PORT MORESBY

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24281, 23 May 1942, Page 8

PORT MORESBY

HOTTEST OUTPOST MEN BEHIND THE GUNS TOLL OF JAPANESE RAIDERS Australian anti-aircraft gunners in Port Moresby constitute one of the finest units of Australian soldiers, and when the story of their deeds and heroism in Australia's hottest outpost is written in full, it will make some of the brightest pages in Australia's newwar history. This is reported by F. C. Folkard, a Sydney Sun war correspondent. * Some of the gunners, say.s Mr. Folkard, came back from the Middle East, went to action stations, and were ready to go in against the enemy at once. With the Allied airmen they are to-day lighting in the front line, the battle for Australia's principal Papuan fortress. Men manning one particular battery have been in the A.I.E. for two years. They spent 15 months of inactivity in Australia, and then about a year in the Middle East, where only a few saw action. They are now seeing plenty of it against low-flying Japanese Zeros. Already they claim nine hits against Zeros, and feel certain that five were unable to reach home. One of their camps was completely wiped out by 60 bombs, the men losing equipment, tents and personal belongings. Some are wearing' caps which have been shot through with shrapnel. They held the Anzac Day service with New Guinea's Bishop, Dr. Strong, amid yawning bomb craters, while the alert was sounding. During one strafing, a gunner was grazed bv throe bullets —on the arm, cheek and ribs —another had an arm blown oil' by an acident. lie was amazingcly cheerful, typifying the spirit of these men. He said to an officer: "You know, sir, I've been thinking. 1 know a number of men with only one arm. I reckon I could perfect a drill for a one-armed gun team. How about giving me a chance?" Another odd experience was told by another member of the crew. _ They heard a single rifle shot, which is the signal that a raid is on. They jumped into the pit, manned the gun, and immediately started firing at the Zeros, which suddenly appeared from nowhere, claiming a number of direct hits. Afterwards they learned that the rifle had been fired accidentally, and that no warning about the Japs had been received. "LADY HAW-HAW" PROPAGANDA FOR BURMA NEW YORK, May IS Wooing the Burmese, Japan's "Lady Haw Haw" said: "If a clay brick in a Burmese pagoda is accidentally dislodged by the Japanese it will bo replaced by a' gold one." This sample of Japanese propaganda during the invasion of Burma was quoted by Mr. John Galvin, the Far Eastern representative of the British Ministry of Information. Lady Haw Haw, a Burmese woman married to a Japanese, regularly broadcasts to Burma extolling in a silvery voice the Japanese virtues. Japanese Fifth Columnists, dressed in the robes of venerable priests, assisted the Japanese Consulates in preparing the way for invasion, said Mr. Galvin. They distributed handbills developing the thesis that America was fully cooperating with Japan in forming a new order in the Pacific. Mr. Galvin said that the so-called Burmese "Freedom Array," which was won over with honeyed promises by the Japanese early in the campaign, would fight Japan immediately it realised the emptiness of Tokio's promises. ITALIANS STARVE COMMODITY PRICES SOAR NEW YORK, May 18 Millions of Italians are close to starvation, reports Herbert Matthews, a New York Times' correspondent who has just been released from Italy in exchange for Italian journalists in America. On an average wage of £5 a month they cannot afford prices such as the following:—Strawberries, 10s a lb.; ham, 30s a lb.; tea, £lO a lb.; shoes, £ll a pair; suit of clothes, £4O; canned peaches, 12s 6d; blankets, £l9 a pair. Mussolini tried to keep prjees down by putting Fascists in charge of Price Control, but immediately they ordered a 20 per cent cut?. Farmers then let their olives rot on the trees because the price obtained was not worth the cost of picking. "Even the staple foods of the masses —bread, spaghetti and olive oil —are deficiency items in Italy," savs Mr. Matthew's. "Only the rich and the Fascist Party racketeers can afford the black market prices. Black marketing is rife to an extraordinary extent, and is an increasing source of class bitterness."

DR. BENES OPTIMISTIC LONDON. May 15 The Czecho-Slovak President, Dr. E. Bones, believes the Czech Government in London will be hack in Czecho-Slo-vakia by Christmas. The Czech Finance Minister, Dr. Feierabend, said this to-day when he opened a Czecho-Slovakian exhibition in London. "Cracks are showing already in the Axis Powers," Dr. Feierabend said. "Even Japan cannot save them." CERTAINTY OF VICTORY LONDON, May 21 The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, Mr. J. M. Andrews, speaking at Downpatrick, County Down, said that the German people seemed to realise that a German defeat was inevitable, reports the British official wireless. Notwithstanding reverses, the United Nations would show by irresistible counter-strokes that the Pacific was an international highway and not a Japanese sea. AIRGRAPH SERVICE, (Rerd. 9.30 p.m.) LONDON, May 21 The Postmaster-General announces the extension of the airgraph service, which hitherto has operated only to the forces in the Middle East, to include civilian addresses in Egypt, India, Ceylon, Palestine, Transjordan, Cyprus, Sudan, Aden, Bahrein, British Somaliland and the Seychelles. Secondly, to the Army and Royal Air Force serving in India. Burma and Ceylon. Thirdly, to His Majesty's ships serving on the East Indies stations. Special arrangements have been made whereby services will also be available to merchant seamen.