JAPANESE LEARN TO RUN

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 7, Issue 44, 28 January 1944, Page 4

JAPANESE LEARN TO RUN

NEW tactics adopted by the Allies in the New Guinea and Solomons campaign are yielding good results. For perhaps the first time in the Far Eastern war the Japanese have taken to flight in the face of attack. They were driven out of Choisuel in disorder and there is reason to hope that they will be annihilated in Ramu. Valley. Already the area is under fire from Allied artillery and American and Australian forces are closing in on all sides. There seems little hope of the enemy escaping by sea and they can be expected to make a last desperate stand in Madang. Since the: recent Allied landings from the air the campaign has taken on a different complexion. Before, the Japanese had contested every inch of ground, as they had done at Buna and Gona and in all other early spheres of action. It was necessary to dig every man out of his foxhole, and at night the enemy often regained lost ground. Japanese morale, if their mental attitude could be described as such, was apparently unbreakable. Long after hope of victory or even escape had gone they still fought on doggedly. But there was a notable change in the latter stages of the battle for Salamaua. The Japanese have at last learned to run when the pressure becomes too heavy, and that aspect of the Japanese character may develop. It seems certain that the most forward Japanese positions were manned by carefully selected and trained troops who were ready to die in defence of the perimeter posts. Not all the Japanese army is composed of such men. As the solid outer ring is broken it may be found that the average Japanese soldier is not as doughty a fighter as the special front line soldier. It will be remembered that for years the Japanese had been preparing a special force of about 400,000 men as the spearhead of the southward drive. Casualties of war and disease have probably taken a heavy toll of this force, and it is questionable whether it can ever be: replaced by men of equal calibre. The average Japanese is not a superior type. .