SLOW PROGRESS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 17 October 1942, Page 5

SLOW PROGRESS

FIGHTING IN PAPUA AUSTRALIAN PRESSURE MAINTAINED GOOD SUPPORT FROM AIR Sydney, Oct. 16. Australian troops in the Owen Stanley ranges are maintaining their pressure on the Japanese but no reports have been received of a further advance. However, the Australian drive is believed to have been delayed rather than halted by the enemy. Fighting in the ranges was less severe on Thursday with only limited combat activity. War correspondents writing from New Guinea say rapid gains cannot be expected in the present area of fighting, where advances can only be made painfully yard by yard. Our ground troops were again supported by Havoc, North American and Airacobra aircraft which bombed and strafed enemy positions in a sweep along the Japanese supply trail. Enemy installations at Salamaua were also attackedAustralia’s Air Minister, Mr Drakeford, to-day described the Havocs, which have been much used in strafing operations along the Kokoda trail as “powerful and venomous aircraft." They have a cruising speed of more than 240 miles an hour. North of Australia, Aileu, a Japa-nese-occupied village ten miles south of Dilli, in Timor, was heavily attacked on Thursday 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 using as barracks. Considerable damage was done.—P.A. Special Australian Correspondent. O.C. OF AIR FORCES PROMOTED Washington, Oct. 15. President Roosevelt has promoted Major General Kenney, O.C. of Allied Air Forces in the South-West Pacific, to Lieutenant-General. —P.A. U.S. OCCUPY ANOTHER ALEUTIAN ISLAND Washington, Oct. 16. Alaskan headquarters announced that American ground forces occupied another island of the Andreanofs, in the Aleutian group, without opposition from either land or sea.—P.A.