GREAT AID GIVEN

Grey River Argus, 14 December 1943, Page 5

GREAT AID GIVEN

By the Americans TO AUSSIES IN NEW GUINEA. "A.I.F. NAVY” AND “TRAM SER-‘ VICE.” (Special to N.Z. Press Assn.) (Rec. 5.5.) SYDNEY, Dec. 13. While Australian forces have been clearing Japanese troops from the Huon Gulf area in New Guinea, United States constructional units have been working day and night to convert the area into an Allied base, rhe Australian troops attacking -in the coastal sector have been supplied by a barge fleet manned by American engineers. The Americans call themselves "The A.I.F. Navy.” These are two outstanding features of close Australian and American co-opera-tion in the latest New Guinea campaign. High praise for the United States constructional units in New Guinea has been given by the leader of the British Military Mission, General Lethebridge, who said that theirs was a class of work ‘‘for which the Americans have a special genius. ’ His tribute is warmly supported by Australian war correspondents, who point out that, while it may lack glamour, the job of driving the bulldozer in the forward operational areas represents hard and continuous toil under the most unpleasant conditions , n Soon after the A.I.F. landed near Finschhafen, on the Huon Peninsula, in October, Americans began the construction of a large airstrip only a few miles behind the battle line. Bulldozers cut swathes in the forest, and in an unbelievably short time a gleaming white strip had been prepared. United States Army units who were engaged on this work had already built aerodromes on the Australian mainland and at Port Moresby and at Dobadura. Working with them have been the “Seabees,” the American Naval construction men, who previously built an airstrip on Kir.iwina Island, 120 miles north-west of Milne Bay. This job occupied just two weeks. It is estimated that the Japanese, with their pick and> shovel equipment, would have taken six months to do it. The organised efficiency of the American engineering and construction units, with their up-to-the-minute mechanical equipment, is a highly important factor in aiding the Allied forward movement in the Pacific. \ More direct Australian-American co-operation is that provided by United States units who ferry supplies by barge to the A.I.F. troops who are fighting in New Guinea s forward. - coastal areas. Many ot these Americans have fought and died alongside of the Australians. Day and night their barges have travelled up and down the coast, with breaks only for loading and unloadinn. The American Fifth Air Force has given the closest support to the Australian troops pressing forward on the Huon Peninsula. More than the keeping of the skies clear of the enemy, American ’planes have* persistently attacked the Japanese troops. In isolated sectors, too, supplies have been dropped from the air with such unfailing regularity that the Australians now refer to the American aerial transport system as "The Tram Service.”

RAID ON NAURU

LARGE FIRES STARTED.

(Rec 6 30.) WASHINGTON, Dec. 12. - The United States Navy, in a communique from the Pacific Headquarters, states: American battleships and carriers bombarded Nauru on Wednesday last, December »• They started large fires in the target areas, ..and destroyed nine planes on the ground, and one in the air. The Americans lost itwo aircraft and one of the American destroyers received a hit shore batteries, suffering minor damage A Naw reconnaissance Liberator stiaf ed a medium cargo ship and its escorting patrol vessel near Jaluit m the Marshall Islands on Friday last, December 10.