AUDACIOUS FEAT

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 24821, 18 February 1944, Page 2

AUDACIOUS FEAT

SCENE FROM THE AIR . "LIKE A TRAINED CHORUS" (N.Z.E.F. Official News Service) SOLOMONS BASE, Feb. 15 "It was less than two hours ago," wrote Sergeant Gordon Marston, United States Marine Corps correspondent, "that I saw from a torpedo bomber the occupation of horseshoeshaped Green Island, 120 miles east of Rabaul. New Zealand soldiers and American Sea bees lauded in two main parties. Going into the lagoon it looked more like a dress rehearsal than a serious show. It was nearly an unopposed landing, apart from a couple of anaemic efforts at resistance in scattered places. "The skv is ours and the land is in the hands of Allied forces now, and the mopping up of the few Japanese survivors adds to the growing list of Japanese expendables. Two nosey Nip planes were shot down five miles ahead of the torpedo bomber. This was a plane piloted by Marine-Lieutenant Charles Loiselle Springfield, of Massachusetts. New Zealanders Ashore "At 7.20 a.m. New Zealanders went ashore, arriving at the Pokonian plantation five minutes later. Higgins boats went separately ashore to the Tangalan plantation, directly ahead of the only entrance to the lagoon. Even the half-dozen gunboats, slow-moving round the flank of the armnda, looked like well-spaced sentinels from the air, and landing boats resembled a well-trained chorus. Moving up with clock-like precision were larger landing craft in single file, and landing ships carrying Seabees and heavy equipment. "It was Tarawa in reverse. Round the island American destroyers were cutting circles and dancing like fighters awaiting the first round. In a second the New Zealanders were seen to fling their way down narrow ramps. It was like a casual theatre queue in the United States. Below the Pokonian plantation, about 300 yards south, a few Japanese were putting up a secondrate show. Two gunboats proceeded to pump in shells and spasmodic shots appeared round the boats. A Flying Press Box "In the torpedo planes, including a flyinc: press box, packages were ready for dropping down. Assistance was not called for, however, _ and we wore destined to return with a full load. That was a significant fact. Other planes were hovering round in the air, but, as the affair was uneventful, the fliers broke out and munched chocolate while watching the New Zealanders scouting in the bush area. Patrols were already along the beach areas from the air, and it looked like a 'pushover.' It was an audacious performance, with Babaul only a few minutes away by air, but tho Japanese sent up nothing in the early hours. Green Island is to be our eastern flank." POSITIONS CONSOLIDATED SEA AND All? BASES (Special Australian Correspondent) (Reed, S.'lo p.m.) SYDNEY, Feb. IT The New Zealand and American troops who landed on the Green Islands at dusk on Monday are reported to have consolidated their positions without opposition. The five islands of the group are reported to contain a number of areas suitable for air and light; naval craft bases. H. E. Barrowelough commands the ground troops, who consist mainly of New Zealanders. The Sydney Morning Herald in a leading article says the seizure of the Green atoll group is another of those strategic leaps which have transformed the conduct of the war in the Southern and Central Pacific. "These leaps," says the newspaper, "are significant of a vigorous offensive policy and bear testimony to the formidable increase of the Allied strength in the naval and air arms, which alone could permit of such strokes within easy range of the enemy's main Central Pacific base at Truk. The landing on Nissan atoll offers a prospect, of further action to cut off Rabaul also." The Sydney Morning Herald suggests that the seizure of Kavieng, New Ireland. and (lie Admiralty Islands group would isolate all the Bismarck Archipelago and would threaten the Japanese bases in New Guinea, thus reinforcing the challenge to Truk already issued from the Marshalls and offering further inducements for the Japanese Fleet to come to battle.