Japanese jungle tsctics "Port Moresby is the key to the defence of our new conquest, the Solomons, and of every other Allied base in the South Seas.” The importance of building up American bomber strength m the ■muth- west Pacific is emphasised by the “New York Times,” which says that Japanese naval operations against either the Solomons or New Guinea involve running the gauntlet of bombers in narrow' waters. The Japanese, therefore, are facing the same risks as the British took when the Repulse and the Prince of Wales were sunk by aeroplanes off Malaya. Nevertheless, it is widely believed that the Japanese must accept these risks.

AIRMAN’S JOURNEY THROUGH JUNGLE

FIVE JAPANESE KILLED IN ENCOUNTERS NEW YORK, Sept, 22. In a dispatch from United States Headquarters in the Solomons, the correspondent of the United Press of America (Mr Robert Miller) relates an American airman’s adventurous jour* ney through the Japanese-mfested jungle, during which he ate snails and ants The airman killed five Japanese with a rock and a captured pistol. Lieutenant Richard Amenne, aged 23 bailed out three miles offshore on August 31, and reached the shore naked and unconscious. When he awoke he followed a trail through the jungle, hoping to reach the Americans, but he found a sleeping Japanese. X picked up a rock half as big as my chest and bashed in the Jap’s head because I needed his shoes and his pistol.” said Lieutenant Amerine. He continued his march, and being almost mad with hunger he ate raw ants and snails. Once he unsuccessfully tried to catch a dog near a village. “I was hungry enough to eat anything,” he said. By his sense of smell he avoided Japanese encampments, because the Japanese are living almost exclusively on coconuts and there are huge piles of rancid coconuts round their bivouacs. ‘‘On the fifth day two Japanese discovered me,” he said. ‘‘l fled into the undergrowth, followed by the two Japanese, who were searching every inch of the area. Eventually they approached me and when they were five yards distant I jumped up and killed both of them with the pistol, but the detonation awakened the neighbourhood and hundreds of Japanese poured from the camp, shooting.” Lieutenant Amerine hid throughout the night behind a log on which two Japanese were sitting talking. Immediately before dawn he realised that his discovery was inevitable if the Japanese were alive. He therefore rose quietly and ‘‘with one roundhouse swing, bashed both their heads with the butt of the revolver. I must have lost my head because I returned to hit them again to make sure,” he added. On the eighth day, bleeding, famished, and covered with insect bites, Lieutenant Amerine stumbled into a marine outpost and fainted. The doctors say that he will recover soon.

“JAPANESE DIRTY FIGHTERS ” U.S. CORRESPONDENT’S VIEW SYDNEY. Sept. 23. "The Japanese are dirty fighters who just can’t be given a break.” says Mr Joe Custer, an American war correspondent, in a dispatch from Guadalcanal “Often the Japanese have pretended to be dead and then thrown grenades at marines attending to wounded." he writes. “The Japanese commando soldiers were often six feet tall, and they fought like demons. Some of our. men thought they acted as if doped. They loaded themselves with mines and hand grenades and ran right into our tanks and machine-gun positions. When obviously beaten they refused to surrender.” “Americans should never forget the hundreds of bombings of American religious missions in China,” said Mr Joseph C. Grew, the former United States Ambassador to Tokyo, in a broadcast. He added that the Chinese used to say that when. the Japanese bombers arrived the most dangerous spot in a town was the American religious mission. When Mr Grew protested to the Japanese they said that the bombings were accidental, Mr Grew replied that two or three accidents were possible, but not 200 or 300.