BATTLE FOR BUNA

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20958, 4 December 1942, Page 3

BATTLE FOR BUNA

JAPS. HEMMED IN SLOW ALLIED GAINS INTENSE AIR BLASTING (By Telegraph--Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Special Australian Correspondent.) (10.30 a.m.) SYDNEY, Dec. 4. Simultaneously with the sea and air action off the north New Guinea coast, a new pitch of fury has been reached in the land battle for Buna. Driving ahead in the wake of shattering air and artillery bombardments, the American ground forces have now entered the outskirts of Buna village. Australian units who penetrated the enemy positions near Gona are advancing along the beach towards Sanananda. A further combined Arnerican-Australian force is making a drive against Sanananda from Soputa, but progress is slow and painful since the Allies are forced to make wide detours around chest-deep sago swamps. Sanananda lies at the centre of the enemy fortress area. The Japanese continue to contest every toot of the Allied advance. Mr. W. E. Lucas, the Christian Science Monitor war correspondent, says that to enter the outskirts ol Buna the Americans had to. “squirm their way through undergrowth dank from millions of sunless years before rising for the final 10yd. charge through withering fire.” In the Gona salient, our advancing troops cantured a Japanese post where, among the equipment, were 40 Bren guns which must have been taken from the Allies in an earlier campaign.

These latest Allied gains in the Papuan land battle have the important effect of pocketing and isolating Japanese resistance, thus cutting off strong-points from essential supplies. For the past few days, the position of Lieut.-General Horii’s beach-head army has steadily deteriorated, but no :omplete collapse of the defence can be expected. Japanese Showing Strain

An unmistakable sign that the enemy garrison is under a heavy strain, however, is the growing inaccuracy of the anti-aircraft fire. By night as well as by day our bombers, attack planes and fighters, piloted mainly by Americans, are pouring high explosive bombs and bullets into ‘.he Japanese coastal fortress.

“This has been no small-scale serial side-show, but a tremendous sustained offensive against limited objectives,” writes a New Guinea war correspondent. “The contrasting scope of the fighting meant, however, that the bombing has had to be concentrated on the enemy's rearward strong-points.” A feature of Wednesday's air activity was the daring of Australian pilots in three Wirraways, which are obsolete for operational purposes. Engaged on an observation mission, Lhe pilots decided to take a hand in the fight and strafed enemy barges and machine-gun posts along the coastal strip. Combined with the aerial offensive, the ceaseless artillery and mortar bombardments against the Japanese strong-points have meant that for many days the enemy garrison has been given no chance of rest to regain some off its strength. The fighting quality of the Japanese has never been better displayed than in their present resistance, which is described in the latest communique from General Mar Arthur’s .headquarters as “of the greatest fierceness.”