NEW GUINEA OPERATIONS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 86, Issue 227, 26 September 1942, Page 5

NEW GUINEA OPERATIONS

JAP BASES WIDELY RAIDED PATROL CLASHES REPORTED (Special Australian Correspondent—N.Z.P.A.) (Recd. 11.10 p.m.) Sydney, Sept. 25. In an early morning attack on Rabaul Harbour on Thursday Flying Fortresses scored a direct hit amidships on an 'BOOO-toh enemy cargo vessel, which was left burning and probably sank. > Raids were also made on Dilli, in Timor, Buka, in the Solomons, Mubo, the advanced base for Salamaua, and points on the Port Moresby trail over the Owen Stanley Range. It was reported that there had been considerable recent Japanese shipping activity in Rabaul Harbour, and our bombers encountered heavy anti-aircraft fire from warships and shore batteries.

Several ships are stated to h attack was made. The situation in the Owen Stanley front-line area was reported unchanged, with patrols in contact with with the main forces still unengaged. Unofficial reports describe these clashes as “fierce,” but they were not referred to in General MacArthur's . latest communique. J Enemy concentrations which were attacked at Mubo, IS miles south of Salamaua, were officially stated to be relatively small bodies of troops. No i new enemy move in that sector is in- i dicated at present, and the presence I of enemy troops there cannot yet be ' regarded as evidence of another I prong in the Japanese drive on Port I Moresby. The Japanese occupation of f Mubo was announced some weeks ago. i It is believed the enemy is using the | village as an advanced base to pre- | vent Allied ground reconnaissance of i activities at Salamaua. Allied aircraft continue attacks cn the bridge over the Kumus- River at | Wairopi. on the Kokoda trail. Already [ the bridge has been once destroyed and several times damaged. After I each new attack the Japanese work i feverishly tc ret uild the bridge, since , it is vital to their supply system. | To-day’t communique mentions an j attack on the rodrome at the Ko • keda headquarters. A spokesman said I no Japanese air activity was observed on the ’arome. bu*. there were signs r that work had beer carried out. This | indication of Japanese intention to. use the Kokoda aerodrome supports ' the view that the Japanese cannot too long delay their move against Port Moresby if they wish to avoid enormously complicated transport difficulties presented by the rainy season, due in a few weeks. At the height of the rains ten to twelve inches fall daily. On jungle tracks already deep in slippery mud, the consequent slowing up of transport would make the lines of communication increasingly .vulnerable to Allied air attacks. JAPANESE ATTACKS FIERCE AND SUSTAINED (Special Australian Correspondent—N.Z.P.A.) (Recd. 10.50 p.m.) Sydney, Sept. 25. j The Japanese have not succeeded i in New Guinea by outflanking move- I ments alone, declares a British ob- -< server in the area. Their direct at- ' tacks on Australian forward positions I have often been tierce and sustained. For instance, some ten miles south of Kokoda they attacked forward companies almost incessantly for four I days. Six times one Australian com- j pany was driven off a ridge. Five times it regained lost ground. The ' sixth time it failed, but there was ■ then less than half the original com- | pany left. Another company position | was overrun by enemy troops, who ■ stuck there and were still fighting two ! days later. The same kind of fighting I went on all the way back. Manyj outflanking movements were directed I against the Australian unit head- j quarter lines and communication. IN AUSTRALIAN ARMY RUTHLESS REVIEW OF COMMANDS (Recd. 10.50 p.m.) Canberra, Sept. 25. i J The entire Australian Army * organisation is being ruthlessly : 1 silted. The Army Minister. Mr. J. L. ! Forde, told the House of Representatives to-day that a review of Army commands was proceeding and men or officers found unsuitable were weeded out or transferred to duties more ‘ suited to their capacity. He revealed that th? change-overs, of two fairly senior officers had been 1 made during the New Guinea campaign. “CHRONIC DISEASE” UNDERESTIMATING ENEMY 1 (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyi ijfht) : (Recd. 11 p.m.) Sydney, Sept. 25. j “Th,? chronic disease of under-' estimating the enemy ' was Lien-: chant ly attacked by the former Prime Minister, Mr. G. R. Menzies, her? to-’ day. “Why, every now and then, does it become necessary for u.s to declare a that man for man we ar? better than the Japanese?” he asked. “So far w. have had defeats, and they have been administered by people who have: 1 arned more about the art of war I than we have. Let us admit that and we will be well on the way to recovery.” A straught look at ourselws would not dampen our patriotism, he declared. The fire within us was no flickering flame to be put out by the. first gust of wind.

lave been in the harbour when the BELATED VICTORY PREDICTED FOR AMERICA New York, Sept. 24. Representative Warren G. Mag- , nuson (Washington) said: “An American victory over Japan will not be won until long after the European war is over.” He added that Americans and Japanese in the Aleutians were not very active, and that one side or the other was going to start moving. However, dislodging the Japanese from the i Aleutians, or elsewhere, would be an j extremely costly and long process, as | had been demonstrated in the Solo- | mo ns. ' Mr. Magnuson was recently apI pointed to a House Committee to in- ! vestigate the position of the Aleutians. AMERICAN SHIPS LOST Washington, Sept. 24. I The Navy Department announced I the loss of the destroyer Jarvis and ! the auxiliary transport Little in the I Solomons area. It is believed that i approximately 250 lives were lost. I The destroyer was damaged by j enemy planes off Guadalcanar in the I Solomons several weeks ago, and it is presumed she went down while going from Tulagi to a southern repair base. The loss of the two vessels brings i the total of American ships sunk or ' damaged since the Solomons action began to eight. Against this, the Japanese have had at least 22 shi*ps sunk or damaged. CANNIBAL FEAST RECRUITING GROUND FOR NATIVE LABOUR New York, Sept. 23. | The New York Times’ Honolulu correspondent relates, in a story datelined "On an advanced airfield on a South Pacific island," how an American sergeant interrupted a cannibal feast to recruit native labour to help j build an airfield. | Captain Martin Teem, at Ellajayga, isaid:—"Navy Marines working toI aether in the rush building of an air- | field needed native labour but could i rot get enough here so we sent a sergeant tc the other island. When he -e.uhed a village there, natives wear* I ing a single wooden belt coconut-husk I 1.-nn-cioth were just finishing a feast j of which the main dish was 10 women [stolen from the chief of the other j trioe. It seems that Tribe A stole and I ate the wife of the chief of Tribe B. j Therefore Tribe B retaliated and stole j the other chief's 10 wives. When they [had finished the meal the sergeant | dickered with them. They agreed to I come and help us for a certain period because they had heard others had received good treatment and wages I from the Americans."