ON THE DEFENSIVE

Evening Star, Issue 24160, 2 April 1942, Page 3

ON THE DEFENSIVE

JAPANESE IN NEW GUINEA DANGEROUSLY OPEN TO AIR ATTACK MELBOURNE, April 1. 'A report from New Guinea states that Japan has been forced to halt aggressive moves and go on tbe defensive in the New Guinea war theatre. The clearest indication of this change is the absence during the past six days of heavy air raids against Port Moresby. The enemy invasion forces are now perched precariously on a narrow strip of coast, most of which is around Lae, where they are dangerously open to air attacks, which are hound to come. Allied l planes destroyed three enemy aircraft and probably destroyed 10 and damaged five during the raids on Koepang, in Dutch Timor, and Lae, and .the Japanese counter-attacks on Darwin and Port Moresby on Monday and Tuesday. The Australian Prime Minister, Mr Curtin, recording this in a communique, says at least five direct hits were obtained during Monday’s raid on Lac. He gave further details of yesterday’s successful raid on Koepang, when six grounded enemy aircraft Were probably destroyed. He indicated that an additional four enemy flying boats were damaged by machinegun fire. Near misses were noted on a ship in the harbour. One Zero fighter was certainly shot down during the raid. An enemy bomber was probably destroyed. Fortunes in hard-won gold have been huried in the jungles by the miners who quitted the Bulolo, Wan, and Edie Creek goldfields since the Japanese invasion. One man is believed to have gold worth £40.000 hidden. He hopes, with others, to return some day to retrieve the treasure.

DEFENCE OF AUSTRALIA TWO VAST MILITARY AREAS HARD TRAINING IN STORE FOR TROOPS CANBERRA, April 1. The organisation of Australia ,into two separate vast military areas based on the assumption that invasion may ho attempted simultaneously in several places, has been completed. One- area will be defended by Lieutenant-general Sir John Lavarack, who led the A.I.F. in Syria. The other will be entrusted to Lieutenant-general Sir Iven Maciay. It is stated that they will find their troops at battle stations dictated by events in the, Netherlands East Indies and New .Guinea respectively. The Minister for the Army, Mr F. M. Forde, had a talk with General Douglas MacArthur to-day. The latter congratulated the Government on the army reorganisation, and expressed his approval of the changes made. He was greatly impressed by the leading A.I.F. officers he had met. General MacArthur made suggestions for still further strengthening the defences, all of which, Mr Forde stated, would be readily adopted. Mr Forde added that all the senior officers who returned from overseas had been impart to their men a “front-line outlook.” They would insist upon"training’ almost' to the limit of endurance.

AIR ATTACKS CONTINUED ENEMY CONCENTRATIONS PROVIDE GOOD TARGETS (Eec. 9.40 a.m.) CANBERRA, 4 April 2. Allied aircraft yesterday attacked Salamaua and Lae. Hits were observed on the runway of the local aerodrome. The attack was pushed! home from a low level. Enemy concentrations there following the retreat from Markham Valley provided excellent targets, says the THIRTY ENEMY PLANES ONE WEEK'S TOLL (British Official Wireless.) ('Eec. 11.15 a.m.) RUGBY, AprH 1. A Melbourne communique states that the R.A.A.F. attacked the enemy aerodrome at Kqepang yesterday. It is estimated that six grounded enemy aircraft were destroyed and a further six damaged. Fires broke out and six explosions were observed. . Despite antiaircraft fire all our aircraft returned, as they also did from raids on Lae and Salamaua. Tuesday night’s attack on Darwin was made by a smaller force than was at first thought. Service targets were not hit. There were no casualties and no damage. . Thirty Japanese planes, 22 of them at Koepang, have been destroyed this week north of Australia. A Sydney message states that a single Australian bomber probably accounted for two Japanese fighters over the_ Gulf of Huon, northteast of New Guinea, on Tuesday during a widespread reconnaissance. The bomber ■was attacked- by three Zero fighters. The 'turret gunner shot down one in flames. The pilot believes that he brought ,down another in a 12 minutes’ action. The bomber, although slightly damaged, returned safely to its base. A Japanese heavy bomber reconnoitring over Port Moresby was destroyed.

ARRESTS IN BRAZIL JAPANESE PLOT FOILED ATTEMPT TO FORM SUBMARINE BASE NEW YORK, April 1. The Sao Paulo (Brazil) correspondent of the United Press states that a Japanese attempt to create a secret Axis submarine base in the South Atlantic is believed to have been smashed with the arrest of 20 Japanese in the coastal town of Juquia. A base was constructed along an isolated beach, and the police found huge quantities of gasolene in a shop in the vicinity. They also found 400,000 rifle bullets and a large number of automatic riot rifles in a raid in an unnamed locality. Eleven Japanese were arrested in the city of Mesquita when the police broke up a meeting at which they _ found a military map c£ Brazil showing strategic points marked in red rink. The Porio Alegre police arrested three Germans fum the outlawed Nazi ono was