ENEMY BOMBS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24850, 25 February 1942, Page 4

ENEMY BOMBS

"GRASS CUTTER" TYPE DEVASTATING EFFECTS RAIDS ON NEW GUINEA (P.A.) AUCKLAND, Feb. 24. The devastating effect of the "grass cutter" bombs, being used by the Japanese were described by Mr W. J. Lee, who, with Mr L., H. Kirk, has arrived in Auckland after escaping from the Morobe goldfields at Wau, New Guinea. Both Mr Lee and Mr Kirk are former Waihi miners who have spent ■ several years in New Guinea, whence they escaped by air on successive days after the Japanese had begun their attacks on the area. "We lost everything," Mr Lee said. "We just had to lock up, leave our homes, and go as we were. We flew to Port Moresby and from there travelled by sea to Australia. There were 105 people, including 37 small Chinese children, on the boat, which had accommodation for only 12." Mr Kirk left Wau the day before the Japanese began bombing, but Mr Lee was-through two raids. He said the Japanese had no aerial opposition and smashed up 23 commercial aircraft at Salamua and three German Junkers commercial aircraft at Bulolo. They used largely four-engined machines resembling the German types, and used their machine guns freely, as well as bombing. "I saw them twice," he continued. "They came over, and we. got into shelters, but the second time a Chinese climbed a tree and was killed by a bomb. The Japanese use a 'daisy cutter' bomb that does not penetrate much, buti flattens everything and cuts the grass over a big area, just like a lawn mower. It has a terrific effect, and simply mows down anything in the vicinity." Both men had vivid stories told to them by others, who had escaped from territory attacked by the Japanese, of the effect of Japanese bombing on buildings: Mr Kirk said that at one place in New Guinea a building was cut in halves by a direct hit, one part being hurled on to a flying field and the. rest scattered, over a wide area, [n another case, when an hotel was struck by a bomb, freak effects were observed, personal belongings and pieces of furniture being scattered in the tree tops. Both Mrs Lee and Mrs Kirk had left New Guinea before the Japanese attacks began, and are being joined by their husbands in New Zealand.