JAPANESE SUPPLY LINES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 86, Issue 226, 25 September 1942, Page 5

JAPANESE SUPPLY LINES

DAMAGE BY ALLIED PLANES ACTIVITY IN NEW GUINEA (Special Australian Correspondent—N.Z.P. A.) (Recd. 11.5 p.m.) Sydney, Sept. 24. In sixteen clays’ raiding Allied planes have caused enormous damage to Japanese supply lines in New Guinea. Wednesday’s attacks on Buna and the enemy line of communications to Kokoda surpassed even Tuesday’s heavy raids in concentrated intensity. Demolition bombs each weighing nearly a ton were dropped on the Buna airfield, which was attacked five times in day and night raids by a strong force of Flying Fortresses and fighters. For three hours during the morning the attacks were almost without cessation. Invasion barges, store dumps, enemy living quarters and anti-aircraft emplacements were destroyed.

Along the Kokoda trail our fighters strafed a Japanese pack train. Another target was a bridge over the swift-flowing Kuniusi River, which was twice previously smashed but was replaced by the enemy with a span of a new type. The work had been done at amazing speed For the first time since the (action flared up on this front the Japanese on Wednesday attempt<ed air interception, sending six 7 Zeros in efforts to smash our raiding formations. They were not successful and we lost only one plane in the day’s sweeps. The sole Japanese offensive air activity on Wednesday was a raid on Port Moresby by a single plane. A few bombs tell harmlessly in the scrub. The New York Times’ war correspondent in the New Guinea theatre quotes an American Air Corps officer as saying' “We are now cooking with gas." Ke explains that the Air Corps vernacular means: “We are getting somewhere now, doing the right things with the right equipment.” The writer suggests that Japanese fighters are being mustered for the pending enemy offensive in the Solomons., necessitating the diversion oi aircraft which would normally be! used in New Guinea. This supports the theory that the enemy is not so /well stocked with planes that he is able to overwhelm two fronts al once Air power, says the correspondent, wiii determine whether the Allies will be able to hold the indispensable Port Moresby base. This ceaseless pounding of the back areas and the trail along which the Japanese supplies must move has apparently had a mounting effect on the enemy. The Japanese lighting on the , Owen Stanley front seems temporal- ! ily to have overrun their strength. | They are reported to be digging in I near the village of loribaiwa, evi- j dently to secure protection to build • up their supply dumps. This suggests | that the present pause in their forward drive may be continued at least l for a further short period. The enemy is also reported to be i stripping native gardens, which is ac- ; cepted by some as evidence that they i are short of food. However, “living I off the land” is the normal practice oi l Japanese troops and it is probable they are merely following a routine policy. | No change is reported in the Owen 1 Stanley positions, but tierce patrol i clashes, with casualties on both sides, ■ are believed to have occurred. JAPANESE AIR STRENGTH NOT THE ONLY FACTOR (Special Australian Correspondent—N.Z.P. A.) Sydney, S' pt. 24. A warning against under-estimat- | ing the air strength which Japan can I bring to bear in th • su ' - si , Pacific was sounded to-day by the Sydney Morning Herald’s military correspondent. “While it is char that the Allies, have maintained effective aerial superiority along the whole northern front during the past few’ weeks, th public should not believe that aerial superiority in itself can gain victory in the battle for New Guinea, he says. “However it should provide conditions under which the land forces will be able to triumph.” Pointing out that naval manoeuvres must always be limited by the operating pow ers and torpedo-carrying aircraft, the same writer declares that all Pacific strategy must be attuned to this fundamental fact. For this reason the Japanese must intensify their ground efforts to capture Guadalcanal aerodrome. United States commentators say that American strategy in the Solomons is to prevent Japanese use of any bases within 200 miles of Guadalcanal thus the Jananese would be prevented from making invasion attempts with landing barges from nearby islands, and any major fleet op c rations must be undertaken without close sunport from their landbased aircraft. The enemy will he able to threaten Port Moresby In relative security only bv reducing th° Solomons and regaining air control of the Guadalcanal- aerodromes. There is a general belief that the Japanese are planning moves designed to t><