FIGHTING IN NEW GUINEA

Evening Star, Issue 24328, 17 October 1942, Page 5

FIGHTING IN NEW GUINEA

THE AUSTRALIAN ADVANCE PRESSURE ON ENEMY MAINTAINED (N.Z.P.A. Special Aust. Correspondent) SYDNEY, October 10. The Australian troops in the Owen Stanley Ranges are maintaining pressure on the Japanese, but no reports have been received of a further advance. The Australian drive is, however, believed to have been delayed rather . than halted by the enemy. Fighting in the ranges was loss severe yesterday, with only limited combat activity. War correspondents writing from New Guinea say that rapid gains cannot bo expected in the present area of the fighting, where advances can only be made painfully yard by yard. Our ground troops were again supported by Havoc and Airacobra aircraft, which bombed and strafed enemy positions in a sweep along the Japanese supply trail. Enemy installations at Salamaua were also attacked. Australia’s Air Minister (Mr A. S. Drakoford) to-day described the Havocs, which have been much used in the strafing operations along the Kokoda trail, as “ powerful and yenemons aircraft.” They have a cruising speed of more than 2-10 miles an hour. North of Australia, the Japaneseoccupied village' of Aileu', 10 miles south of Dilli, in Timor, was heavily attacked yesterday afternoon by Hudson bombers. Before the war Aileu was a station for Portuguese soldiers, and. was the seat of the Provincial Government. Targets bombed were a row of rock houses which the Japanese might be rising as barracks. Considerable damage was done. AMERICAN PURGES OPERATING ON MANY FRONTS WASHINGTON, October 15. The Secretary for War, Mr H. L. Stirason, disclosed that the first negro flying squadron was nearly ready for overseas combat duty, but ho did not reveal whore it will Ibe sent. He also said that American forces were now stationed in Now Zealand. Mr Stimson referred to the mounting activities of American airmen in cooperation with British airmen in Europe, North Africa, andi the Mediterranean, and in army patrol operations in China and India. Tanks and motor vehicles were assembled in Eritrea and were forwarded from there to the British armies in North Africa. A. series of landing fields had been formed through the heart of Africa for planes en route to India, Egypt, China, and Russia. Mr Stimson also disclosed that American supply troops in the Persian Gulf were hastening the flow of equipment to the Russians in the Caucasus. Within a few days after occupation the army built an airfield on Andreanpff Island, which 12 days later was used by medium and heavy bombers and fighters. They had thus changed the entire picture in the Aleutians, providing an immense base from which the Japanese in Attu, Aggattxi, and Kiska could be successfully attacked, making the Japanese position there extremely hazardous. AIR FORGES IN NEW ZEALAND (Rec. 9.45 a.m.) NEW, YORK, Oct. 15. ... The ‘ New York Times’s ’ Washington correspondent says the official announcement that American soldiers have joined the marines in the Solomons, where the army air force has been operating since the start of operations, was made coincident with Mr Stimson’s statement showing that American army units are now scattered through most of the Pacific bases. _ , It was specifically revealed officially for the first time that both army air and ground forces are now in New Zealand. New Caledonia, the New Hebrides, and the Fiji Islands. Hitherto New Zealand and New have been known primarily as American naval bases. U-BOAT IN ST. LAWRENCE QUEBEC, October 15. A submarine torpedoed and sank a mcrchantiiian in a small convoy off Metis Beach, 180 miles upstream from the mouth of the St. Lawrence River. This is the furthest point upstream that a sinking has taken place. Twelve persons are missing, and 18 were rescued. RUDOLPH HESS MILITARY PRISONER OF WAR (Bee. 11 a.m.) LONDON, Oct. IG. It is authoritatively stated in London that Hess is a military prisoner of war, and not a prisoner of state. A RUSSIAN VIEW (Rec. 11 a.m.) LONDON, Oct. 16. ‘ Izvestia ’ says to-day that there is no reason to postpone until the end of the war the punishment of Hitlerite chieftains who have fallen or fall into .the hands of the United Nations. The world cannot and must not delay their punishment. AXIS ACTIVITIES IN MARTINIQUE WASHINGTON, October 15. Negotiations to remove the menace of Axis activities from Martinique are approaching a satisfactory conclusion, said Mr Sumner Wt’lles at a Press conference. Mr Welles added that it was gratifying to, know that Russia agreed, that war criminals should! bo punished, but he declined to comment on the proposal to try Hess immediately. WATER USED TO CHRISTEN SHIP NEW YORK, October 15. Declaring that well water was good enough to rear her boys to fight for their Country and was good enough to use for christening a ship, Mrs Lou Cordell, of Oklahoma, successfully applied for permission to use well water when she launches the navy tug Choctow at Charlestown on Sunday. CHILE DETAINS NAZI DIPLOMAT NEW YORK. October 15. The Chilean police detained in a seaside resort Dr Hans , Borchcrs. a former German Consul-General in New York, and three men wore arrested last week as German spies. The Associated Press correspondent in Santiago, reporting this, said Borehers, who was ordered from the United States after tin* closing of the German Consulate, a rived in Chile in March without diplomatic or consular credentials*