TACTICAL GAINS

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLXI, Issue 15235, 28 December 1942, Page 3

TACTICAL GAINS

AT BUNA STRONGHOLD CHRISTMAS DAY ADVANCE ENEMY RESISTANCE POCKETED United Press Assn.. —By Electric Telegraph—Copyright(Special Australian Correspondent.) SYDNEY, Dec. 27. Allied troops are closing in on the last Japanese strongpoints at the northeast end of the main Buna airstrip. When twelv© Zeros clashed with our fighters over the area on Boxing Day, eight of the enemy planes were shot down. We lost three. These activities are reported in General MacArthur's communique today. An earlier communique- described the area now under an enveloping attack as “a prepared and fortified citadel of resistance.” Our tanks and infantry forces regrouped for this latest thrust on Christmas Day when th© Papuan land fighting was at a virtual standstill. An Allied communique recording Christmas Day activities, said: “These were limited to routine safety precautions. Divine services were held throughout- the Command where possible.” Although not recorded in the communique, important tactical advances w.ere made during Christmas Day. Two fresh wedges were driven into the enemy defences in the Buna airfield area, thus further pocketing and isolating the remaining Japanese resistance. The positions now being assailed are of great strength and must be reduced singly. Fallowing th© occupation G f the entire airfield area, tlie Japanese forces must he cleared from the Buna Mission and 'Sanananda Point before the battle for Papua is won. In a Christmas review of the fighting, an American war correspondent says: “Destroy your opinions of this as a little sideshow. The numbers of men involved and the strategic importance of the objectives are merely relative things. Nowhere else today aro our soldiers engaged in fighting so desperate, so merciless or so bloody.’' Australian tank forces, who have weighed the scale of battle heavily in the Allied favour, have been under a severe strain, sometimes being in their tanks for as long as 12 hours at a time. Swampy country adds to the hazards of the fighting. Five members of the crew of one tank, which fell into a creek, spent an uncomfortable hour under heavy fire and up to their necks in water before they were rescued. Only the tank's turret remained above water and the five men had__to squeeze their heads into this narrow space in order to avoid drowning.