JAPANESE MAY HAVE WITHDRAWN

Southland Times, Issue 24869, 8 October 1942, Page 5

JAPANESE MAY HAVE WITHDRAWN

NO SIGN OF ENEMY IN OWEN STANLEYS (Special Australian Correspondent, N.Z.P.A.) (Rec. 9.45 p.m.) SYDNEY, October 7. The Japanese are believed to have evacuated the Owen Stanley Range. The Australian forces moving forward from Kagi towards the highest point of Hell’s Gap have not encountered any of the enemy. The original cautious theory that the Japanese would make a stand on the highest ground of the range is being replaced by the view that the enemy, having proved the impracticability of a backdoor land offensive against Port Moresby, is now following his Milne Bay precedent and withdrawing his forces, which have proved unequal to their task. The Australian Broadcasting Commission war correspondent, Hayden Leonard, today goes so far as to suggest that “the Japanese, having bitten off more than they can chew in the Owen Stanley area, may now be preparing to abandon New Guinea.” Several factors support the impression that a single Japanese transport which left Buna early on Monday may have evacuated the enemy troops who have survived the Owen Stanley jungle campaign:— . _ _ (1) For eight days since the capture of the loribaiwa Ridge the advancing Australians have encountered no organized resistance. (2) In the 35 miles from the loribaiwa Ridge to Hell’s Gap no enemy prepared positions have been found. (3) Our fighter planes strafing the trail from Kokoda to Buna have detected no heavy movement of enemy troops and supplies. (4) For some weeks the Japanese have made no attempt to fill in bomb craters on the now useless Buna air-field. (5) The Wairopi bridge has not been attacked by our aircraft during the past two days, leading to the conclusion that the Japanese have made no attempt to repair the damage done in earlier attacks. (6) The small convoy leaving Buna, apparently for Rabaul, was strongly protected by Zero fighters, suggesting that troops may have been carried. “Buna by Christmas,” which at first was a wishful catch-cry among the Australian troops, has become invested with the possibility of earlier fulfilment as the Australian advanced patrols move on through deserted villages.