HOLLANDIA MOVE

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 24878, 27 April 1944, Page 5

HOLLANDIA MOVE

NO MAJOR OPPOSITION PROGRESS OF AMERICANS AIR COVER FHOM AIT APE (Special Australian Correspondent) (Reed, lo.ir. p.m.) SYDNKY, April 20 Mystery surrounds the whereabouts of powerful Japanese forces believed to be concentrated around Hollandia, Dutch New Guinea. American troops who are advancing in a pincers movement against the three airfields in the area have not yet encountered major opposition. Earlier reports estimated that about 15,000 Japanese were garrisoned at Hollandia. American forces which captured Hollandia township have driven a further one and a-half miles toward the aerodromes. Australian fighter aircraft from the captured Japanese airstrips at Tadji, near Aitape, are now supporting' the Americans at Hollandia, 125 miles to the north-west. Thus the Allies have achieved the first objective of the Aitape landing, which was to secure an airfield from which the Americans at Hollandia might be provided with air cover. Only 98 Japanese were killed around Aitape. Some prisoners were taken but the bulk of the Japanese forces in the area withdrew on Monday from the Santa Anna Mission, about one mile from Aitape village, under pressure from the Americans. The sole Japanese air opposition was offered on Sunday night, when a single raider bombed' the Hollandia 'area. Meanwhile General Mac Arthur's aircraft are giving enemy airfields and troop concentrations east of the invasion points a relentless pounding. In the Wewak area, 184 tons of bombs dropped on the four aerodromes has ensured their continued ineffectiveness. At Hansa Bay, 12.3 tons of bombs were dropped in personnel areas and on supply dumps. Anti-aircraft fire was reduced to a few machine-guns and all our planes returned. PORT AND AIRFIELDS MILITARY VALUE OF AREA (Special Australian Correspondent) (Reed. 10.45 p.m.) SYDNEY, April 20 The combination of potential harbour and airfield development enhances the military value of the Hollandia area, which is the main strategic prize of the New Guinea invasion operations. Humboldt Bay, on which Hollandia is situated. provides the only extensive anchorage between Wewak and Geelvink Bay, a stretch of 450 miles. Hollandia was used as a flying-boat base by the Royal Netherlands Navy, which built a slipway and installed mooring buoys. Three airfields are situated in the area —Hollandia, Sentani and Cyclops. The Hollandia strip is 17 miles from Hollandia, Sentani is 12 miles and Cyclops ll miles. The location of Hollandia in relation to other important bases in the Southern and Central Pacific is: From Port Moresby, 660 miles; from Lae, 520 miles; from Wewak. 215 miles; from Pelew, 800 miles. The second American invasion area, Aitape, before the war was an administrative and trading centre and the firstport of call in the mandated territoiies for steamers from Hongkong _ and Manila. However, the port facilities there are primitive and the unloading of vessels was done by surf boats. The American landings were made on a beach about five miles south-east of Aitape village, and within 2000 yards of the Tadji airstrips. DOMINION DEFENCE MR. CUR TIN'S OPINION CANBERRA PACT SUPPORTED WASHINGTON, April 25 Explaining the Australia-New Zealand agreement, the Prime Minister of Australia, Mr. J. Curtin, said at a press conference that the two countries had held a conference to discover how far their mutual views in defence matters could be expressed. The agreement was a neighbourly undertaking and did not exclude the rights and interests of anyone else in the world. "The primary task of the defence of Australia and New Zealand falls upon the people of those countries," said Mr. Curtin. "We felt that the people of Australia and New Zealand should make a maximum effort: to defend themselves before asking anyone else to help them. That is the predominant element in the agreement." Asked when other nations would be called in to use Australian and New Zealand bases, Mr. Curtin replied: "Nobody has asked that the bases should be other than under Australian and New Zealand jurisdiction*. As the case may be, we are not proposing that bases of the United States or any other Ally should be changed. What we are asking is that we should plan to increase the security of all of us. This involves world security. It also involves, however, some plan of regional security. The whole question of bases should he discussed at the peace conference." Pointing out that Australia needed population, Mr. Curtin said: "1 would iike to see a couple of hundred thousand of your people come to Australia. Come as often as you like. We shall he glad to have you. The same applies to Britain and the other Allied countries. We have the room and the opportunity." BIG RAIDS AHEAD NEW YORK, April 25 The United States by the end of the year will have more than 100 aircraftcarriers to form the spearhead of the westward drive in the Pacific, said Roar-Admiral Ramsey, chief of the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics. Through the concentration of carriers overwhelming air power could be brought to bear against small but strategically important islands and objectives where the terrain restricted the use of landbased planes.