TANK PROTECTION

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 79, 7 January 1944, Page 5

TANK PROTECTION

MARINES IN NEW BRITAIN STRONG JAPANESE RESISTANCE •A.I.F. MOT UP ON HUON PENINSULA Sydney, Jan. 6. American marines are using tanks and artillery against strong Japanese resistance east of Cape Gloucester, New Britain. Our troops are advancing slowly towards Borgen Bay, but are encountering increasing enemy activity. Sunday’s Japanese counter-attack (when the enemy was repulsed leaving behind 200 dead) was followed by another strong counter-attack early on Tuesday morning. This was repulsed and the marines then took the initiative, driving forward with tank protection under cover of an artillery barrage. The Japanese employed field guns in an .effort to stem the American advance, the extent of which has not been reported. At the two other Allied invasion beachheads in tjie South-West Pacific area, Arawe (southern New*Britain) and Saidor (Northern New Guinea) the Americans are enlarging their holdings. Some eight miles south-east of Saidor, Australian forces continue to advance up the Huon Peninsula coast at an average rate of four miles a day. They are closing in on Sio, the Japanese barge base 50 miles north-west of Alliedheld Finshhafen. The Japanese, who are making a disorderly retreat, are believed to be trying to evacuate some of their troops by sea. Enemy forces are caught between the Australians advancing up the peninsula and the Americans at Saidor. Pursuit of broken remnants of the* Japanese rearguard has developed largely into a mopping up operation. Thp enemy is discarding equipment and all superfluous weight, including much personal gear in his flight. Japanese soldiers who have been unable to keep pace with the retreat have been left to die on the track. Wounded have also been left behind. Australian patrols moving through mountainous country inland have wiped out numbers of Japanese found living on native foods and roots in the hills. 16 ENEMY PLANES SHOT DOWN Air actions over New Britain and New Guinea reported in General MacArthur’s communique to-day, cost the Japanese 16 planes shot down with five others probably destroyed. A Japanese cruiser off New Hanover Island has been damaged by a direct bomb hit, while two enemy cargo vessels of 2000 and 4000 tons exploded and burst into flames when attacked by Liberators and Mitchells at Koepang (Timor) on Tuesday. The main enemy air losses were again inflicted over Rabaul, when Allied Solo-mons-based fighters shot down six Zeros with five others probably destroyed in a sweep over Rapopo aerodrome. Heavy units from the Solomons which bombed a harbour at Kavieng shot down three o* 19 interceptors. Madang (55 miles west of Saidor) and Alexishafen (12 miles north of Madang) have again been the main targets for South -West Pacific bombers. These aerial assaults to disrupt Japanese supplies are directly linked with land operations in adjacent areas. Air actions reported in the latest South-West Pacific communique cost the Allies four planes.—P.A. Special Australian Correspondent.