BISMARCK SEA BATTLE

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23914, 5 April 1943, Page 3

BISMARCK SEA BATTLE

PHOTOGRAPHER’S WORK DURING ACTION (0.C.) SYDNEY, March 26. Damien Parer, a young Australian war photographer, whose cinematographic records of the battles of the Owen Stanley range, the Kokoda trail in Papua, and the guerrilla warfare waged by Australians in Timor made him world famous, added another living story of war in the south-west Pacific with pictures of the battle of the Bismarck Sea. The films are now showing in city theatres. He “shot” the battle in which the Japanese lost 22 warships and transports and 15,000 troops off south-east New Guinea from a Beauflghter flown by Flight Lieutenant “Torchy” Allen, of Sydney, who strafed the ships at low level for three hours in the face of intense fire. “When news of the huge Japanese convoy was received,” said Parer, “a great co-ordinated attack was decided on. I have never seen anything like the array of aircraft we had. I went off in a Beauflghter, flying low. When we were forming to go into attack, there seemed to be aeroplanes milling all over the place. It was very difficult getting camera shots. As I couldn’t move the pilot’s head to get a perfect shot. I stood beside him, and held the camera at arm’s length. “I yelled to the pilot, ‘Let’s get beside that burning warship.’ He yelled back, ‘l’ll strafe this one here.’ There was a mighty explosion below us. I was wet with perspiration and more thrilled than I had ever been,” Parer added. “We then got in beside the blazing ship and I ‘shot’ as hard as I could. Then we strafed again. A mighty ‘woof’ gusted up to us as something blew up, and I heard ‘Torchy’ yell, ‘Gee, look at that.’ ‘That’ was ack-ack stuff from the Japanese. Ive never been so thrilled in'my life.” _ Parer showed his bitter disappointment at missing two “good stunts” in which Australians had scored direct hits on a Japanese destroyer and sunk a disabled ship the next day. He had gone off with the • ©eauflghters and found no excitement.' A day or so later he joined in strafing barges full of Japanese soldiers, and was fired on by one barge, which holed a wing, “Our squadron killed 400 Japanese,” said Parer. “We didn’t like it much, but it was necessary.” •