NEW GUINEA FIGHTING

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23807, 28 November 1942, Page 5

NEW GUINEA FIGHTING

Enemy Resistance Stiffens SHOCK TROOPS LANDED (Special Australian Corresp., N.Z.P.A.) (Rec. 12.30 a.m.) SYDNEY. Nov. 27. Stiffening opposition is being offered by the Japanese garrison to the American and Australian forces in the Buna-Gona area. The defenders include freshly-landed marine shock troops who may have been put ashore during the enemy’s solitary successful landing operation last week-end. This is officially confirmed in today’s communique from General MacArthur’s headquarters, which _ reports that ehemy.troops met in action this week had been identified as coming from the Yokosuka Marine Depot, situated south of Yokohama Bay. This is

* one of the- three major headquarters for Japanese marine expeditions. The other two depots are at Sasebo and Kuri. The excellent physical condition of these troops confirms the landing of “strong and fresh reinforcements’’ since November 11. The communique adds that no marked change has occurred in the positional fighting, the intensity of which has slackened temporarily. But there has been no corresponding abatement of air activity. In a series of heavy raids which continued throughout Thursday, Allied Beauflghters, Kittyhawks, Havocs, and North American bombers strafed and bombed ground targets. Flying Fortresses dropped 10001b bombs on Lae aerodrome in a night raid. However, in spite of this bombing of their mam New Guinea air base, the Japanese Air Force was more aggressively active than for some days. Six Zeros were shot down in a series of fierce dog-fights, the Allies losing three aeroplanes. War correspondents now refer to the incredible obstinacy “o,f LieutenantGeneral Horii’s beleaguered garrison.” “The enemy’s small remaining strip of coastal beach-head is being converted into a Japanese graveyard ’ says a Sydney writer in the “Daily Telegraph.” “If the strength of the Japanese resistance at Buna is a measure of the opposition likely to be encountered at every Allied forward step in the south Pacific war, then it must be generally appreciated that the struggle will be protracted and costly. “With Allied air power repulsing and destroying the enemy reinforcements, with food and ammunition supplies being steadily depleted, the Japanese garrison is apparently in a hopeless position, yet as the situation has deteriorated, the enemy resistance has hardened to ‘a suicide stand.’ ’’

THRUST AGAINST BUNA .

SERIOUS CAMPAIGN FOR AMERICANS STUBBORN JAPANESE DEFENCE (Special Australian Corresp., N.Z.P.A.) SYDNEY, Nov. 27. “The American thrust against Buna, in which the Allies hoped for a quick victory, has turned into a serious .campaign against a stubborn and skilful Japanese defence," writes Mr Don Caswell, the correspondent of the United Press of America, who has accompanied the United States forces in their drive. “Although the campaign has not been the quick movement we hoped for, I am still confident that our careful preparation, superior manpower, and outright personal courage will break the Japanese lines south-east of Buna within a few days,” he states. “When I interviewed the commander of the American forces, he saidt ‘This is turning into a tough job., It is like a miniature Bataan in reverse—a small, well-prepared defensive force, holding off a more powerful offensive. We wifi have to dig them out of their holes' Jap by Jap, tree by tree, and machinegun nest by machine-gun nest’.” Mr Caswell says that the Japanese defensive position includes a deep chain of machine-gun nests and concrete pillboxes thoroughly camouflaged by heavy jungle growth. "They have, too, a superior knowledge of the terrain, trails, artillery ranges, and natural defences of the Buna area, which were never adequately surveyed on the ground before the war,” he states. "Crude pre-war maps and aerial photographs are the basis for the Allied operations. The Japanese Buna* defences have been reinforced by fresh troops apparently just landed before the Americans attacked last Thursday. These reinforcements are fit, well trained*and strongly equipped. Jungle Tactics “The Japanese tactics fit perfectly into the northern New Guinea coast country, with its lush, verdant jungles, coconut groves, and feet high kirakira grass. Men from the forward patrols put it this way: ‘Three or four Japs may let a couple of hundred troops go through the jungle trails. They look for <the officers, and then they kill as many as they can, after which they throw fire-crackers and mortar shells all over the place, making you think that the woods are full of Jhem. The only way to find their nests is by working in twos and threes, with plenty of covering fire. The men in front draw the Japanese fire, and.those behind blast the nests with grenades, Tommy-guns, and mortars. When you chase them out of their nests, they go up into trees, strap themselves in, and throw grenades down, or snipe. The best weapons we could have would be shotguns, for cleaning them out of the trees.’ ” Mr Caswell adds that the Allied fighter cover is good, but the aeroplanes must come from the other side of New Guinea, and they cannot be over Buna all the time. "The side that has the aeroplanes overhead has air superiority,” he says. “Mostly, it is the Allies.” “The Buna campaign is similar to the Bataan campaign reversed,” says the correspondent of the “New York Daily News” (Mr Jack Turcott) in a dispatch from General MacArthur’s headquarters. “Outnumbered Americans fought fanatically at Bataan in order to delay its capture. The Japanese are battling against overwhelmin'' numbers at Buna and dying to delay the seizure of its two important airfields.” Mr Turcott says that the Buna campaign has been a continuous display of heroism by Americans, whether they are big, tough soldiers from the mid-west or south or city-bred youngsters from New York. They are accepting almost incredible hardships to inch their way forward without grumbling. Allied Position. —General Smuts has revealed that on the way home to South Africa from Britain, he saw Lieutenant-General D. D. Eisenhower at Gibraltar. General Smuts declared that the present position was sound but there was still a tremendous task ahead. Victory would not be easy.— London, November 28.