SLOW PROCESS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXIII, Issue 25, 29 December 1942, Page 5

SLOW PROCESS

WEARING DOWN ENEMY

BUNA AIRSTRIP ACTION (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright.) (Special Australian Correspondent.) SYDNEY, Dec. 28. Fierce local actions arc marking the Allied efforts to breach the last Japanese defences at the end of the main Buna airstrip and around the Buna mission station in New Guinea. Goneral MieArthur's communique describes the fighting as "sanguinary."

Gains have been made in the airfield area, where important gun emplacements were captured, while a wedge was driven into the enemy defence system around the mission. A slight advance was made near Sanananda, which has been described as the "core of tho Japanese beachhead fortress."

One reason contributing to the slow Allied progress is that our •offensive plan is aimed at the complete annihilation of the enemy and is designed to keep our own loss at a minimum. With adequate supplies and superiority in all arms, our forces are intent on battering and starving the Japanese out of their holes rather than forcing the issue in costly infantry attacks. Nevertheless, the gains have not been cheaply made. With the Japanese garrison remnants gradually being split up into smaller pockets, the battle scene at Buna is becoming confused. The Australians and Americans have now fought their way -to the Government station garden southeast of the mission. This is a substantial bite into the supply line and defence chain linking the two central points of Japanese resistance at Buna —the airfield and the mission. Another slanting drive is aimed at reaching the coast east of the mission. The success of this drive will bring tho beachhead campaign at Buna to tho mopping-up stage, leaving the enemy only a 300-yard strip of fortress. STRONG ENEMY DEFENCES.

But the advances are proving difficult. The Japanese fortifications are planned in depth and by avoiding one strong-point our men have frequently found themselves under fire from a covering strong-point. Many of these are so stoutly constructed as to defy our artillery fire. Their own fire is directed by snipers posted in trees. Often the 13-ton General Stuart tanks, which are the effective answer to these emplacements, have been defeated by the swampy nature of the ground. A human limit is also placed on the tanks' accomplishments by the hot steamy climate of Papua. War' correspondents report that Christmas Day for our front-lino troops attacking the fortress area was "much the same as other days. The men will have to wait for the inevitable end of the Buna campaign for their promised comforts.