DESPERATE DRIVE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25364, 23 October 1943, Page 5

DESPERATE DRIVE

ISOLATED JAPANESE FOROE RECAPTURE OF VILLAGE (N.Z.P.A. Special Aust. Correspondent) (Rec. 9 p.m.) SYDNEY, Oct. 22. The isolated Japanese troops in New Guinea have recaptured the village of Katika, two miles north of Finschhafen and about one mile from the sea. Completely cut off from supplies, and faced with annihilation, the trapped Japanese force, numbering several thousand men, is making a desperate drive towards the coast. The A.I.F. Ninth Division is astride their escape corridor, and has repulsed all the enemy’s frontal attacks, but the Japanese have made some progress by infiltrating at night. It is emphasised at General MacArthur’s headquarters that the enemy attack is not directed against Finsch-

hafen, which fell to the Australians on October 2, but consists of an attempt to reach the sea between Finschhafen and the Song River in order to establish barge contact with the Japanese forces further north along the New Guinea coast. Even if they succeed in reaching the coast, Allied air control of the Vitiaz Strait imperils any organised evacuation. The present Japanese drive has been launched from the Satelberg area, six miles inland from Finschhafen. The only trail leading north from Satelberg is a difficult track over mountainous country. This could not be used to transport supplies in sufficient quantities for a large force. Since the capture of Finschhafen our troops have counted a total of more than 650 Japanese dead in the area. The present fighting is officially described as “sharp.”