ABOUT TO BE JOINED

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 66, 15 September 1943, Page 5

ABOUT TO BE JOINED

JAP FLIGHT FROM SALAMAUA (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright.)

SYDNEY, September 14,

After the capture of the Japanese base at Salamaua in New Guinea the Allied forces are pursuing the remnants of the enemy's disintegrating units along the trails in the direction of Lac. Cut off from supplies and with no hone of reinforcement, the Japanese are" in a desperate plight.

Little opposition was encountered in the capture of Saiamaua. The Australians, after crossing the flooded Francisco River, rapidly advanced northward over the isthmus and peninsula. The enemy fled, abandoning much equipment.

The fall of the place which had been held by the Japs since March 19, 1942, marks the end of one of the bitterest and most difficult campaigns in New Guinea. The campaign began at Wav last January, when the Seventh Brigade, one of the A.l.F.'s most famous fighting units, drove the Japanese back from the aerodrome. Pressure on the Japanese base at Lac, which is invested from two sides by Allied troops, is being steadily increased. In support of the ground operations, heavy bombers, escorted by fighters, dropped 49 tons of explosives on defence installations round Lac, causing extensive damage. Several beftteries were silenced and a bridge on the main road along the Markham Valley was destroyed. This bridge was used by the Japanese to bring supplies from their north-east coast base at Madang. Australian forces are now aligned along the Busu River about four miles from Lac, and the first real battle for the enemy base is likely to be joined soon. So far, the enemy has offered no resistance worth mentioning. Our casualties in proportion to the numbers of troops and equipment involved have been small. In the Markham Valley the Allies are rapidly building up strength for an all-out drive on Lac from two sides.