FIJIAN COMMANDOS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 276, 22 November 1943, Page 2

FIJIAN COMMANDOS

PRAISED BY AMERICANS (SpecC.-.l Australian Correbprr.dent—N.Z.T.A.) Sydney, Nov. 19. American Iroop* fighting in the Solomons have a fervent admiration for the South Pacific scouts—New Zealand and Fijian commandos—who ■ire si often their eyes and ears. Siiecially trained for jungle fighting and reconnaissance, these men have brought back valuable military information. They have also made swift guerrilla sorties al f.niecteu points, invariably inflicting heavy casualties on the Japanese at small cost to themselves. “These steady, cool New Zealand officers and men with their Fijian comrades have done their job without a fanfare, without recognition—except from those who serve,” writes a United States correspondent in the Solomons. “In the final stages of the battle for Munda airfield, New Georgia, the scouts were attached to the American 37th. Division, whose commander, Major-General Robert Beighler, was so impressed that he commended them in an official letter from his headquarters.” The scouts were trained in Fiji, and American soldiers credit them with possessing the faculty of being able actually to smell out the Japanese. They arrived in the Solomons in time to participate in the extermination ot the Japanese on Guadalcanar. Here,, they made sorties against the enemy's, rear, infiltrating into his positions al l night, destroying guns and equipment,: and nemoralisiitg his forces, thus pav-l ing the way for the American drivel along the coast. ; When the American troops occupied; the Russell Islands, the scouts heade'T the invasion forces, but their first major role came in the New Georgia campaign. Since then they have been prominent in every Allied move in the Solomons. The commander of the scouts is Major Charles Tripp, described by a United States Army correspondent as a “sandy-haired, tactiturn, pleasant Scot who was a Canterbury farmer—a rancher—from that double island country down under.” The second in command is Captain David Williams, a “curly-haired rancher” from Hawke’s Bay. . Both Major Tripp and Captain Williams have performed many notable exploits of jungle fighting, but the correspondent says he had to find out about their deeds from the men who served under them. The two officers were voluble only in praise of their troops.