JAPANESE ADVANCE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20876, 31 August 1942, Page 3

JAPANESE ADVANCE

PORT MORESBY PUSH FROMMILNE BAY BITTER JUNGLE FIGHTING (By Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright.) (Special Australian Correspondent.) (10.30 a.m.) SYDNEY, Aug. 31. Fighting of bitter intensity, with no decided result, continues at Milne Bay, on the south-east tip of New Guinea. Here, in the steamy heat and mud of the jungle, the Japanese are meeting the first serious organised resistance offered to them sinccthey began their southward drive from the areas north of Australia. Under cover of thick haze, which reduced air visibility almost to nil a Japanese cruiser and eight destroyers on Saturday night put into Milne Bay. Further enemy reinforcements may have been landed. The original enemy force in the area is now revealed to have come from three small transports. Although no estimate has been, given of the numbers this force is believed to comprise tiained guerrilla fighters who fought in assaults on Malaya, Netherlands East Indies and the earlier New Guinea landing. The latest reports indicate that the Allied position has deteriorated, the Japanese having advanced within 200 miles of Port Moresby. The arrival of eight enemy warships :'n the bay emphasises the enemy’s determination to secure his bridgehead which is being hotly contested. Veteran Australian Imperial Force troops, back from overseas, as well as militiamen, are opposing the landed forces. They are supported by a small number of American service troops. Fighting is now in its fifth day. Air operations against the invader have been considerably hampered by adverse weather conditions. Brilliant Fighter Support The latest Allied Headquarters • communique makes no reference to the attacks on enemy warships newly arrived in Milne Bay, but somewhercin the same sector our bombers attacked a single Japanese destroyer which is believed to have been damaged. The brilliant Allied fightei plane support lor our troops in the area has been given exclusively by Australian pilots, including men who have won decorations for their combat records in Britain and the Middle East. One squadron has four Distinguished Flying Cross winners. The Allied bomber aircraft are manned by Americans. Despite bad weather the Allied airmen during the past week destroyed at least 31 Zeros in the New Guinea sector. The Allied losses were two machines. Tropical rains have bogged the jungle tracks in the area in which the Japanese have dug in. Fighting is taking place in the jungle fringing the narrow strip of beach where the Japanese landed last Wednesday Their landing point was several miles from the head of the bay, which extends 38 miles inland. The enemy speedily infiltrated through the dense jungle where their green uniforms made detection difficult. The first parties brought ashore mortars and machine-guns. The capture of the Milne Bay area would give the Japanese an air base to protect a frontal sea-borne attack on Port Moresby. Australian observers, however, feei that an appraisal of the future possibilities would be cautious. Should the weather further deteriorate, our difficulties will increase. Skirmishing continues in the Kokoda area of Papua, but all the Japanese attempts to advance in this sector have been repulsed. Patrol clashes are also reported for the first time in the Bulolo area, about 35 miles south-east of Lae and 150 miles north-west of Port Moresby. This indicates that the Japanese forces have infiltrated along the Markham River Valley from their base at Lae Bulolo has one of the most important airfields in New Cuinea. Enemy Aedromes Founded The enemy aerodrome at Rabaui was the target l'or attack by heavy bombers of General MacArthur’r command during the past 24 hours. Ten tons of bombs were dropped on runways, buildings and aircraft dispersal areas. Six Zeros were intercepted by our planes. Two were destroyed and two probably destroyed. A reconnaissance plane in the same area, shot down two more enemy fighters. Other Allied bombers attacked an enemy aerodrome at Buka, in the northern Solomons. On Friday Allied medium bombers raided enemy positions in Milne Bay. but bad weather on Saturday did not permit a continuation of the attacks. The Allied Headquarters communique also reported that north of Australia an Allied air unit attacked an enemy cargo vessel near Amboina with unknown results. Further heavy destruction of Japanese aircraft is reported in a supplementary communique just released by General MacArthur’s Headquarters. At Buna, Papua, our medium bombers, with a strong fighter escort, made a low-level attack on an enemy airfield. One Zero was demolished by a direct bomb hit and four more Zeros and one bomber were destroyed on the ground by Other enemy planes were damaged by bomb blasts. Three large fires were started in the dispersal area. A small formation of Japanese bombers, flying too high to be seen, attacked the Darwin area in moonlight shortly before dawn on Friday. The bombing caused no damage and no casualties. This was Darwin’s thirty-second raid and twelfth night raid. Japanese soldiers are known to New Guinea natives as ‘‘two-toes men’ because of the tracks left in the mud by their two-pronged shoes. These light-weight shoes have a separate compartment for the big toes, enabling tire wearer to climb trees more easily and quickly and overcome steep or muddy obstacles which would delay a soldier in ordinary heavy boots.