GUERRILLA FORCE ON TIMOR

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23919, 10 April 1943, Page 5

GUERRILLA FORCE ON TIMOR

(Rec. 6 p.m.) SYDNEY, April 8. A party of A.I.F. commandos, who were a part of the famous guerrilla force that operated on the island of Timor for more than a year, has arrived for ' a well-earned rest. The troops brought with them Japanese demands for surrender, worthless banknotes issued by the Japanese Army, and other souvenirs of their epic defence of the island.

“A pathetic feature of our departure was the grief of our native helpers.” said an officer. '“Most of these boys lived, marched, and scouted with us for many months. They.came to have a real affection and admiration for our men.”

Worthless banknotes have been lavishly distributed by the Japanese among the. natives, many of whom were thus won over to support the enemy. However, those who attached themselves to the Australians remained wonderfully loyal. Describing the Japanese as cruel and ferocious, an officer said they fell roughly into three types. The first was the marine, a gallant, self-reliant, and physically good type. The better than ordinary soldiers were fair physical specimens, but the remainder were undersized and animalesque. Most of the Australians developed a “paunch” from the steady diet of rice, with lesser quantities of buffalo meat and maize. In some areas, however, tropical fruit relieved the monotony, of this diet. Sometimes when rice stocks were exhausted the men lived for days on native maize. MAYOR OF NEW YORK SERVICES OFFERED TO ARMY (Rec, 11.30 p.m.) WASHINGTON, April 8. “Mr Fiorello La Guardia has offered his services to the armed forces, but it is difficult to find any place in the army where he could be as helpful as in his position of Mayor of New York, where he is rendering, directly to New York and indirectly to the nation, the most valuable services,” said the Secretary of War (Mr H. L. Stimson) at a press conference. Earlier cable messages suggested that Mr La Guardia was to be commissioned; as a brigadier-general in the United Stales Army, in order to take an administrative position probably in some reoccupied territory.