HOW OUR MEN ARE FIGHTING

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 19, 18 October 1943, Page 6

HOW OUR MEN ARE FIGHTING

Jungle Allows _No Dash SUSPENSE, SILENCE PERSEVERANCE (Official War Correspondent, N.Z.E.F.) VELLA DAVELLA, October 1. ■Quickly finding that jungle warfare gives no play for dashing charges and j the storm tactics of oi>en battlefields, ■’New Zealanders on Vella Lavella have i-mouldeu their tactics .to the conditions land developed a stoic -perseverance twhich. is 'bringing steady but slow sue- • cess. . .

In this first Pacific campaign against >a cunning, relentless enemy, our men are -engaged in a dual task —that of elimniat•ing the 500 or 600 Japanese still on ihe ■■'island and that of learning from prae‘tical experience of battle conditions lessons that will stand them in good stead' »in future engagements. Dogged patience and thorough reconnaissance are halt the ' battle in this type of warfare. Those woo tformed the small New Zealand patrols /which, with native guides, pin-pointed the I Japanese positions during the days proceeding the opening of the attack, somp; itimes creeping barefoot to within i-yards of enemy bivouac areas, showed t.ic !method and the way that brought their reward and saved expensive casualties m the ensuing campaign. Lessons From Islanders. They learned their lessons from blackskinned Solomon Islanders, withou-. whose help and knowledge ot bushcratt the task of locating large bodies ot the enemy would have been protracted. Arte, the American invasion of this island, the ' Japanese retired toward the north, drifting in small parties to a headquarters area in the hilly bush country. A,y picked their position well. Timbala 1 >:>.•’ has natural defences in gullies that run down to the sea, in undergrowth tlucw with fronds of five or six feet high ferns ■and studded with a multitude of trees from thin saplings to tour-foot thick jungle veterans. Their camps were close to the shore and though one through which the New Zealanders passed was on bare ground with little cover from view W fire, the other not yet fallen was sited •jn the midst, of the enemy s perimeter of ' defence. Bound this headquarters a d ■within a few hundred yards of it, the New Zealanders are now’ ij’ing quietly and watchfully eliminating snipers posts and machinegun nests one by one, creep iiio- forward a foot or two at a time. iitew of the front line troops have yet seen a Japanese. Those who have been wounded saw and heard none till the but let hit them. Perhaps a rustle of a leal by which the enemy hoped to draw fire and learn the ‘New Zealanders position, or the waving of boot or hat—the same tricks that brought tne Japanese such success in the early months of the war and which the New Zealanders expected and for which they were fully prepared. Making Every Shot Count. • With the Japanese it is. a case of matching patience with patience; so our men went forward toward them caustiously, firing only when a target presented itself and making every shot and every grenade count. When progress is held up, as it was once by a stubborn enemy machine-gun nest, our line withdrew and the Japanese were plastered .with !•-> minutes of artillery firy from 2u-pound-ers, during which time 360 rounds were concentrated into a narrow’ strip of. jungle. The Japanese were much quieter, ' and a patrol pushed its way past the enemy’s right flank to Uniomo Island, ■which was found to be evacuated. Patience is needed most in the rain and. in the dark. The rain blots out all other noise in the jungle, making enemy infiltration a moment-to-moment possibility. A man must lie motionless, then, as never before, despite the torrential downpour which soaks him to ’the skin and saturates his gear, as it did for six hours the other day. He listens in suspense for every unaccustomed stirring. When the rain ceases he must .still lies silent for the squelch of his wet clothing will easily be detected. He has no hope of ■drying out, for the sun cannot penetrate the jungle. He waits as he waited before for the Japanese to lose patience first. There is always a temptation to shoot in the dark at the rustling of a rat in the bushes or the wallow of a crocodile in the mud of the coast. That must not be, for one burst of fire may bring a grenade, mortar bomb or bullet to the spot from which the shot comes. The suspense must be borne. Patience is" the watchword.