NEW GUINEA WAR

New Zealand Herald, Volume 80, Issue 24747, 22 November 1943, Page 3

NEW GUINEA WAR

ENEMY AT SATELBERG SLOWLY FORCED BACK ATTACKERS USE TANKS (Special Australian Correspondent) (Eecd. 8.30 p.m.) SYDNEY, Nov. '2l Australian troops are forcing the Japanese back yard by yard to the Satelberg township, their last stronghold on the Huon Peninsula, New Guinea. Attacking from three sides, the Australians have formed a semi-circular line about a mile from the town. The fighting is bitter through heavy jungle and up steep slopes, with enemy machine-gun nests and foxholes com* manding all the tracks. The Japanese are also employing artillery to give support to their entrenched troops. Incessant Air Attacks These enemy positions are being incessantly attacked by Allied places, which, during four days' fighting, have blasted a path for our ground forces. Australian 25-pounders and American rocket guns are also being used. Tank formations are supporting the Australian infantry. It was stated today that heavy Matilda tanks have been operating since the beginning of the present drive. In spite of the dense jungle and the treacherous, muddy terrain, they had considerable success.

Much of the fighting, howeveris taking place at close quarters, with the Australians driving the Japanese from , their strongpoints by the use of hand j grenades. j Enemy's Supply Problem Although the enemy has a substan- / tial force in and around Satelberg,_the supply problem may limit his ability / to fight a long campaign. The Aus-j tralians are numerically superior and the close air support which they an receiving must be a big factor in ty battle now raging. This new Australian offensive began last Wednesday. Dense jungle has prevented any assessment of Japanese casualties, but ours have been light. The Tokyo radio, reporting the fighting at Satelberg, claims that the Japanese repulsed an American tanksupported attack. It says the Americans left four tanks and 500 dead, while the Japanese losses were eight killed and seven wounded.

TARGETS IN JAVA AIRFIELDS AND REFINERIES (Special Australian Correspondent) (Reed. 8.30 p.m.) SYDNEY, Nov. 21 General Mac Arthur's communique reports a further long-range bombing attack by United States Liberators ou the Japanese naval base of Sourabaya, Java. Before dropping their bombs, the Liberators spent three hours over Java trying to find their targets through thick cloud. The bombers, which were in the air for 15 hours, flew about 2400 miles to make their third and heaviest raid of the month on Java. They unloaded 27 tons of bombs, including some of 10001b. The main targets were important oil refineries at Tjepoe, 70 rriiles west of Sourabaya, and the Tanjoeng Perak aerodrome, the main airfield at Sourabaya. 4 , Liberators also struck at the Den Pasar aerodrome, Bali, for the first time. Bad weather prevented the observation of results. All the planes returned to the Australian mainland. NEW COMMANDER AIRCRAFT IN SOLOMONS (Reed. 12.16 a.m.) NEW YORK, Nov. 21 It is announced from South Pacific Headquarters that Major-Genera! Ralph Mitchell, of the United States Marine Corps, has relieved Major-General Nathan Twining, of the United States Army, as commander of all aircraft in the Solomons. This is in conformity with the policy of rotating arduous front-line commands. Admiral Halsey paid a tribute to the magnificent work done by General Twining, as a result of which his airmen had neutralised the Japanese airfields on Bougainville and ' destroyed 700 planes.

JAPANESE MANDATES

DEFENCES KEPT SECRET (Reed. 9.40 p.m.) WASHINGTON. Nov. 21 How the United States seven years ago unsuccessfully tried to learn whether Japan had fortified her mandated islands is revealed in a State Department publication dealing with American-Japanese relations between 19.31 and 1941. The United States bad long permitted two Japanese ships to enter closed ports in Alaska and the Aleutians to allay any Japanese suspicions that the ports might have been fortified in violation of the Washington Naval Treaty. When the American Ambassador, Mr. J. C. Grew, in 1936 requested permission for an American destroyer to visit closed Japanese mandated ports, the Japanese Foreign Office did not answer this or subsequent requests. Finally the State Department dropped the effort, informing Japan that the Japanese training ship Shinotoku Maru. then cruising in American waters, would be forbidden to enter any Hawaiian port not listed as a port of entry. AIR POWER EMPHASISED LONDON. Nov. 19 The Pacific campaign will depend on aircraft even more than the fighting in Europe and North Africa, said Lord Strabolgi in an address to workers at a West of England aircraft factory. "The need for aeroplanes will increase as the war develops," he said. "Germany's general military situation is worsening and German resistance might collapse suddenly, although we must be prepared to fight them with all our might right to the end. "Then we will have to face the formidable task of defeating Japan. We will need immense quantities of_ longrange aeroplanes of several specialised types to blast the Japanese from their outpost island fortresses, and then carry the war to the Japanese Archipelago "Japan will be defeated by a combination of air, naval and land forces working in harmony. Without the air weapon Japan is in a strong position, but overwhelming air power will render her vulnerable. The final campaign in the Pacific will see a crescendo in air power on a scale undreamed or few years agOj" he concluded.