HEAVIER FIGHTING

Evening Star, Issue 24333, 23 October 1942, Page 3

HEAVIER FIGHTING

NEW GUINEA CAMPAIGN

JAPANESE FORGED FROM DEFENSIVE POSITIONS

(N.Z.P.A. Special Aust. Correspondent)

SYDNEY, October 22. Both sides are employing larger forces in the Owen Stanley Range struggle. Heavier fighting has developed, and the Japanese have been forced from a defensive position near Eora Creek village. War correspondents believe that the enemy is now being slowly driven from the last geographical feature lending itself to a stand in the high ground of the mountains. Once their present posts are vacated the Japanese will find themselves on the steep slope to Kokoda, where attempts to halt an advancing force would be extremely difficult.

Flunking attacks by strong Allied forces were responsible for the latest Japanese reverse. It had been stated officially that the Allied drive continues to be successful .and that enemy defences in depth are being steadily overcome. The Japanese are now “on the edge of the range ” beyond Eora Greek. The descent is rapid, and in ono section the trail drops 2,400 feet in little more than two miles. ALLIED AIR RAIDS.

Belated news is given to-day of an Allied attack on Japanese shipping at Rabaul last Sunday. The raid was made by a small force of Flying Fortresses- at the same time as four coordinated attacks were being made on the enemy fleet off Bougainville Island and the aerodrome' at Bum (these attacks were reported in last Monday’s communique from General MacArthur’s headquarters. Three cruisers are believed to have been among the enemy ships damaged.) Poor visibility hampered observations of the results of the Rabaul raid, but the airmen were able to report that tires and heavy explosions occurred among shipping, while fires were also started around the airfield.

Raids on Timor and New Britain were also reported in to-day’s communique. North American B 25’s sank a launch with machinegun fire near Gasraata, on the south coast of New Britain, and strafed the shores of Luschan Harbour, 17 miles west of Gasniata.

The Timor raid was carried out by Hudson bombers on reconnaissance, and the target was the village of Maobisse. There are large enemy barracks at Maobisse, where Portuguese troops were formerly stationed. Reports of the raid say that serious damage was done.

R.A.F. EXPLOITS

" AUSTERITY " REPORTS 1H FUTURE

LONDON, October 21

' “ Austerity is being introduced into all official announcements about the R.A.F. as the result of stringent instructions from the Air Ministry,” states the aeronautical correspondent of the ‘ Daily Mail.’ “ Superlatives are banned from descriptions of R.A.F. exploits. Cold, bare facts are demanded. and estimates of the damage done by R.A.F. raids must be couched in the most general and conservative terms. Specific claims are to be withheld rintil corroborated by photographs.” “ Recent communiques have devoted no- more than 50 colourless words to bombing operations involving hundreds of planes, thousands of airmen, and sometimes the devastation,- of large areas of enemy property.”

FAMINE IN CHINA (British Official Wireless.) (Roc 1 . 11 a.m.) ~RUGBY, Oct. 22. The Chinese Government reports that prompt measures have been taken to ameliorate famine in Honan province. Thirty-five per cent, of the grain tax payable had been remitted and food is being rushed from the neighbouring provinces where harvest is good.