ISLAND LANDINGS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24825, 27 January 1942, Page 5

ISLAND LANDINGS

JAPAN'S SOUTHWARD DRIVE INVASION OF BORNEO FIERCE FIGHTING ON COAST (Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON, Jan. 25, Japanese landings at Kendari (in South-east Celebes), Balik Papan (in East Borneo), and the Bismarck Archipelago (off New Guinea), are announced by Netherlands Headquarters in Batavia.

The Australian troops fighting the Japanese invaders in Rabaul are mainly Victorian bushmen, members of the militia. Since' Rabaul township was evacuated they have been holding out in the hills behind Rabaul. The Acting Prime Minister for Australia, Mr F. M. Fordo, said to-day after the War Cabinet meeting in Melbourne that no messages had been received from the officer-commanding, but something was expected later. Drawn from country districts and I trained specially for jungle warfare in | Australia and New Guinea, these men were ideally suited for the guerrilla fighting. It is officially estimated that the Japanese’ troops in New Guinea number at least 10,000. The Australian War Cabinet, directing full mobilisation on the home front, has decided to accelerate a national register of man-power, and all men upwards of 60 will be enrolled within four weeks. The enrolment of females is expected to follow. A Royal Australian Air Force communique states that enemy air reconnaissances and small-scale attacks occurred to-day at various places in New • Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Air activity on both sides was hampered by bad wedther, I The Tokio radio officially announced i that army and naval forces successj fully landed at Balik Papan before I dawn on Saturday and now are fiercely attacking Dutch troops along the coast. The Daily Express reveals that Australian R.A.F. pilots stationed in Britain want to return home to deal with the Japanese. 1 They are urging the authorities to release them. They feel that the enormous expansion of the Fighter Command makes it possible for their squadrons to be spared to fight where the battle is hottest and where they could supply just that backbone of experience needed for fighting the Japanese. Many Australian pilots say that they are ready to take any chance to get to the Pacific by flying, even by stoking cargo vessels. The Air Ministry declines to comment. The Australian Government controls the Australian Air Force squadrons at present operating.

AUSTRALIA’S REACTION

FIGHT TO A FINISH MELBOURNE, Jan. 26. “Australia will seek no quarter from Japan, and alone or with the help of others will fight to a finish," said the Deputy Prime Minister (Mr F. M. Forde). Australia would try to face the test in a way which would leave it without regrets, he added. Whatever the outcome, its objective would be to outlast whatever the enemy could; do, . ■ ~ “It may happen,” Mr Forde said. “ that the Japanese will secure a temporary foothold on the Australian mainland. Everyone inside and outside Australia should realise this is not impossible. Should it happen, it will not be a mortal blow at Australia, though the consequences may be serious. We shall make the Japanese pay bitterly for whatever they attempt.”