ALLIED GAINS IN PAPUA

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23845, 14 January 1943, Page 3

ALLIED GAINS IN PAPUA

JAPANESE FORCE AT SANANANDA

AERODROME RAIDED ON TIMOR

(Special Australian Corresp., N.2.P.A.) (Rec. 10.30 p.m.) SYDNEY, Jan. 13,

The Allied troops waiting to launch a full-scale attack to annihilate the remnants of the Japanese Papuan army at Sanananda havfe made further small gains. Our forces appear to be intent on winning positions on which to base the final assault in this attenuated campaign. While artillery has been shelling the Japanese fortress area, Allied infantrymen have been active in offensive patrolling and sniping operations. The

reigning sniping champion is Lieutenant D. Murray, who before the war was a fruit farmer in Victoria. In a few days of sniping he killed at least 21 Japanese with 36 shots. He built his own camouflaged firing position within range of a Japanese unit’s headquarters. His activities forced the enemy to add to their earthworks in the area by constructing communication trenches as a protection against his deadly rifle. Allied fighters and attack aeroplanes have made sweeps along the northern New Guinea coast near the Amboga river and Salamaua. Our heaviest air attack in the last 24 hours, however, was in Timor, where Beaufighters raided new Japanese aerodrome installations at Fuiloro. They strafed hutments, construction equipment, and motor vehicles. One enemy fighter was destroyed on the ground. .... The fifth Japanese raid in a fortnight on Merauke, on the south-east coast of Dutch New Guinea, was made on Tuesday by nine bombers. Only slight damage was done. The enemy has recently taken great interest in this Allied base, which had little pre-war commercial importance. Resin, cattle, and crocodile hides were the main cargoes shipped through' the port. A tribute to General MacArthur’s conduct of the war against the Japanese in the south-west Pacific is paid by the New York "Daily Mirror, which says: "General Mac Arthur knows more about the organisation ot war, more about the Japanese, and more about the full, unhampered use of air power than anyone else we’ve got. Future military textbooks will mark the New Guinea campaign as a turning point in the concept of war, in which we have applied the lessons of Crete. General Mac Arthur, without naval support, transported and supplied an army largely by air, at the same time destroying 353 Japanese aircraft, 19 warships, and 89 merchantmen. Our greatest fighting general recognises a new element in warfare the self-suf-ficient element of air power. Congress should have his full testimony when it considers the overhauling of pur motheaten organisation for waging total war.” ASSISTANCE TO AUSTRALIA CLAIMS URGED IN LONDON LONDON, Jan. 12. "Let us listen gladly to the voice of Australia. Her people are shouldering bravely many of the burdens of our past failures. Her voice-is high in courage and experience. We could do well to respond to it as generously and quickly as possible.” This comment is made by the “Evening Standard,’ in a leading article commenting on Australia’s plea for additional aid against the Japanese in the south Pacific. . “The Japanese are almost destroyed in north Papua and they have received another severe set-back in their effort to land reinforcements at Lae,” says the “Evening Standard.” “In spite of this considerable success a large section of Australian opinion desires Mr Curtin to go to Washington in search of additional aid. “How then does the war situation look from down under? Our kith and kin in Australia are experiencing the same ordeal as befell us after the collapse of France and under conditions probably more nerve-wracking. They number 7,000,000 people against our 40,000,000. They defend an area 30 times larger than Britain. They are more isolated from American sources of succour and comfort than we were. They oppose an enemy who. besides boasting of his great strength in all arms, is still flushed with his victories. “No nation has been made more painfully aware than Australia of the penalty exacted by lack of armaments in modern war. Her sons are numbered among the most ingenious and valiant soldiers in history. They shared in the inspiration and disappointments of success and set-back in the early Libyan campaigns. They sacrificed themselves willingly in the unequal battle of Greece. They were the victims of the miserable debacle in Malaya. They know, in exact terms, what is wanted to defeat Japan. Not the least part of their service to the Allied cause has been the realism with which they have stated these needs.” WOMEN SEARCHLIGHT OPERATORS SERVICE AGAINST ENEMY RAIDERS (Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.) LONDON, Jan. 11. Women of the Auxiliary Territorial Service operated searchlights entirely by themselves in several recent actions against raiders and won high praise from senior Army officers. The fact that A.T.S. women wore manning the searchlights was kept a secret for some time to enable experts to see if the experiments succeeded. The volunteers were selected for their physical hardiness and high standard of intelligence. They proved well capable of taking over from men work which calls for much technical knowledge to operate delicate instruments. After the outbreak of the war great developments occurred in searchlight defence. It has become a science calling for great skill by all operators, and for this reason each auxiliary was trained for a particular operational job. As preparations for an open-air life the selected women devoted three weeks to physical training, drill and route marches. They were taken in closed lorries at night time, given maps and told, to return to their camp seven miles away on foot. All succeeded. Their instructors were surprised at the ease with which they learned to handle the instruments. U.S. Bomber Destroys U-Boat.—The destruction of an enemy submarine by a Liberator of the United States Army Air Forces was announced yesterday by the headquarters of the Bth Air Force. The submarine, which was sighted in the Bay of Biscay, was attacked from a low altitude and destroyed by heavy depth charges.—Rugby, January 12.

Hardest Year For Allies. —Addressing members of a city business club the British Minister of Health (Mr Ernest Brown) forecast that 1943 would be the hardest year yet. After clearing Hitler's forces out of Africa, he said, all efforts would have to be joined with Russia in breaking into Europe.— Rugby, January 12.

U-Boat Commander’s Chivalry.—Survivors of torpedoed ships tell the story of a U-boat commander whose submarine. with a sunflower painted on the conning tower, is apparently a lone representative of chivalry among Nazi raiders. He has always warned ships before sinking them and he has attempted to help the crews. On one occasion he asked a crew if it had sufficient supplies. ' The men yelled “Yes.” but said that they would like a drink, upon which the U-boat commander tossed a couple of bottles of wine into the boat. —Halifax (Nova Scotia), January 12.

French Communist Deputy.—The French National Committee has announced that M. Fernand Grenier, a Communist deputy and a member of the Central Committee of the French Communist Party, has arrived in London from Paris, where he was instructed to bring to General de Gaulle s notice the adhesion of French forces which, regardless of political opinions, fight side by side against-the Qtiemy i and against traitors.—Rugby,