Light Losses in Papuan Campaign

Manawatu Times, Volume 68, Issue 24, 29 January 1943, Page 5

Light Losses in Papuan Campaign

Received Thursday, 9 p.m. SYDNEY, Jan. 28.

Two Japanese soldiers were lost for every Allied soldier who fell in the 1 Papuan campaign. The Allied figures of losses take into account not the men killed or wounded but also those withdrawn from the battle, because of sickness. In the air our losses compared with those of the Japanese were even lower than those on land. At sea our casualties were negligible. This satisfactory balance-sheet of the Papuan campaign is part of to-day’e communique from General MacArthur’s Headquarters. No actual figures oi losses are given. The official statement declares:

“These figures reverse the usual results of a ground offensive campaign especially against prepared positions d£ fended to the last when the losses of the attacker are usually several times those of the defender.

“Two factors contribute to this result: (1) There was no necessity to hurry our attack because the time element in this case was of little importance. (2) For this reason no attempt was made to rush the positions by mass and unprepared assault. The utmost care was taken with the conservation of our forces with the result that probably no campaign in history against such a thoroughly prepared and trained army produced such complete and decisive results with a lower expenditure of life and resources.’’