SHARP FIGHTING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 December 1943, Page 3

SHARP FIGHTING

GOING ON IN WAREO AREA AUSTRALIAN PREPARATIONS FOR ASSAULT. ARDUOUS JUNGLE CAMPAIGN. (Special Australian Correspondent.) SYDNEY, December 6. The Australian troops who are preparing to storm Wareo, the Japanese strongpoint on the Huon Peninsula, in New Guinea, have repulsed three enemy counter-attacks. These were broken up by our ground forces, which were supported by accurate artillery fire. Sharp fighting has been going on in this area since last Thursday, with the A.I.F. forces continuing to make slow progress. - Wareo, seven miles north of Satelberg, is protected by scattered pockets of enemy resistance, all of which have to be cleared out by arduous encircling movements. The country is rugged—a series of broken peaks and spurs divided by steep gorges, all swamped in a sea of jungle. Aerial photographs give no indication of the location of the main Japanese forces because of the unbroken, jungle. But while more hard fighting is in prospect, the enemy’s garrison at Wareo, which is under pressure from three directions, is not expected to be able to hold off the Australians for any great length of time.