ALLIED FORCES CLOSING IN

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23813, 5 December 1942, Page 5

ALLIED FORCES CLOSING IN

Fighting in Buna-

Gona Area

BITTER ENEMY RESISTANCE

(Special Australian CorreSp., N.Z.P.A.) (Rec, 1 a.in.) SYDNEY, Dec. 4 Fighting along the Buna-Gona front is becoming still ‘‘closer, tougher, ana fiercer,” a general headquarters spokesman declared to-day. No marked positional changes in the Papuan land battle are reported in General Mac Arthur's latest communique. Australian troops pressing in relentlessly near Gona have now isolated an enemy Jorce in a beach strip 40 or 50 yards long by 200 yards deep. ThQ Japanese are still fighting savagely within this small sector, but are pay-

ing a high price in their last ditch stand. More than 40 or 50 enemy dead have been counted on the outskirts of this area, and some hundreds of wounded must have been moved within the defences. In the Buna village area war correspondents still write of Japanese resistance as “fanatical." Snipers have to be “picked off almost every tree,” and machine-gun nests reduced one by one. Many of these posts are built from fuel dumps filled with sand. They provide staunch buffers against Allied fire. Air fighting is still raging over the contracting battlefield. It is now revealed that on Wednesday Beauflghters strafed and sunk four enemy barges off Gona. Two of the barges each carried 20 Japanese. No further reports have been received of the withdrawing Japanese reinforcement convoy which at dawn on Wednesday was reported 40 miles north of Buna. .. Some days may pass before the benefits of the latest Allied land Sains become apparent. At Gona the Japanese are now completely cut off from their line of retreat along the coast towards Salamaua. The Allied drive on Sanananda is expected to provide a line of advance enabling our forces to avoid many ox the swamps protecting the _ Japanese fortified positions. In their drives our men have by-passed some enemy strongpoints and the mopping up ox these is reported to be proceeding.

AMERICAN GENERAE WOUNDED

FRONT LINE SERVICE i AT BUNA

(Hec. 12.30 a.m.) SYDNEY, Dec. 4, Brigadier-General Hanford MacNider, of the United States Army, wa« wounded while in the front line at Buna last month. He was in a foxhole in an advanced position when he was injured in five places by an exploding grenade. He is now recuperating in an Australian hospital before returning to the front line, Brigadier-General MacNider is a former United States Minister Ito Canada. and former Assistant Secretary of War and commander of the American Legion.

AIR BASES FOR U.S.

IN LIBERIA

EIGHTS FOR DURATION OF WAR

WASHINGTON. Dee. 8. The State Department has announced that Liberia has granted rights for air bases to the United States for the duration of the war. The agreement gives the United States the right to build, control, operate, and defend airports in Liberia and assist also'in the protection and defence of any part of Liberia which is liable to attack. The State Department also announced that American troops are ’already in Liberia.

SPEED OF 725 MILES AN HOUR

U.S. FIGHTERS IN POWER DIVES NEW YORK. Dec. 8. Two United States Air Army Forces pilots in Republic Thunderbolts attained a speed of 725 miles an hour in downward power dives. Both reported diving from 35,000 to 25,000 feet. One pilot said the pressure was so great that he could not move the control column, therefore he used the crank controlling elevator to trim the tabs.

BEVERIDGE PLAN SUPPORTED

REPRESENTATIVES OP ALL PARTIES (Rec. 6 p.m.) LONDON, Dee. 1 The labour correspondent of the Press Association says it is already certain that the Beveridge plan will have powerful Labour support in Parliament and also the backing of Liberals, Independents, and progressive Conservatives. Some young Conservatives have already come out on the side of the plan and the Liberal Party states that it gives immediate and unqualified approval of the three guiding principles.

INNOCENT HOSTAGES SHOT

GERMAN ACTION IN DIJON

(Rec. 10 p.m.) NEW YORK. Dec. S. After a German officer was assassinated at Dijon, the Germans fined the city 10,000,000 francs and seized 1 100 hostages, of whom 50 were to be shot immediately. The remainder were to be shot if the perpetrators were not denounced, says the Berne correspondent of the “New York Times.” It is believed that at least 40 were executed. It has now been officially announced that the local population is blameless. The Germans have returned the fine but the hostages remain buried in a common grave.

CHAINING OF WAR PRISONERS

(8.0. W.) RUGBY. Dec. 3. Letters containing references to the chaining of prisoners now reaching Britain from prisoners of war in Germany, reveal that the chaining was first applied to all officers and men captured at. Dieppe. One prisoner writes; “The chaining is done humanely. It lasts for a certain number of hours daily. The manacles are taken oft at night, and also for meals.”

Aid In Heart Disease.— Dr. Samuel Thompson told the Seaboard Medical Association that two toaspoonsful of talcum powder sprinkled on the inner walls of the sac surrounding the heart and on the heart's surface had saved and prolonged the lives of dozens of cardiac patients.—New York, December 3. . .