(NEW GUINEA ADVANCE

Evening Star, Issue 24326, 15 October 1942, Page 5

(NEW GUINEA ADVANCE

AUSTRALIANS DRIVING ON ENEMY POSITIONS PENETRATED (N.Z.P.A. Special Aust. Correspondent) * SYDNEY, October 14. Australian troops have penetrated the Japanese positions astride the Owen Stanley Range south of Templeton’s Crossing, just past the summit of the ranges. They are still driving on. The strength of the enemy forces in the area has not been announced. Skirmishes in which tommy-gun fire was exchanged occurred after opposing patrols had stalked each other on Monday. It was reported to-day that determined frontal and flank actions finally drove the Japanese from foxholes, trenches, and machine-gun posts, and that the Australians wore now approaching Templeton’s Crossing, which is on the edge of the northern slopes of the ranges at the junction of alternative trails through Kagl and Myola (both are already in the hands of our forces). The latest report that the Australian advance is continuing encourages the belief that further good news from the -New Guinea front may be expected. Most of the war commentators believe that once Templeton’s Crossing is passed the Japanese are unlikely to offer strong resistance until Kokoda is reached at the foot of the ranges, a drop of 5,000 ft down a 12-mile trail. No estimate has been given of the number of casualties inflicted on the Japanese, but the Australian losses during the whole advance are stated to have been light, more men having been brought back_ to hospital suffering from tropical diseases than from wounds. MORALE OF TROOPS. Commenting on the morale of the advancing Australian troops, the ‘ Sydney Morning Herald ’ war correspondent, writing from New Guinea, says: “ I, think these men went into the fray this time in precisely the appropriate frame of mind. They did not go along the track singing and happy and making flamboyant statements about their anxiety to meet the Japanese. Nobody sings, and nobody can be thoroughly happy in the rain-soaked, stinking jungles of New Guinea, which are infested with all those things which fly, creep, or crawl, and pester man during his waking and sleeping hours. These fellows have gone back into the battle as angry as the devil at the Japanese for having made them tramp twice through the Owen Stanley Range. They told me they would square things up when they got into action. “ Their thinking is right in tune with that of a senior Australian officer plugging his way through to the front line. On his way he has addressed groups of soldiers wherever ho has met them, and the usual tone of Ids remarks has been that ‘ this time we are going to boat the little yellow , and I promise you that you will not have to walk back over these mountains. You will come back from Buna either by boat or aeroplane.’ ” ENEMY STILL IN STRENGTH, If the High Command strategy is in tune with the spirit of this senior officer’s remarks, the Australian advance will not cease until the Japanese are driven out of thejr North Papuan strongholds. A campaign so far from the Allied base at Port Moresby, however, would present grave difficulties. Evidence that the Japanese are still in some strength around Buna was found in to-day’s report from General MacArthur’s headquarters that American Havoc attack bombers, with , fighter escort, on Tuesday made a sweep over the Wairopi area and also strafed enemy barges on the beach. Heavy bombers made a night raid on an aerodrome at Buna, with results which are not known. CAPTURED JAPANESE AIRMAN KEEN TO JOIN ALLIES (Rec. 8 a.m.) NEW YORK, Oct. 13. Some of the Japanese flyers shot down in the South Pacific pleaded for a chance to become American or Australian citizens, so that they could join the Allied air forces. This was reported by Brigadier-general Porrin, who returned from Australia a month ago. He also told how the shorts worn by tbe Marines played a vital part in the rescue of a lost detachment of marines on Guadalcanal. A pilot flying a divebomber over an isolated part of the north shore observed white spots near a beach. He descended to investigate, and saw a single word “ Help,” which a group of marines, cut off on all sides by the Japanese, had formed by stripping off their shorts and spreading them on the ground. The pilot reported to marine headquarters, which then sent a plane, which shrieked down repeatedly while the gunner fired machine-guns to help the marines to fight their way through to the shore. Meanwhile two rescue boats escorted by a destroyer sped up the coast. The destroyer shelled the Japanese while the marines drove through to the beach. The rescue boats raced to the shore under a hail of enemy machine-gun fire which forced them to retire twice, hut on the third attempt they reached the shore and took off the entire party, POWER STATION DESTROYED MINOR COMMANDO RAID STOCKHOLM. October 14. Six Britisli soldiers landed from a warship to the south of Bodo and succeeded in blowing up an important power station, after which they were captured and taken to Trondheim. Unknown persons blew up the Maim pumping station to tbe north of Trondheim. as the result of which the mine shafts were flooded.

CANADA’S PART OVER HALF A MILLION MEN IN FIGHTING SERVICES (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, Oct. 13. “ Out of a population of fewer than 11,000,000 Canada lias over 500,000 men in the three fighting services who voluntarily enlisted for (general services anywhere,” said the Canadian Minister of National Defence (Mr Ralston) in London to-day. “The navy, which started from almost nothing at the beginning of the war, to-day possesses more than 350 ships, and this year’s plans will bring the total to 650 ships. In the Canadian active army there are 335,000 officers and men in Canada and abroad, and in the Royal Canadian Air Force there are already more than 130, QjX) officers and men.” The Canadian Minister of Munitions and Supply (Mr Howe) gave details of Canada’s war effort in industry, mentioning that, besides other activities, Canada was turning out one 10,000-toii merchant ship every three days.