THREAT FROM REAR

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 3, 29 September 1943, Page 5

THREAT FROM REAR

Enemy Garrison At

‘Finschhafen HEAVIER PRESSURE (By Telegraph. —Press Assn.— Copyright.) (Received September 28, 10 p.m.) ■SYDNEY, 'September 28.'

Advanced elements of the Australian force attacking Finschhafen, New Guinea, from the .south are -reported to be closing in on the Japanese positions on the ridges overlooking the town. These troops moved inland to outflank -the Japanese positions guarding the approach from the south, and these .positions are now threatened from the rear. The enemy is still resisting stubbornly from strong defence positions ini the Burnt River area, but increasing land and air pressure is 'being brought to (bear on him. Today’s .communique from General MacArthur makes no mention of the Allied force advancing from Lae to close the trap on Finschhafen. It was reported yesterday to have reached Hanisch harbour, 25 miles south-west of Finschhafen.

In the Markham Valley the Australians have pushed up the Yati River and occupied Sagerak, eight miles, north-west of the enemy outpost at Kaiapit which was captured a week ago. Tliis force is steadily squeezing the Japanese outposts into the narrow confines of the New Guinea seaboard. . The aerodromes at Wewak, the enemy base on the north coast of New Guinea, received another heavy pouuding on v>maday from our Liberator bombers, which dropped 33 tons of explosives on the supply and dispersal areas at Dagua and But, starting fires visible 30 miles away. At Dagua bombs scored direct hits on six parked aircraft. Lightnings shot down three of the 20 Japanese fighters which attempted to intercept the bombers. In a raid on Hansa Bay, between Wewak and Madaug, Liberators effectively concentrated 28 ions of bombs in supply and bivouac areas at the Nubi and lotsdnm plantations, starting many fires. All our planes returned from these raids. There was little air activity in the Solomons on Sunday. Allied aircraft on reconnaissance off Choiseul Island bombed and strafed three small coastal vessels, one of which was left sinking. Enemy planes bombed a small Allied vessel oh the coast of Vella Lavelle Island, causing damage and casualties.

CALLING THE TUNE Allies In New Guinea

MELBOURNE, September 28. “The initiative has been taken from the Japanese and we are now calling the tune,” said the commander of the Allied land forces in the South-west Pacific, 'General Blarney, on his arrival at an airport near Melbourne. “The campaign m New Guinea has gone very well and our losses have been very light. There has been a definite lowering of morale of the Japanese since the fighting at Buna and Gona. , , “It is obvious that the enemy has changed his opinion about his own invincibility. He has discovered that things are a little more difficult than he expected. The change has been brought about by our superior equipment, superior troops and superior air force, and by our initiative. Our troops are of outstanding quality. They have a high standard of morale and training. You just cannot hold them.

“This is one of the outstanding features of the whole New Guinea campaign. The co-operation of the American Navy and Air Force with the Australian ground forces has been extraordinarily good. It is a happy association altogether. “The fighting in the Finschhafen area is a development of our successes at Salamaua and Lae. The fall of Finschhafen is only a matter of time.” General Blarney said that at present he thought Wewak was the strongest of the other Japanese bases in New Guinea, Very considerable Japanese reinforcements had just arrived at Wewak when the Allies struck recently and destroyed the bulk of them.

JUNGLE LANDSLIDE American Army Officers’ Adventure (Oflieial Correspondent.) •SOUTH PACIFIC BASE, September 5. Hungry, footsore, aJid weary, lost in the jungle at night 30 miles, as it seemed, from anywhere, after experiencing a landslide and being forced to abandon their peep, two young U.S. Army officers, Captain Stanley Lambert and Lester Hofman, were relieved to hear a voice answering their calls in a strange tongue. In a few minutes a Melanesian native appeared out of the shadows, a palm leaf torch in his hand to light their way to his primitive straw-thatched trellissided hut. The native threw some seeds in boiling water and made a brew that tasted something like tea. It seemed like home to the tired whites, who had set out in the morning to track down a report~thc sort of report that has to be gone into —that two Japanese were hiding out in a certain cave in that' area. The preceding day they had ploughed along tortuous miles in their peep, therr route nothing but mule tracks that looked impassable, with slanting hillsides above and deep ravines below. Then the landslide came, and the road itself gave way under the rear right wheel till the peep rested solidly on its axle. This meant abandoning it for a 32-mile walk in the pouring rain with nothing but 10 gum drops for food. So they were glad to hear a hospitable Melanesian voice, and to be led afterward by a native on horseback to a native village, whose chief amazed them, by his knowledge of the American Civil War, as well as of the present war and the ideals of the democracies. From this village they were able to get transportation back to camp, having . established that the report of Japanese in the vicinity was false.