NEW GUINEA BATTLEGROUND

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 78, 26 November 1943, Page 5

NEW GUINEA BATTLEGROUND

MOST VENOMOUS AND EXHAUSTING HARDSHIPS OF AUSTRALIANS Sydney, Nov. 24. Although countered by the use of aerial transport and mechanical roadmaking equipment the jungle remains the supreme factor in New Guinea warfare. An Australian correspondent recently returned from the FinshhafenSatelberg area says that supplying forward troops in battle areas is still the most pressing problem of jungle fighting. Aeroplanes drop stores while bulldozers smash tracks for jeeps, thus assisting to ease the supply problem. But often principal contact with the enemy is maintained by light patrols who must go into strange Japanese-in-fested country carrying only a few tins of bully beef and a packet of army biscuits for sustenance. The correspondent, urging the need for an overhaul of A.I.F. soldiers’ personal issue in certain directions, says some items of United States equipment are markedly superior for jungle warfare. He instances American fly-proof eating utensils, more convenient type waterbottle, and mosquito-proof hammock. High praise is given to American units who have had to co-operate with the Australians in the recent New Guinea land fighting—particularly beach scouts, engineers and air co-operation officers. “It would be buying a fight to say a word against the ‘Yanks’, ” writes the correspondent, “and I am certain that as the action develops the friendship between the two armies will become warmer still.” Declaring that New Guinea is a most venomous and exhausting battleground the correspondent adds: “I doubt whether any country could present such enervating extremes —coastal depressions where not a breath of air stirs to temper the heat and towering mountains whose summits even natives shun because of their terrible wind storms. The soldier knows that New Guinea calls for a price for every minute he treads its uncertain way. Every part of his daily routine brands him as a stranger —the purifying tablet he must put in every drop of crystal clear river water to deaden its germs; the vitamin pills he takes in place of fresh food and to

ward off scurvy; the salt he consumes to counter excessive sweating; the daily specific to fight malaria; the rigid wearing of gaiters so mites in kunai grass will not bite his legs and give him scrub typhus.” Australian newspapers in editorials have recently been agitating for an increase of official news of New Guinea land battles, claiming that brief headquarters announcements have not given adequate appreciation of the severity of the fighting nor of enemy strength opposing the Australian forces.—P.A. Special Australian Correspondent.