JAPS HEAVILY BOMBED

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXII, Issue 254, 25 September 1942, Page 5

JAPS HEAVILY BOMBED

ENORMOUS DAMAGE DONE. (Special Australian Correspondent.) SYDNEY Sept. 24. In 16 days’ raiding Allied planes have caused enormous damage to the Japanese supply lines in New Guinea. Wednesday’s attacks on Buna and the enemy line of communications to Kokoda surpassed even Tuesday’s heavy raids in concentrated intensity. Demolition bombs, each weighing nearly a ton, were dropped on the Buna airfield, which was attacked fiv =s times in day and night raids by a strong force of Flying Fortresses and fighters. For three hours during the morning the attacks were almost without cessation. Invasion barges, store dumps, enemy living quarters, and anti-aircraft emplacements were destroyed. Along the Kokoda trail our fighters strafed a Japanese packtrain. Another target was the bridge over the swift-flowing Kumusi River, which was twice previously smashed, but was replaced by the enemy with a span of a new type. The work has been done at amazing speed. No change is reported in the Owen Stanley positions, but fierce patrol clashes, with casualties on both sides, are believed to have occurred. MAJOR SUPPLY ROUTE.

In order to develop their supply line from Buna to Kokoda the Japanese are using coolie workers and there are also signs that,native labour is being impressed. The Sydney Morning Herald’s war correspondent says it' is evident the Japanese expect to build a major supply route across the mountains. A warning against undet estimating tlio air strength which Japan can bring to bear in the South-West Pacific was sounded today by the correspondent, who says that air superiority alone cannot gain the victory in the battle for New Guinea. Pointing out that naval manoeuvres must always be limited by the operating power of land-based bombers and torpedo-carrying aircraft, the writer declares: ‘All Pacific strategy must be attuned to this fundamental fact. For this reason the Japanese must intensify their ground efforts to capture the Guadalcanal aerodrome.” MR HUGHES’S OPINION.

An outflanking movement to smash the Japanese supply lines behind the Owen Stanley Range is urged by Mr W. hi. Hughes, Australian Prime Minister in the last war. “The war in New Guinea will not be won merely by Allied troops holding their own against the Japanese,” says Mr Hughes. “That can produce at the best a dangerous stalemate. The Japanese must be driven back so that they cannot continue to menace Port Moresby. An offensive must be carried out primarily to smash the enemy supply lines behind their forward forces on the Owen Stanley Range. Air activity to smash the suppTv lines is not enough; the offensive must bo a combined one. Men must be placed in adequate numbers, with proper support, well behind the enemy lines.” AUSTRALIANS’ COURAGE.

An Australian unit, cut off by the Japanese three weeks ago in the Owen Stanley jungle fighting near Efogi, has returned to its own lines. Their achievement is described ns “one of the finest stories of courage, endurance, and comradeship to come out of New Guinea.” They brought with them 11 stretcher casualties whom they refused to leave behind to become prisoners even when the odds seemed impossible. Paths had to be cut through undergrowth so thick that progress was often reduced to half a mile a day. In one week the party covered five' miles. . The wounded had to be carried over mountains, down the sides of steep ravines and through jungle swamps. The average loss of weight was two stone. The men were liag-o-ard, but they had even shaved before returning to the front lines and their spirits were high. Frequently the party narrowly avoided clashes with superior Japanese forces when they moved close to native villages hoping to find food. For many days their sole food was yams.

One of the heroes of the escape was a sergeant, who .coi ried a wounded comrade on his back up a precipitous cliff face when ascent by a stretcher party proved impossible. Witnesses of the incident said that several men were required to haul an empty stretcher up tho cliff. The sergeant showed superhuman strength in cariyiug tho helpless man up alone.