ESCAPE THROUGH THE JUNGLE

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23752, 25 September 1942, Page 5

ESCAPE THROUGH THE JUNGLE

AUSTRALIAN UNIT’S ORDEAL

(Special Australian Corresp., N.Z.P.A.) (Rec. 1 a.m.) SYDNEY, Sept. 24. An Australian unit cut off by the Japanese three weeks ago in the Owen Stanley jungle fighting near Efogi has returned to its own lines. Its achievement is described as “one of the finest stories of courage, endurance, and comradeship to come out of New Guinea.” The men brought with them 11 stretcher casualties, whom they refused to leave behind to become prisoners, even when the odds seemed impossible. Paths had to be cut through undergrowth so thick that progress was often reduced to half a mile a day. In one week the party covered five miles. The wounded had to be carried over mountains, down the sides of steep ravines, and through jungles and swamps. The average loss of weight of the men was two stone. The men were haggard, but they even shaved before returning to the front lines, and their spirits were high. Frequently the party narrowly avoided, clashes with superior Japanese forces when they moved close to native villages hoping to find food. For many days their sole food was yams. One of the heroes of the escape was a sergeant who carried a wounded comrade on his back up a precipitous cliff face when ascent by a stretcher party proved impossible. ‘ Witnesses of the incident said several men were required to haul the’empty stretcher up the cliff. The sergeant showed superhuman strength in carrying the helpless man up alone.

TOKYO CLAIMS DAMAGE TO U.S. CRUISER

NEW YORK, Sept. 23. According to the Tokyo radio, Japanese Imperial headquarters has claimed that a United States cruiser of the Northampton type, of 9000 tons, was seriously damaged by a submarine in the Aleutians on August 30. The radio added that two American submarines were sunk by Japanese destroyers in the middle of September. Negro “Sedition Cults” in U.S.—Announcing the arrest of Pauline Bahaf, secretary of “The Temple of Islam,” who was a key figure in the operations of the three negro “sedition cults" lately discovered, an official of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, said: “As yet we have only scratched the surface. It seems certain that Japanese money has been going to these organisations. None of these people have any visible means of support, yet they are lavishly and expensively dressed and plentifully furnished with money,”—Chicago. September 23. Indian Civilians Escape from Enemy. —From territory overrun by the Japanese, 409,000 Indian civilians have made their way back to India. Of these. 25,000 have come by sea and 4000 by air,—Rugby, September 23.