MUNDA NIGHTMARE

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 271, 11 August 1943, Page 6

MUNDA NIGHTMARE

MUNDA NIGHTMARE NEW YORK, August 9-

NEW YORK, August 9. An American lieutenant, Nicholas Kliebert, gives details of the massacre of American wounded by Japanese at Munda, in New Georgia. He told a United Press correspondent (how 11 men he commanded, who were guarding 40 wounded in litters and 100 walking wounded, with 300 Japanese for seven hours one night, killing 175 of the enemy. “The Japanese were advancing against our wounded,” he said. “I set up a box defence and the Japanese streamed toward us. We had to stop firing to let our only two machineguns, whieh were white 'hot, cool off. Meantime we tossed grenades, but the Japanese saw our guns could not be used and swarmed, yelling, amoug our wounded. “They stood one man against a tree and five of them bayoneted him. Many Japanese pulled the blankets off the litters, lined up the helpless wounded mem and used machetes op them. They cut one man from the top of his head to his feet and then shot him. “Five of my men, in frenzy, dashed in and out doing things one would not have believed possible, and felling many of the enemy. Then the Japanese began on the foxholes where the walking wounded were crouched. They threw a grenade into each foxhole. “We ran out of ammunition when there were seven of us left. Five escaped, but the other two were hacked to pieces. Later we found that men I had assigned to, hide the wounded had escaped and hidden 20 injured men in the jungle.