EFFECTIVE TRAP

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 December 1941, Page 3

EFFECTIVE TRAP

SET BY BRITISH TROOPS ENEMY DETACHMENTS AMBUSHED. COUNTER TO INFILTRATION TACTICS. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright/ (Received This Day. 9.40 a.m.) SINGAPORE. December 28. Japanese troops who walked into a British ambush on the Perak front took off their boots and climbed trees, in attempting to escape the British fire. They were allowed to complete their climb before our snipers accounted for them one by one. An official account of this successful ambush says: “Enemy forces . were known to be approaching our positions. Japanese scouts, who were bicycling, were allowed to pass unmolested. in order to lead the main body of troops into a trap. The action proceeded as planned and the enemy's main body met a withering fire. About thirty bodies were subsequently counted lying on the road, while our artillery fired with good effect against enemy troops further to the rear. After this reverse the enemy attempted an outflanking movement, which had been anticipated by the British, who prepared a similar trap and a further thirty enemy dead were counted. In the second ambush the Japanese obviously were bewildered. During the course of this action our troops did not suffer a single casualty. The significance of 'this successful encounter is not in the material losses to the enemy, nor in the matter of sixty dead. It is considered more important as an indication that the British commanders have possibly devised an effective method of dealing with the problem of Japanese infiltration methods.