CONVOY TO NEW GUINEA.

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23962, 1 June 1943, Page 5

CONVOY TO NEW GUINEA.

SEARCH FOR EJSEMI SHIPS JAPANESE TRYING TO SUPPLY WEWAK (Special Australian Corresp., N.Z.P.A.) tßec. 10 p.m.l SYDNEY. May 31. Flying through storms and heavy clouds, Allied reconnaissance bombers have searched withoift result along the north New Guinea coast tor a Japanese convoy of four mediumsized transports escorted by two destroyers, thought to be attempting to land reinforcements and supplies in the Hansa Bay area, midway between Wewak and Madang. After a temporary improvement on Saturday, flying conditions throughout the south-west Pacific area have again deteriorated. The convoy was last seen on Saturday evening, when a 5000-ton transport was damaged by a near miss and left smoking off Hansa Bay. The absence of further news of the ships does not mean that they have left New Guinea waters. They may be sheltering along the coast under the adverse weather which protected them on their voyage to New Guinea, hiding them from air observation. • If the ships have succeeded in disembarking supplies as well as reinforcements at a point along the coast east of Wewak, the gain will be a valuable one to the Japanese in the area, who have been largely dependent upon the limited supplies which can be brought to them by barges hugging the coast. However, some commentators suggest that the bombing attack by a single Liberator on Saturday may have caused the convoy to turn aside out of range of Allied bombers. This has happened on earlier occasions. Hansa Bay is the landing stage for the powerful enemy base of Wewak, 90 miles to the west. When first sighted by an Allied reconnaissance aeroplane on Friday, the convoy was well out to sea about 70 miles east of Wewak. The movement of the convoy indicated the enemy’s nervousness about the possibility of Allied air. attacks. On Saturday evening the ships were 12 miles north-east of Hansa Bay. A 20-year-old American, Lieutenant Lark Martin, of Georgia, was the pilot of the reconnoitring Liberator which first sighted the ships on Saturday. An anti-aircraft shell fired by an accompanying Japanese destroyer put his radio out of commission and so damaged the hydraulic system that the aircraft was left without landing brakes. Then a patrol of nine Zeros, probably based on the nearby Nubia airfield, was sighted, the Zeros showed no eagerness to fight, but the remaining four pressed home the attack. After two had been shot down and a third badly damaged, the remaining attacking Japanese fighter broke of! the engagement and rejoined its more discreet companions.

COMMANDOS IN NEW GUINEA

AUSTRALIAN UNIT’S EXPLOITS (Special Australian Corresp,, N.Z.P.A.) (Rec. 7 p.m.) SYDNEY, May 31. Fighting against basic ,odds of never less than 40 to one, an Australian commando unit which harried the Japanese for several months in the Lae-Salamaua-Mubo area of New Guinea, killed, more than 500 of the enemy for the loss of only 12 of its own men. This unit, commanded by. a 25-year-old Western Australian, LieutenantColonel Norman Fleay, made a remarkable raid on Salamaua last June. With the announcement that Lieutenant Colonel Fleay has been awarded the D.S.Q. for resource, daring, and. devotion to duty, the story of the unit’s exploits has now been released. After his return from service in Libya. Greece, and Crete with the 6th Division of the A.1.F., LieutenantColonel Fleay took his independent commando company to Wau, in March last year. Before the Salamaua raid he led a reconnaissance party of five officers, who sneaked into the town and counted the Japanese there. “We then took a picket detachment of 70 Bren and tommy-gunners into Salamaua at 8 o’clock one night," said Lieu-tenant-Colonel Fleay. telling the story of 'the raid. “For five hours we hid under houses listening to the Japanese walking above us. At 1 o’clock I fired a Very pistol to signal the attack. Simultaneously every Japanese sentry was shot dead. Then we threw grenades irto every enemy-occupied house. Each Japanese who came out was killed. We fired 300 rounds from our mortar. “By dawn we held the place absolutely, but the Japanese could bring reinforcements quickly from Lae. so I decided to move out. We had killed 100 Japanese without loss to ourselves, and captured many valuable documents. Within half an hour of our departure Japanese fighter aeroplanes began to search for us, and we had to dodge them fpr hours. One of our party was missing, but he turned up two days later. He had not heard the signal to withdraw, because he was hunting for souvenirs.” The unit raided Mubo on several occasions. Once a scout went into the village with a box camera and photographed the Japanese garrison lined up on mess parade. These commandos fought a lone campaign almost to the time when the enemy made his recent unsuccessful bid to capture Wau. Then they shared the work of driving the Japanese back to Mubo. Only after this had been 'done did their leader return to Australia on leave. Apart from the 500 of the enemy killed, this independent unit cost the Japanese a considerable number ot casualties. Once Lieutenant-Colonel Fleay himself was missing for some days When a junior officer was wounded, he held off the pursuing Japanese and took to the bush after killing three of them. On the fourth day he reached food supplies, and that night he encountered a party of his own men who had set out in search of him.

TRAINING IN JUNGLE FIGHTING

GENERAL MACARTHUR VISITS CAMPS (Special Australian Corresp.. N.Z.PA.) SYDNEY, May 31. General Mac Arthur has just completed a surprise tour of jungle training camps scattered throughout the bush country of Northern Australia. To make as extensive a survey as possible of the Allied troops in training, he flew hundreds of miles by bomber. The first known of his arrival was when he announced himself to the commanding officers. . , , . General Mac Arthur wished to see routine training and not specially prepared exercises. He lived with the troops in the field and accompanied an artillery unit on manoeuvres. During the tour, General Mac Arthur visited the Australian headquarters of Lieutenant-General Robert Eichelberger, who commanded the American troops at Buna. He saw soldiers in almost every arm of the service preparing for the coming battles in the south Pacific General Mac Arthur paid particular attention to infantry training based on the lessons of the fighting in New Guinea.