INITIATIVE WITH AUSTRALIANS

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 18, 16 October 1942, Page 5

INITIATIVE WITH AUSTRALIANS

New Guinea Fighting (Bv Telegraph. -Press Association.) (Special Australian Correspondent.) (Revived October 15, 11.30 p.m.) SYDNEY, October 15. There is every indication that the Australians are making determined efforts to oust the Japanese from their posts in the heavy jungle in the Templeton’s Crossing area. The enemy vacated their forward positions in this area on Tuesday. As the Australian pressure has increased, the Japanese seem to have repeated their Milne Bay defensive strategy of withdrawing to fresh positions, becoming progressively stronger as they have retreated. An Allied headquarters spokesman said today that “our Hanking patrols have been active and successful,” but there was no elaboration of that statement. It appears, however, that the initiative lies strongly with the Aus l tralians. The Japanese are stated to be using mortars, but no artillery has yet been employed by either side. On Wednesday, Allied aircraft, including North American attack bombers, raided the Japanese north Papuan bases of Buna and Lae, but both raids were primarily for reconnaissance purposes. Light anti-aircraft Are was encountered at Lae. Our planes also "bombed unstated objectives in the Wairopi area. Rigours of Jungle Fighting. A word picture indicative of Jhe rigours of the present lighting in the New Guinea jungle is given by Lewis Sebring, New York "Herald Tribune” correspondent, of the dramatic arrival of 33 Australian soldiers at an advanced camp after 44 harrowing and heart-breaking days in the Owen Stanley jungles. "The Australians,” he says, "were the remnants of a party of 50 who met the Japanese on the north side of the range late in August. Outflanked and outnumbered, they painfully traversed secret native trails to the south side, ultimately Teaching a river, where they boarded native rafts for an eight-hour trip to the camp, where I watched them land. “Sunken eyes looked at us from bearded faces as the Australians, in tattered uniforms, painfully shifted from their sitting positions on rising to reach for •utstretched hands. They seemed dazed as they stepped on to the bridge and ■wearily climbed the bank, clutching at personal odds and ends of equipment. _ “The crowd parted as the Aussies crunched up the gravel. Men who had not yet been in the fight looked in awe at those who had. Two ambulances received half a dozen wounded who had walked through the jungle with the rest. • One limped from a piece of Japanese shrapnel in his back. Others had bandaged legs and arms. ■ “A colonel, watching every move of these men, commented that, despite the condition in which they arrived, they carried all their firearms, ammunition and equipment. That is a great tribute to the leadership and discipline of these troops.”

CURTIN VERY SATISFIED LONDON, October 15. After today’s meeting of the Australian War Cabinet in Canberra, the Prime Minister, Mr. Curtin, said he was very satisfied with the, situation in New Guinea.'