Jap. Booby Traps Cause Losses In N. Guinea

Northern Advocate, 23 May 1944, Page 4

Jap. Booby Traps Cause Losses In N. Guinea

(Special) SYDNEY, This Day Japanese bombs have caused casualties as well as losses of stores at Hollandia, Dutch New Guinea, where the American invasion troops landed on April 22. The Australians, advancing up the New Guinea coast from Alexishafen have also had to conduct careful "delousing” operations as they have progressed. The ticking of time machinism enabled the Australians on the Alexishafen air strips to discover an explosive charge placed in a dump of 30 2001 b. bombs. More than 160 mines and bombs were found round Alegishafen's twko air-strips. For their traps, the Japanese used threeinch mortar bombs. 1001 b. anti-personnel bombs, and 2001 b. aerial bombs. At Hollandia bomb explosions during the cleaning-up operations have done more to impede the Americans’ progress than any direct Japanese opposition. On Friday a bomb burst after it had been struck by a bulldozer working on the beach. The bulldozer was hurled into the air. the driver killed, and several soldiers wounded by shrapnel fragments. The explosion set off nearby ammunition dumps, causing heavy damage among supplies. Two 5001 b. bombs which exploded in a fire, caused casualties among soldiers and natives. However, the total of American casualties at Hollandia is negligible. About 1500 Japanese have been killed and more than 400 taken prisoner. A book found at Hollandia throws interesting light on the abortive Japanese plans for the invasion of Australia. It was a manual of several hundred pages, printed in Japanese, and giving detailed information about harbours and ports on Australia’s east coast. Obviously the book was intended to be a guide to the invading forces. It contained a wealth of information even about the smallest coastal centres, together with illustrations evidently intended to assist in identification of landmarks.