BRIEF BUT TOUGH OPERATION

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 201, 23 May 1944, Page 5

BRIEF BUT TOUGH OPERATION

Capture Of Wakde Island LONDON. Mav 21. The campaign which captured Wakde Island was the most brief in the series which have pushed the Japanese steadily west in Dutch New Guinea. The American troops landed on the Island on Thursday and the annihilation of the enemy was completed shortly before dusk on Friday. General MacArthur’s headquarters reDSJlsthat the Japanese casualties were ?c i ed 'o<?’' lle American casualties were 1(1 killed, 83 wounded and two missing. A war correspondent who accompanied the Americans says that the Japanese on Wakde fought as fanatically as in any of the earlier New Guinea campaigns. Elements of the Japanese 36th Division which participated in the capture of Singapore garrisoned the island. They were, supplemented by members of a sharp-shooter company. Most of the American casualties were inflicted by enemy snipers. In contrast with their earlier poor reputation as marksmen, the aim of the Japanese sharpshooters was often unerring. Many of the rifle grenades used by the enemy garrison were Australian and they also used American machineguns. Besides being perhaps the most spectacular of the recent operations in the South-west Pacific. Wakde .also proved one of the toughest.