NEW GUINEA CAMPAIGN

Evening Star, Issue 25083, 26 January 1944, Page 5

NEW GUINEA CAMPAIGN

NO EVIDENCE OF JAPANESE COLLAPSE ENEMY STRENGTH ESTIMATED AT 75,000 ' I (N.Z.P.A. Special Aust. Correspondent) SYDNEY. Jan. 25. In spite of severe reverses there is no clear evidence that general Japanese resistance in New Guinea is collapsing. Recent intelligence information is stated to disclose that at least 75.000 enemy combat troops are in New Guinea proper, with strong garrisons on the nearby islands. The Japanese are also believed to have more than 300 combat planes in the same area. The Japanese soldier remains as contradictory and unpredictable as ever. At times his tactics have been childishly stupid, and often he has panicked and fled screaming; at other times he has shown skill and enterprise, coupled with fanatical " do or die " determination. War correspondents who have studied him closely in the South-west Pacific fighting believe that un'der orders tlis Japanese k a highly disciplined soldier, who is wjjling to dio to carry _ out an order; but left to his own initiative, without instructions or leadership, the Japanese soldier seems completely helpless. RECENT VICTORIES. Both in the liamu Valley and Huon Peninsula campaigns, the Australians have won notable victories. Their latest success, reported by General MacArthur's communique to-day, is the complete occupation of Shaggy Ridge, on the northern side of Ramu Valley. Field artillery and much ammunition have been captured.Kankiryo village has also been taken, and some Japanese have been cut off and their only avenue of escape is down precipitous slopes falling 2,000 ft in less than two miles. The Australians first established a strong foothold on Shaggy Ridge on January 1. but the Japanese held grimly to their positions at its southern end. The capture of Shaggy-(Ridge and Kankiryo opens the approach to the Daumoina-'Bogadjirn motor road, which the Japanese are using to supply that Finisterre Mounains forces. A mule track links Kankiryo and Daumoina, 10 miles to the north-west. ON HUON PENINSULA.

• Meanwhile, on the second New Guinea land front, the Huon Peninsula, the Australians who occupied Sio on January 15 are still engaged in mopping up the hastily-retreating Japanese remnants along the coastal and inland tracks west of Sio.' Several skirmishes have occurred, in which numbers of Japanese have been killed, while others have been found dead along the tracks. Reviewing the Huon Peninsula campaign, which opened with the landing at Fiuschihafen on September 22 and continued throughout months of bitter fighting until the Japanese became routed and disorganised, an Australian correspondent says it has proved that only minor adaptions to the ordinary principles of warfare are necessary for jungle fighting. Artillery was used more extensively on the Huon Peninsula than for any other jungle campaign. It .was employed to soften up the Japanese positions, to break ni enemy counter-attacks, and frequently to blast away thick bamboo and scrub in which the enemy was concealed. Restriction d,f normal artillery observation because of the nature of the country was a problem largely overcome by the use of " spotting " aircraft, whose pilots successfully directed the ground fire. The employment of tanks as the spearhead of attacks saved many valuable infantry lives. The tanks cleared out strong-points which the infantry would otherwise have had to take. The campaign showed that, with the co-operation of engineers, tanks have an important role to fill in the Pacific warfare.