TANKS IN NEW GUINEA

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 276, 22 November 1943, Page 5

TANKS IN NEW GUINEA

AUSTRALIANS PRESSING JAPS BACK

TOUGH JUNGL; FIGHTING

'Special Australian Corrc ••or.dcf’t -,’iZ.F.A ' Recd. 8.40 p.m. Sydney, Nov. 21.

Tank formations are supporting Australian infantry pre sing against the Japanese at Satelberg. kt was revealed to-day that heavy Matilda tanks have been ope rati . since the beginning of the presen! drive. Respite the dense jungle and treac .crons muddy terrain they have had considerable success.

Australian troops are forcing the Japanese back yard by yard to the Satelberg township, their last stronghold on Huon Peninsula. New Guinea. Attacking from three sides, the Australians have formed a semi-circular line about a mile from the town. Fighting is bitter through the heavy jungle and up the steep slopes, with enemy machine-gun nests and foxholes commanding all the jungle tracks. The Japanese are also employing artillery to give support to their entrenched troops. These enemy positions are being incessantly attacked by Allied planes, which during four days’ fighting have blasted a path for our ground forces. Australian 25-pounders and American rocket-guns are also supporting the advance. However, much of the fighting is taking place at close quarters, with the Australians driving the Japanese from strongpoints by the use of hand grenades. ’ Although the enemy has a substantial force in and around Satelberg, the supply problem may limit his ability to fight a long campaign. The Australians are numerically - superior and the close air support which they are receiving must be a big factor in the battle now raging. This new Australian offensive began last Wednesday. Dense jungle has prevented any assessment of the Japanese casualties but ours have been light. Tokio radio, reporting the fighting at Satelberg. claims that the Japanese repulsed an American tank-sup-norted attack. It says the Americans left four tanks and 500 dead, while the Japanese losses were eight killed and seven wounded.

The Japanese retreated to the Satelberg hills when the A.I.F. troons captured Finschhafen, 10 miles to the south-east, on October 2. Later in the month the Japanese attempted a drive to the coast but were repulsed with heavy losses. The heaviest air activity reported: in General MacArthur's week-end communique has been in the Northern Solomons, where Admiral Halsey’s bombers are relentlessly pounding the Japanese aerodromes in an effort to keep them out of commission. Saturday’s communique reported the destruction of 18 enemy planes In the Solcmons. Sixteen were shot down when our Corsair fighter patrols intercepted a force of about .35 escorted torpedo and dive-bombers attacked our shipping south cf the American beach-head at Empress Augusta Bay. We lost two Corsairs in this air battle but the pilot cf one has been saved. INQUIRY MAY BE HELD SUPPLIES FOR SOUTH-WEST PACIFIC Recd. 10 p.m. New York, Nov. 21. The United States Senate Military Affairs Committee may hold an inquiry to find the amount of war supplies being sent to the South-west Pacific. The inquiry has been proposed by Senator Arthur Chandler, a member of the committee who recently toured the war zone. The New York Sun columnist, David Lawrence, says that the quantities or supplies being sent to General MacArthur are the results of decisions by American joint Chiefs of Staff, and adds: “The impression that General MacArthur is not getting a fair deal must evidently prevail at his headquarters, because Press despatches from there seem to convey scepticism and doubt.” The Christian Science Monitor correspondent, Joseph Harsch, says probably the best tip for an early conference between President Roosevelt, Mr. Churchill and Marshal Stalin is General MacArthur’s latest reminder of insufficient forces. “Preceding each Roosevelt—Churchill conference there are little flurries of Press statements emanating from General MacArthur's headquarters. They always say the South-west Pacific is insufficiently supplied—so when it came a few days ago observers concluded that General MacArthur knew another big strategy conference was impending.” Colonel Frank Knox told his Press conference the Allies were ahead ot schedule in their campaign to drive the Japanese from the South-west Pacific. He discounted the likelihool that Japanese Fleet units were en route for the Southern Pacific, declaring that no enemy surface forces had been encountered in the area since November 2, when American Marines landed on Bougainville. use ofaTrweapon IMPORTANCE IN PACIFIC Recd. 6 p.m. London, Nov. 19. The Pacific campaign will depend on aircraft even more than the fighting in Europe and North Africa, said Lord Strabolgi in an address to workers at an aircraft factory in western England. “The need for aeroplanes will increase as the war develops,” he said. “Germany’s general military situation is worsenhi.g, and German resistance might collapse suddenly, although we must be prepared to right the Nazis with all our might right to the end.

“Then we have to race the formidable task of defeating Japan. We will need immense quantities of long-range aeroplanes of several specialised types to blast the Japanese from tneir outpost island fortresses, and then carry the war to the Japanese archipelago. “Japan will be defeated by a combination of air, naval, and land forces working in harmony. Without the air weapon Japan is in a strong position, but. overwhelming air power will render her vulnerable.

“The final campaign in the Pacific will see a crescendo in air power on a scale undreamed of a few years ago.”