THREAT OF ATTACK ON NORTH AUSTRALIA

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23918, 9 April 1943, Page 4

THREAT OF ATTACK ON NORTH AUSTRALIA

JAPAN’S ISLAND BASES

[By DENNIS DUGAN.] (Published by Arrangement with the "Sydney Morning Herald.-,

It is not so with the Japanese. For years their pearling luggers have been operating throughout these waters, frequently with a marine surveyor on board, and they know the coastlines and the islands as well as they know the entrance to the harbours at Kobe and Yokohama. They have charts erf these waters, which are complete down to the smallest detail, and they know the navigable rivers just as well. The line from Thursday Island to Sorong, on the northwestern Up of Dutch New Guinea, is roughly 1000 miles long. Frofn Sorong across to Kendari in the Celebes is 600 miles. From Kendari down to Broome is another 900 miles,, while the diirect hne fnnn Broome back to Thursday Island is about 1300 miles. . Within the outline described above lie the Arafura, the Timor, and■ Banda seas. Roughly a .A in i*[ u ™ Darwin to Dilli divides the Arafura from the Timor, while another from Dilli to Babo in Dutch New Guinea divides the Arafura from the Banda in these three seas lie the Japanese Sand bases at which Dutch, American and Australian airmen have been hitting time and time again in the last few months. Our Limited Hold • We occupy only the Australian coastline and some 60 miles from Thursday Island to Merauke on the Dutch New Guinea coast, winch canbe said to be under our control. In Timor our guerrilla forces did great work. From ß Merauke up the coast of New Guinea are Kaukenau, Kaimana Babo, and Sorong, all of which are now under Japanese con trolSe the outline are innumerable i-lands formerly Dutch, now occupied K-i Taoanese Our reconnaissance idle, and we lm»w something of what is-going know hasps but the Japanese do not Know how mS 'we know art l so w deta.U Of settlements 'given here relate to P bS which*'we have hit from the air, with approximate distances an directions from Darwim are. Kaukenau (DNG.), 600 miles NNE, Dodo ialu Islands), 495 miles NNE; Toeal g «g Islands), 490 miles on a line slignuy west of Dobo; Babo (D.N.G.), 850 miles On Ihe same line a« Toeal; Sanmlak (Tenimber Islands), 305 mles atowst due north; Ambon (Ceram Islands . 625 miles NNW; Kendari (Celebes). 850 miles NW; Dilli (Timor) 450 miles on much the same line as Koenang (Timor), 510 miles wnw Koepang is 533 miles from Broome. That list does not exhaust the ta are the main ones In Timor for instance, other targets have been FulloroTield, Peffoei Field (actuaiiv the Koepang aerodrome), M«o b!2e, v4aw=. and ! thn road across the island from • Baucau to Eeaco. Similarly in the* Celebes, we have strafed luggers off BOeton and Wangi, as we have done in a number of other places. Our-Ships Bombed Frorh these bases the Japanese have bombed Broome, Derby, Wyndham. Darwin area, and Merauke, and they have attacked our shipping, sinking, for example, the Australian mm&-, sweeper or corvette Armidale in tne Timor Sea and a small vessel off the Wessel Islands, off the north-eastern corner of Arnhem Land. . The Dutch New Guinea coast from Kaukenau north-west is flat ana swampy, with large rivers, frequently connected by interlacing creeks. These swamps extend for miles inland to the foothills of the huge central range which is the continuation in Dutch New Guinea of the Owen Stanley range. It varies from 7000 feet to 16,000 feet in height

Dobo’s Pre-War Trade

Few Australians know a great deal about the island-studded ses« which lie in the rough triangle whi ch has as its apex Torres Strait and encloses the area between the north coast of Australia Wi; Thursday Island to Broome, from Broome up to the Celebes, ajS; from the Celebes back to Thursday Island, passing down the so#l coast of Dutch New Guinea. :

The coast is a treacherous.. Shifting sandbars make dangerous# entrances to the rivers, some of Sw! however, are navigable for 50 or miles, Mudbanks run far ,Out'S the Arafura Sea, which is very'shiiS: for many miles out from Inland the swampy ground kS suitable for all weather'air striae 5 for a coastal road, burtfiS manor? fringed rivers provide perfect hS? places for float aeroplanes which s Japanese have been using quite J? siderably. It was a float aeronk which sank the small vessel oft? Wessel Islands.

A typical village on the south.** Dutch New Guinea coast or of the Dutch-held islands, j|J* Dutch administrative officer iLJ sionary or two, a Dutch polfra ■with Ambonese native police'hS in Java, a few Chinese-owfiedSa and a smslll hospital with a'doeßH native medical officer. If'therms an air strip or seaplane anchor. K.N.1.L.M., the large Dutch S company, would be renrestaS? K.NJ.L.M. ran a fortnightly jjJS; down the coast of Dutch New Quin? and to some of the island setflerßea®

Dobo before the war wasvthe hui. trading centre for the Am, Tenimber Island groups, fl Z, largely used by the Japanese peafe! luggers and has a good' harbour n was a centre for the export pearl shell, fish, jungle product ironwood, a very hard wood obtains in the islands. There was no strip. ; ■ ■

Toeal and Saumlaki, neither for from Dobo, had a similar ftmetion. but were less important 'than JW which was the main tradmg cSfi Toeal has a small, difllcult hwhoui but Saumlaki has a ; barbour > Neither toWn had an air. strip;, ' Ambon, the largest towtj of all jj the area, was the seat of ;.the ’Dutch resident controller for the. grater Moluccas. It has a good harbour, but with few port facilities, an aerobe™ and a seaplane base. It yas the bate for the garrison troops of the foi and the trading centre -for the other islands of the Moluccas. It was noted mainly for copra and spices. Portuguese Exiles

Dilli, capital of what was Portuguese Timor, has a poor harbour, surrounded by reefs. It ■ was the administrative centre for the Portuguese section of the island, and was also used,as a dumping ground for Portuguese political prisoners, mostly those exiled because of communistic activities, It exported good coffee, but on the whole was a negligible trading centre, a* the Portuguese section of the island wu the poorer. . ■ *•;. a: >. • Koepang also has a small-.-hatbovr surrounded by reefs. It wai>fbe,st of the Dutch controller of. Dutch Timor, and exported mainly Indiin corn or maize, water buffalo.- cow, and horses to Java. The cattle were shipped out, alive, to be killed and eaten in Java.

Kendari was only a native settlement, with an emergency: landing ground of no consequence for commercial flying. The settlement was 11 miles up a river from a good harbour, with no port facilities; ” Such were these towns before they became Japanese bases. - Ambon and Koepang were the only two: of any consequence, but all .have become ol vital importance to Australia within the last 14 months. The Japanesi hold, them now, but they cannot cor tinuevjto, do -just.that— -Either MM must be driven out or tempt to advance further, and t.Jgi further advance they can the shores of Australia itself.