DRIVE AGAINST SALAMAUA

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 24052, 14 September 1943, Page 5

DRIVE AGAINST SALAMAUA

Australians Capture

Airfield

FURTHER ADVANCE TOWARDS LAE

(N.2. Press Association— Copyright) (Rec. 10.30 p.m.) SYDNEY. Sept. 13. An Australian militia unit has captured the airfield at Salamaaa. The troops daringly swam the flooded Francisco river, seized the airfield, and beat off an enemy counter-attack. The capture of this objective means that the Allied forces now control practically ail the mainland approaches to the narrow isthmus which connects with the Salamaua peninsula, except in the northern sector where fighting continues. This rapid new development is reported in General Mac Arthur’s latest communique. The Japanese are believed to have defensive positions on the isthmus, which is 300 yards long and a mile wide, and artillery on the peninsula beyond. From these positions they may make a last ditch stand. Torrential rain is falling over the area, increasing the difficulties of the Australians. The combined American and Australian force closing in on the enemy base from the south is mopping up isolated enemy outposts. In the drive against Lae more troops of the landing task force have crossed the flooded Busu river. A weak enemy counter-attack on the river bridgehead was easily repulsed. The Allied force in the Markham Valley has advanced 17 miles from the Nadzab airfield to Heath’s Plantation, eight miles from Lae, where skirmishing with enemy outposts is reported. Air-borne reinforcements are still pouring into Nadzab and pressing along the trail in support of the advance elements forming the western half of the pincers movement on Lae. Except for possible stray snipers in the Salamaua area, the Allies have

cleared the entire area south of the Francisco river. After Allied troops had pierced the southern defence line, the Japanese retreated in panic, leaving hundreds of unburied dead, three field guns, and much combat equipment. The enemy garrison has been compressed into about a square mile of country which is unsuitable for effective resistance.

American naval units command the sea approaches to Salamaua, and the only avenue of temporary retreat for the garrison is north towards Lae. Japanese troops escaping by this route would probably clash with the Allied forces further north, which are investing Lae. A general offensive east and west of Lae has not yet started. Some resistance is being experienced by the Australians at the mouth of the Busu river, four miles from Lae. In a clash on Friday, 40 Japanese were killed. Japanese medium artillery at Lae is firing on the advancing Australians, who hold the river crossing. The main defences of Lae include heavy artillery, but some guns have already been smashed in the devastating air raids. The enemy will probably have to be dug out. From the eastern bank of the Busu river, Allied artillery has been pounding the inner Japanese defences at Malahang, where the Australians are likely to meet with strong resistance.

Allied Air Attacks

The Allied air forces on Saturday bombed and strafed Japanese, positions and shipping over a wide area in the south-west Pacific. A reconnaissance unit attacked a convoy of three cargo ships off Wewak, in northern New Guinea, with unobserved results. The ships probably carried reinforcements and supplies for the garrison at Wewak.

Allied light naval craft on night patrol sank three Japanese barges and damaged a fourth in the Finschhafen area of New Guinea.

In the Cape St. George area, New Ireland, reconnaissance aircraft made three attacks on enemy shipping, setting fire to a 3000-ton freighter and a small cargo ship. The aerodrome at Cape Gloucester, New Britain, was bombed, and four barges were destroyed or damaged off the coast. Bivouac areas on Garove Island, in the Vitu Islands, north of New Britain, were bombed and strafed at night, and fires were started.

Allied long-range fighters made three low-level daylight attacks on the airfield and adjacent villages on Selaru Island, in the Tenimber group, north of Darwin. A truck pool, supply dumps, and bivouacs were strafed. Numerous fires broke out in the area. An enemy coastal vessel was sunk off shore.

“There is a strong possibility that not only New Guinea but also New Britain, with the important Japanese base at'Rabual, will be in Allied hands by the end of the year,” says the correspondent of the United Press of America in the south-west Pacific (Harold Guard). “A tour of the front line areas around Lae and Salamaua has left three definite impressions,” he says. “First, the Japanese have been prevented from reinforcing either of their front lines or nearby supply bases; second, the Allies for the first time in the south-west Pacific are pursuing a definite line of attack; and third, the Allies now have the wherewithal to beat the Japanese at their own leapfrog game of coastal landings, eliminating or neutralising important enemy positions.

“The current Allied operations in New Guinea are comparable with the Japanese operations in Malaya, during which air supremacy' plus control of the • coast proved devastating for the defenders. The distances and the terrain are likewise similar. “General Mac Arthur has turned the tables on the Japanese in the southwest Pacific. At the end of the next three months General Mac Arthur will have made a long jump -towards his proclaimed objective, the Philippines.’ *

New U.S. Torpedo Plane.—"The United States Navy has a new eight-ton torpedo plane, named the Seawolf, which is not matched by the world’s best.” said Rear-Admiral Ralph David, son, Assistant Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics. He said the new aircraft was powerfully armed and armoured, and carried torpedoes or bombs. It was manned by a pilot, a gunner, and a radio operator-bombardier.—New York, September 12.