HARD-PRESSED TROOPS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25454, 8 February 1944, Page 3

HARD-PRESSED TROOPS

JAPANESE IN NEW BRITAIN (N.Z.P.A. Special Au*t. Correspondent) (Rec. 9 p.m.) SYDNEY, Feb. 7. In nine days the United States Marines in Western New Britain have cleared the Japanese from 100 square miles of territory. The hard-pressed Japanese commander at Rabaul has done nothing to reinforce his harassed subordinate. Lieutenant-general Idao Matsuda, at Cape Gloucester. He has not sent food, ammunition or men.

In the Borgen Bay area the defeated Japanese are reported to have been reduced to a desperate condition through lack of food. The natives told the marines who cleared Natamo Point that the Japanese fleeing east had looted village gardens and killed native dogs for food. These troops had evidently been cut off from supplies, since the main enemy force encountered at Borgen Bay was well supplied and equipped. In the earlier stages of their drive the Americans discovered ample stores of food, but the position of the Japanese has deteriorated steadily.