MADE BY JAP TROOPS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 7, 10 January 1944, Page 5

MADE BY JAP TROOPS

DEATH IN STORM OF FIRE (Special P.A. Correspondent.) SYDNEY, January 9. The fanatical fury of the Japanese charges against American marine positions near Borgen Bay and Cape Gloucester, in western New Britain, has prompted the belief among some observers that the enemy troops were drugged. The Japanese hurled themselves into a storm of machine-gun fire and were slaughtered. Eight miles south of the Cape Gloucester airstrips 200 Japanese attacked a greatly superior force of marines. The American commander told war correspondents that from their strong-points the marines could have held off a force of 2000 Japanese. But for three hours the enemy attacked until almost annihilated. Some of the' Japanese wore only a steel helmet and boots. General Mac Arthur's latest communique reports fresh gains by the marines, who are now advancing on Borgen Bay, 10 miles east of their landing point, where the Japanese are being forced back into the sea. An additional 200 enemy killed had been counted after the latest fighting. Australian and American troops are making steady progress in their converging drives into the Japanese-held northern strip of the Huon Peninsula. Each force is averaging about* four miles a day through the jungle, and they have narrowed the gap between them to 65 miles. Australian forward elements are today reported to be nearing Scharnhorst Point at the northern tip of Huon Peninsula about eight miles from Sio. NO JAP OPPOSITION. There has been no recent Japanese opposition to the Australian drive. It is evident that the enemy retreat is becoming a rout. "As all land avenues of escape are closed, the only possible exit for the trapped Japanese is by barges, which must run the blockade of Allied patrol craft," writes the "Christian Science Monitor's" war correspondent, Gordon Walker. "However, reports that an evacuation from Sio have begun show that the Japanese prefer patrol craft to Australian tanks and bayonets. Even an attempted evacuation from Sio may be barred in a few days by the Australians forcing their way through the jungle." General Mac Arthur's weekend communiques report heavy destruction of Japanese barges in the Sio area. The biggest bag was made on Wednesday and Thursday, when Kittyhawks destroyed or made unserviceable 13 barges. ■■ i