JUNGLE PATROL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 1 September 1942, Page 1

JUNGLE PATROL

HEROISM AND HARDSHIP FIGHTING IN NEW GUINEA Sydney. Aug. 2i. “Our patrols have been active ... Behind this prosaic line in South-west Pacific headquarters communiques lie stories of hardships, of heroism, #f cheerless struggles against the exhausting terrain, of silent journeys and sudden actions. After weeks of skn mishing in the northern foothills of New Guinea’s Owen Stanley ranges, tales arc now being told of strange .lighting m this strange land. ; Much of the action occurs in under [growth so dense that a man can pass unseen only two yards away. A 1 [though the Japanese are using picked [commando troops, with special equipment (including green uniforms which [merge with the background), the story |of the campaign puts the Australian | patrols well on the credit side in the [number of casualties registered. In [such country, where opposing patrols often come upon each other around a !sudden track turn, much depends upon ! who fires first. Australians’ reactions •in such circumstances have been not- | ably and regularly quicker than those iof the Japanese. Latest Jungle Fighting Command j story tells how a 22-year-old West • Australian killed at least live of the l enemy in a northern New Guinea ! forest clash. He escaped with a bullet in his shouidei. While other member of his patrol were having a midday meal, he was one of the guards posted 'in the thick undergrowth. “I w r as holding my position when four Japanese, led by a native. approached within about ten feet,” he said. “ Previously I had counted more than a dozen moving through the forest. I did not move, as my job Avas to gain information of enemy strength but. unfortunately, my tommy-gun rustled the leaves and the quick-eared native heard. He swung around and pointed where I was hidden. I knew' I had to act fast. I fired from the hip, letting the Japanese have the full magazine. They were so close that I could hear the bullets thud into them. All four fell dead. “Quickly other Japanese began to close in. 1 was seen and shot in the shoulder. I jumped into a creek and into bush on the other side of it. Two of the enemy chased me with fixed bayonets. I fired my revolver at them. The leading one fell back into the water—but I couldn't wait to see yvhat happened to the other. At any rale, no more came after me and 1 got away.”

The Japanese invariably patrol in large parties, between 50 and 00 strong, moving with intervals of about 15 yards between each man. Each soldier carries a haversack made ol pony skin, with the hair on the outside to shed the rain, a rolled raincoat groundsheet. and either a sub-machine gun or a light bolt-action rifle. With uniforms of dark green cloth, they wear close-fitting steel helmets daubed with green paint, and brown canvas rubber-soled boots. In such large parties, mortars are normally included among the offensive weapons. Natives scout ahead of the patrol. Australian patrols usually number six soldiers, with two or three police boys as scouts. It is their practice to wait in ambush for the larger Japan cse patrols, taking up positions alongside the track or around jungle clearings. After a devastating surprise at tack the Australians make no effort to hold their positions. They retire immediately to hide in the darkest jungle recesses where they await the enemy's withdrawal. The Japanese system of dealing with an inferior patrol is unvarying. Their forces fan out through the untkfi growth, searching the target area with a methodical arc of sub-machine-gun fire. Any man who stands his ground is sure to be shot or captured. But ultimately, after an hour or more of searching, the Japanese withdraw taking with them their dead and wounded. Still the Australians make no attempt to move—for the enemy may have left behind snipers. Not until darkness comes do the men leave their hiding places, and move cautiously along a treacherous track to their base.

Although they have been more frequent recently, such encounters are not the daily lot of our patrolling forces. The former New Zealand journalist Osmar While, now a “Sydney Daily Telegraph" war cone spondent at an operational base, spent some weeks with Australian New Guinea patrols. He writes: “The most surprising truth I found about the work of these men was that it was neither spectacular nor exciting. It was mainly the dull, wearing, cheerless grind of existence and move ment in some of the world's most in hospitable forest and swamp-land. It was not an incessant fight against the* Japanese. It was an incessant fight against exhausting terrain, climate, disease, and accident. “The fight against the Japanese was almost incidental—a few minutes cf } blind action when patrois met. by ! chance or design, to contest some [trivial path, or when some long and ! arduously prepared raid against enemy | strongholds flashed into climax: at {most a jumbled hour of gunfire (grenade-throwing. kill-as-kill-can. P.A. Special Australian Correspondent.