LIKE WILD ANIMALS

Waikato Times, Volume 131, Issue 21910, 14 December 1942, Page 3

LIKE WILD ANIMALS

JAPANESE IN PAPUA (United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) (Received Dec. 14, noon) SYDNEY, Dec. 14 Wounded Australian soldiers back from the Buna and Gona front tell stories of some of the world’s most savage fighting. Many have serious wounds and bone fractures caused by the explosive light machine-gun bullets now being used by the Japanese. The bullets, which explode after penetration, cause shocking wounds. “Most of the men hit by them were killed, but those who survived had dreadful injuries,” said one wounded man. All were full of praise for the “fuzzywuzzy angels” (native stretcher bearers). These natives had an intense hatred of the Japanese. Our soldiers had found the outraged and mutilated bodies of native women near the Japanese camps. •‘The Japanese are more like wild animals than men,” declared a soldier who was wounded in the Gona fighting. “Even when their position is hopeless they refuse to surrender and have to be blasted out of their holes.” The unanimous opinion among returned men is that the “beginning of the end” has arrived for the Japanese in New Guinea. The powerful air support being given the Allied ground forces is the decisive factor, and the “biscuit bombers” supply planes which deliver ammunition and food stores within a few miles of the battle area have solved many of the earlier supply problems.