LEYTE CAMPAIGN

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25052, 16 November 1944, Page 6

LEYTE CAMPAIGN

DIFFERENT KIND OF WAR MAKE PROGRESS .i;.. A Herald-Tribune correspondent, .. - Homer Bigart, arriving on Leyte from European fronts, was impressed by the " " weakness of the Japanese artillery and ■"she enemy's failure to lay mines,with ithe Germans' diabolic thoroughness. "A newcomer," he says, "has a false sense ' of security. Hearing none of the accustomed din of battle, ho travels along in his jeep admiring the scenery, when • ithe ping of a sniper's bullet shatters day dreams. . "One excursion to the front makes one realise that this is a very different kind of war, in which Japanese bullets and 40mm. knee mortars can kill as effectively as General von Mackensen's railway guns at Anzio. Both the Germans ana the Japanese are masters of camouflage and infiltration, but the Germans are perceptibly more civilised and rarely try suicide tactics. When a mission becomes hopeless Germans surrender; the Japanese never do." The Americans on Leyte Island 'continue to close in on the Japanese : in the Ormoc corridor. General MacArthur's communique states that in "'ithe 10th Corps sector elements of the 24th Infantry Division in a wide en.velopraent through the mountains southwest of Pinamopoan are threatening the [Xamashits, line below Limon,_ •The American forces one mile and a- * half to the northward arc containing the " «rieiny. by direct frontal pressure along tbo Ormoo .road. The first cavalry units are closing in on the Ormoo road from Hill 1523 and Mount Catabaran. American artillery executed highly effective - close support and counter-battery fire, causing heavy enemy casualties and T. destroying numerous gun positions. „ -in the 24th Corps sector elements of. the 96th Division moving over mountain trails south-west of Jaro are in the'vicinity of Alto Peak. 14 miles from Ormoc. . Seventh Division units on the west "-"COast repulsed a small enemy force atCtempting to land from barges at. Pamulaan, 14 miles south of Ormoc.

JAPANESE SOPHISTRY ■ RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA JEtecd. 8.45 p.m.) WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 Dr Kosaka Tomula, an authority in international relations, quoted by. the Tokyo radio, says it can be safely assumed that Russia will not break £.jneutrality in the immediate future to • play a belligerent part in the Pacific :-;war. Marshal Stalin's characterisation ;'"of Japan a3 an aggressor nation, he .■i'considers, is a light diplomatic gesture f - which can be interpreted as the Soviet leader's idea of alleviating the natural „"fresentment of the British and American . Governments against Russia because of • the last-named's diplomatic successes in Europe. Marshal Stalin's yse of the term aggressor, he concludes, has no pro--found political implication. PRIMITIVE WEAPONS •r.UAPANESE FALL TO ARROWS ■NEW YORK, Nov. 14 " ' A youthful guerilla leader, graduate iOf the Philippines University, told '"■' President Osmena that his band of 1000 ' men, using only bows and arrows, killed '6OO Japanese soldiers in three years . without losing one man, reports the ' United Press correspondent on Leyte. "' "We counted the bodies from day to day," said the guerilla leader. "We •-'have always fought with bows and '.arrows and know how to move without "being seen. We would be in trees, tall grass and bushes and wait all night. Then, at dawn, when the Japanese came out for meals or to bathe, we would open up, killing 25 or 30 at a time. Each Japanese would be struck by many arrows from all sides and .'iv jyould have no chance to fire back." '<■ CONSCRIPTION IN JAVA '[(Reed. 8.45 p.m.) NEW YORK, Nov. 15 •-» A spokesman for the Japanese military administration in Java said: "The petitioned for the introduction of conscription. The present war situaition does not give Japan time to instal conscription in the "Netherlands East '■ Indieti. However, there is urgent need to mobilise 50.000.000 Javanese to strengthen the islands' defence." W PHOTOGRAPHER KILLED NEW YORK, Nov. 14 General Mac Arthur's headquarters on Leyte announced that a Japanese sniper fatally shot Frank Prist, an "" Acme photographer, during the heavy - fighting in the Ormoc sector. Mr Prist is the fourth correspondent to be killed on Leyte. NO GLOBE-TROTTING (Reed. 8.45 p.m.) NEW YORK, Nov. 15 An American steamship and tourist r ' publication predicts that there will be no globe-trotting for at least two years •after the war. It says, assuming the .' global war lasts another three years, it is extremely unlikely that passports for pleasure travel will be issued for at . least two years after that. It is useless / becoming oxcited about the early re- * frtoration of travel in Europe, and the lees said about the Orient the better.