JUNGLE FIGHTING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25625, 28 August 1944, Page 6

JUNGLE FIGHTING

NEW GUINEA CAMPAIGN OTAGO MAN’S EXPERIENCES After serving through the New Guinea campaign, first with the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles and subsequently with a commando unit of the A.1.F., Warrant Officer A. E. Pauley, formerly of St. Bathans, is at present spending a short furlough in Otago, and in an interview with a Daily Times reporter on Saturday he described some of his experiences of the fighting against the Japanese. Warrant Officer Pauley, who is a son of Mrs and the late Mr T. J. Pauley, of St. Bathans, was engaged in. mining in Australia and New Guinea for some years, and at the outbreak of hostilities was working a mine at Wau in partnership with Mr A. O’Connell, formerly of Macrae’s, who also served with the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles as a sergeant. This unit was formed at the beginning of the war against Germany. By the time Japan joined the Axis the unit was well trained, especially in jungle warfare,

and its members were mobilised and sent to battle stations. After six months with the Volunteer Rifles Warrant Officer Pauley joined a commando unit of the A.1.F., which was engaged mainly in night operational raids behind the Japanese lines in various parts of New Guinea. He took part in the operations on Admiralty Island, and was also engaged in many other beach landings. When the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles, with units of the A.1.F., defeated the Japanese at Salamaua, they captured the first enemy equipment taken in the South-west Pacific. The Turning Point

“At this stage the Japanese proved tough opponents, as they had plenty of supplies and things were going their way,” said Warrant Officer Pauley, " but now he is in a different position and he is not so good.” He added that many of the Japanese were fatalists, and so • long as their supreme commander told them to fight on thev would die rather than surrender. That is one of the reasons why Warrant Officer Pauley believes that there will still be much hard fighting in the Pacific before the Japanese .are finally driven out. He expressed the view that the turning point in the New Guinea campaign came after the battles of Buna and Gona from October, 1942, to January, 1943. and Milne Bay . , • “ From then onwards it was tough slogging for several months,” he continued. “ but the Japanese gradually weakened in the face of intense bombing of their supply bases and shipping.” Many of the actions had been confined to the taking of certain strips of beach and to forcing the Japanese into the bush, away from their supplies, after which they were easily mopped up by patrols. - •• The natives have done great work as stretcher bearers and in carrying supplies to the front line,” Warrant Officer Pauley added. “ They make good soldiers, and some have been trained as infantry to dispose of the Japanese In the inland jungle of the islands of New Guinea." Very few enemy prisoners were taken, he stated, and most of those who were captured were of the coolie labour type and of a low standard of education, as could be gauged by the fact that sopie of them had no idea of their exact location. Some thought they wero near Sydney, while others believed they were near New York. Warrant Officer Pauley said that the Japanese were not regarded as good bushmen. and once cut off from their officers they lacked initiative. They were, however, always hard to dislodge once they dug themselves in on high ground. Difficult Conditions The hardest fighting in New Guinea was in the battle of Wau and the overland push from Wau to Salamaua,” Warrant Officer Pauley said. “ Most of the supplies were dropped from the. air to clearings in the jungle, from which they were carried to the front lines by natives. Fighting in the mud had its advantages as well as its dangers; there was, for instance, less risk of bomb blast when a soldier was knee-deep in mud. Many of the men had to wear their wet clothes for two or three weeks at a time. At the outset of the campaign 90 per cent, of the troops contracted malaria, but the incidence was now as low as 2 per cent. Warrant Officer Pauley said that during one action he saw a Japanese woman who had been killed by artillery fire. She had a rifle alongside her. It was generally believed that when the enemy was facing a desperate situation, what women were with them were forced to take up rifles. Before returning to active service Warrant Officer Pauley will spend some weeks in Central Otago.