BUNA AREA

Timaru Herald, Volume CLIII, Issue 22476, 11 January 1943, Page 2

BUNA AREA

Strongly Defended General Blarney’s Comment By Telegraph- N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright (6.30 p.m.) SYDNEY, January 9. General Sir Thomas Blarney, Ccmmander-in-Chief of the Allied land forces in the South-west Pacific, declares that the Buna area, taken by the Allies, was the most closely defended he had seen since he was in France in the last war. After inspecting the battlefield between Cape Endaiadere and Buna village he said: “The troops who took this area did wonders. It was a terrific feat to get here. It was not a cheap victory by any means. The price had to be paid and the troops stood up and paid it. There are places where you cannot sec a yard ahead and to make a cross-country approach means going up to the waist in stinking mud.” General Blarney added that his inspection had convinced him that the Japanese had prepared the Buna beach-head fortress as a base from which to attack the whole of New Guinea. Asked by an American correspondent what he thought of the American troops who were new to battle, General Blarney said: “They did a good job. The only way to get experience Is in war.” Doubts whether the Japanese would have fought as well in the open as they did behind their defences were expressed by the commander. Fighting the Japanese, he said, was not like fighting human beings. The Japanese was “a little barbarian.” Our troops had been baffled by the behaviour of the enemy soldiers. One Australian who tried to give assistance to a wounded enemy had been bitten on the finger. Another seriously wounded Japanese had struggled to a sitting position to bite on the cheek an Australian who was helping him. “We are dealing with something primitive,” said Sir Thomas. “Japanese soldiers do not know what they are doing here. All they try to know is that their Emperor has told them to do something and they are trying to do it.” Use of Tanks Praise by General Blarney for the work of Australian-manned tanks is reiterated by Allied soldiers who were wounded in the fighting at Buna, and who have just returned to Australia. “The Japanese were dug in so well that we did not know where they were,” said one soldier. “We just had to wait for them to fire to give their positions away. If it had not been for the tanks we might never have got them dug out. We got a great kick out of watching those tanks tackle the pillboxes. They were brought up at night with the planes roaring overhead and artillery firing to drown the noise of their engines. I guess they were a knock-out for the Japanese when they suddenly showed up in action.” The combined tactics of the tanks and infantry had worked very well in spite of the difficult nature of the country, declared a colonel who had commanded an armoured regiment. The element of surprise had been an important factor. Tanks were frequently used to shake down snipers from their positions in the tops of trees. The colonel referred to above was wounded when a Japanese soldier leaped on to his tank and fired through the vision slit. The Japanese was himself cut to pieces by the fire of infantrymen following the tanks.