NEW GUINEA STRUGGLE

Evening Star, Issue 24285, 28 August 1942, Page 3

NEW GUINEA STRUGGLE

FRESH JAPANESE LANDING

ALLIED PUKES INFLICT HEAVY LDSSES (N.Z.P.A. Special Aust. Correspondent) SYDNEY, August 26. Japanese forces have landed at Milne Bay, on the south-east tip of New Guinea. General MacArthur’s headquarters have announced that our forces anticipated the movement and are in contact with the enemy. The landing was made with heavy' losses_ in the face of fierce attacks by Flying Fortresses, Marauders, and Kittyhawks. Extremely bad weather probably assisted the enemy landings by hampering the Allied air attacks, but the convoy has since taken a relentless hammering. Our planes have sunk a transport, heavily damaged and probably sunk a cruiser, and damaged a destroyer Six landing barges were also destroyed, and fires were started among supplies ashore. Our air attacks are reported to be continuing, and, in spite of adverse weather, they are being pressed home from low altitudes. Milne Bay, which is near Samarai, is 220 miles east of Port Moresby and 420 miles from the closest point on the Australian mainland. The convoy from which the enemy landed was attacked by our fighterbombers near the Trobriand Islands on Tuesday, when a gunboat was sunk and two transports were strafed. The statement that the convoy was small is believed to indicate that the enemy troops landed are not in largo numbers. Milne Bay offers sheltered waters, and a move by the enemy in this direction has been anticipated since the Buna landing. The bay is about 10 miles wide across the entrance and 20 miles deep. The foreshore is flat and is fringed with mangroves. There are no largo settlements, but the area is one of the most cultivated in New Guinea. _ Several crocodile-infested creeks run into the bay. . The enemy landings were made without air support, and some observers suggest that this lack of air support is connected with the spectacular Allied coups against grounded Japanese fighters in Buna. Thirteen planes were destroyed in raids on Tuesday, and on Wednesday six more were added, making a total of 19 in two days. The fact that the Japanese have been caught off guard on two successive days supports the contention by_ a headquarters spokesman that it will bo difficult for the enemy to establish an air base in this sector of Papua in the face of our air opposition. Our aircraft, flying across the Owen Stanley Range, give little warning of their approach to the Japanese. Conversely, our ground forces on the northern side of the ranges are able to give adequate warning to Port Moresby when enemy aircraft are about to make attacks.

NONSTOP AIR BLITZ

LAND FORGES AT GRIPS

LONDON, August 28. News of operations in New Guinea is that Allied planes are keeping up a non-stop blitz on enemy troops who landed on the south-east coast. Land forces are also at grips with the enemy. Enemy troops, supplies, and transports have been under constant fire.