AID FOR AUSTRALIA

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 March 1942, Page 5

AID FOR AUSTRALIA

EFFORTS BY U.S.A.

DARWIN’S FURTHER LIGHT RAID

BRITISH SUCCESS IN BURMA

WASHINGTON, March 15. | Relative optimism prevailing in Washington regarding the Pacific situation is based on two factors the arrival of American troops in Australia and the supply of Ameiican fighter aircraft there. It was admitted that the American troops in Australia number only a lew uiousand, but they are the vanguard of a great expeditionary force being sent to Australia. Apart from the moi al weight of visible American support to the threatened Australians, it is understood that the American soldiers there'include the best-trained and best-equipped troops ol tne entire United States Army. . More important as an immediate factor in the military situation is the arrival of American fightei" 1 aeioplanes in Australia. If they are present in sufficient force to protect the Flying Fortress bombers operations, the outcome of the battle for• Austialia should be far different tnan 01 that for Java, where the 1-lying Foi tresses were not protected by lignt ers and were forced to withdraw.

LEASE-LEND EQUIPMENT.

CANBERRA, March 16. ; “The flow of Lease-Lend equip-, ment will become a mighty river. R| will be a sufficient help to Australia. to protect its great Continent said, Mr W. S. Wasserman, head pl the United States Lease-Lend mission A A tr survey of Australia’s require-i ments in this respect was begun to-1 day, when Mr Wasserman confer; ed with the Prime Minister (Mr Cui tin), and the Minister for Customs. Interviewed, Mr Wasserman saici that the United States lo of ed S Australians as tneir closest i lian . and felt more strongly about helping Australia than any other countiy, with the possible exception ol Canada. Mr Wasserman is to be appointed to the Allied Supply Council in Australia, which was set up in February to handle all supply problems in Australia.

LONDON PRESS REMINDER

LONDON, March 16. “The Times.” in a leading article on the broadcast to America by <( the Australian Prime Minister, says. MCurtin might have added that tne Battle of the Atlantic still has to be ceaselessly maintained. He also might have qualified what he said about the Battle of Britain. “It is not always understood in Australia and America that the victory in the Battle of Britain has not. extinguished the air danger to Biitain Large concentrations of Gci - man aeroplanes are stiil s ta bo ne a ai the semi-circle of airfields hall sui roSndffig the British Isles some ol which are only a few miles liom Britain’s most, populous cifies. A serious weakening oi Britain s a r or other defences would ffivite al } ac -M Britain is the essential base Hom which the final offensive must be launched. She is still the greatest arsenal for democracy, and last yeai British factories P;: oduced American output of arms and otnei supplies. British production will remain a vital factor and cannot be exnosed to any risk of interruption without peril to the whole Allied effort.”

ATTACKS ON JAP. BASES

AERIAL OFFENSIVE

SYDNEY, March 16. The Japanese used at least 30 aircraft in tEeir widespread and large y ineffective raids on the inursuay Island area. In addition to tne enemy aerorilanes destroyed, several others were damaged. Allied fighters jntei - cented and broke up an enemy foi mation over Torres Strait, a heavy bomber being shot down in flames In a series of dogfighYs over the stiait, enemy machines were hit and damaged. One Allied pilot rammed an enemy fighter, stripping off one of its wfings and causing it to crash. 1 hough he had himself lost a portion of a wing, the pilot succeeded m landing Australian aircraft bombed an en-emy-occupied aerodrome at Dim, in Portuguese Timor. All the bombs.iell in the target area, and the Australians suffered no losses. An agency report says that guerrilla warfare is being waged by Australian troops in north-east. New Guinea. The troops retire to the hills, from which they swoop down on the Japanese, who are keeping near to tne coast.

RAID ON RABAUD. e WASHINGTON, March 16. y A communique states 1 In New is Britain, on March 13, a single Amen- t can Flying Fortress, while on recon- q naissance patrol, attacked the Jap- o anese-held Vunkanau aerodrome, at Rabaul. Several bombs were dropped I on runways, inflicting considerable 1 damage. A direct hit was scored on s parked aircraft, destroying at least. ( two enemy planes. Our plane returned to its base undamaged. DARWIN AGAIN RAIDED. | RUGBY, March 16. Darwin was again raided this afternoon, Mr Curtin announced, ac~ cording to a Canberra Press state- r m TKe raid, said Mr Curtin, was on a ’ smaller scale than the previous attack, ( and was carried out by 14 heavy bombers, operating in formations oj seven. There were some casualties. < The exact figures are not yet known. ; The bombs dropped were mostly of ( the “anti-personnel type (bombo with extremely thin casing designed to create the maximum blast), ine enemy concentrated on definite targets, but an early survey revealed the result of the was small. The previous raid on Darwin—its third—was on March 4, when Japanese navy fighters machine-gunned | R.A.A.F. installations. ! JAPANESE RUTHLESSNESS. | PERTH, March 16. The story of an inhuman and ruthless attack by Japanese pilots on a Douglas commercial airliner which was evacuating 12 persons near Broome on the day that the town was raided by the Japanese, was told by a Dutch Air Lines pilot, W • Smirnoff, who is at present m a' Perth hospital with four bullet I wounds. , , l He said that the aeroplane was attacked 60 miles north of Broome. | Four of the passengers died either from wounds or privations. Three' Japanese fighters attacked the de- I fenceless aeroplane. Smirnoff was shot through both arms, but managed to land the aeroplane on the beach,' ' where it burst into flames. In spite of our terrible plight, those Japanese fiends went on machine-gunning us and finally left us to die,” he said. A woman was twice badly . woundeci. Our mechanic had a shocking wound in a knee. I had four bullets through my left arm and one through my right leg. Both the woman and a flying officer of the Dutch Air Force, who was also severely wounded, died.

“I sent three men to look for water. The*y were away eight hours and returned without any. The next day a Japanese flying-boat passed over and dropped five bombs on us. Another party was sent for water, searched for 24 hours; and came back without any. The mechanic died on the third day, by which time we were nearly all finished. However, we managed to distil some water from sea water. I then sent a party of four to try to find help. They were away 72 hours when, to our great ioy, a Royal Australian Air Force aeroplane flew over and dropped food medicine, water, cigarettes, and also a message saying that a rescue party was on the way. We weie taken to the Beagle Bay Mission and made very comfortable. “My view of the Japanese airmen is that they are not human. They are beasts.”

RESCUED AIRMEN

RUGBY, March 15. Further interesting details are available regarding the evacuation of RAA F. men from northern island bases. The transfer occupied two nights, and was completed by 2.30 m the morning. Meanwhile, the Australians were hustled, dive-bombed, and machine-gunned by the Japanese, who were attempting to destroy the Australian planes. To reduce weight to a minimum, all men stripped to the waist before embarking. Twenty-three were packed into planes normally carrying 13. Because ol the danger ol the plane losing equilibrium during tne take-off, the men gathered near the pilot’s end of the machine except the wounded who lay on the floor at the other end. The bombers had only 700 yards’ runway.

CAMPAIGN IN BURMA

BRITISH RECAPTURE TOWN

LONDON, March 16. A delayed agency message from Mandalay says that British troops in the Sittang river area have recaptu • Shwegyin, an important town on the east bank of the river, which was recently seized by the Japanese. Shwegyin is about 100 miles north of Rangoon. It had already been reported that operations in the Nyaun-glebin-Shwegyin area were proceeding satisfactorily.

RUGBY, March 16

British clearing-up operations in the Shvegyin area of Burma appear to have been successful. The general disposition of the opposing forces is: The Japanese are in occupation qi the southern part of the Irrawaddy Delta with the British forces north and north-east, roughly on the line Tharawaddy-Shwegyn. The Chinese are northwards of the Bntisn, and are moving towards Toungoo.

HOUSE-TO-HOUSE FIGHTING

(Recd. 9.4'5 a.m.) MANDALAY, March 16. It is unofficially announced that British Imperial forces counterattacked and recrosseci the Sittang River, and recaptured Shwegyin after fierce house-to-house fighting, in which the Indian troops used bayonets and kris effectively. At first, the Imperial forces attempted a surprise by crossing the river on rafts to the north side of the town, but were delayed when a traitorous Burmese gave the alarm. The Imperial troops then met and dispersed 500 Japanese outside the town before joining in an action witn the main enemy force. fighting’ dFsumatra RUGBY, March 15. The Vichy radio quotes a Tokio statement that Netherlands East Indies troops are still fighting in the mountains in the north and centre ol Sumatra. QUIET IN PHILIPPINES WASHINGTON, March 16. A morning communique says there was no activity in the Philippines. JAPANESE REPORTS. NEW YORK, March 16. A Tokio radio despatch from Bandoeng declared: It is understood that a large number of soldiers belonging to the Netherlands East Indies forces are hiding in the mountains ol Java- , ™ Chang Ching Hui, head of the Manchukuo Government, arrived at Tokio for a week’s visit. He will be received by Emperor Hirohito. The Domei Agency reports that war debris has been cleared in the i streets of Singapore, and the railway to Bangkok restored. Theatres and other places of amusement are reopening soon. The Domei Agency reported that Lieutenant-Colonel Ichiro Sakurai has been appointed to Vichy, to assist the military attache, LieutenantColonel Naoki Matsuyama.