TERRIFIC FIRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 February 1942, Page 3

TERRIFIC FIRE

BOTH WAYS ACROSS STRAITS OF JOHORE MAJORITY OF AUSTRALIANS IN FORTRESS. AFTER PUTTING UP MAGNIFICENT FIGHT. LONDON, February 6. A message dispatched from Singapore last night stated that the Battle of Singapore has begun in Earnest. The British and Japanese guns yesterday exchanged terrific fire across the Straits of Johore from dawn to sunset, while high-flying Japanese bombers attacked shipping and lighter divebombers strafed various areas in the island. The island’s artillery silenced several Japanese guns and also destroyed observation posts. There were no signs that the Japanese were massing ships for an attempted crossing to the island. Today’s Singapore communique reports no change in the situation. British artillery continues to shell enemy movements toward the straits. Our troops in the forward areas have been subjected to low-level dive-bombing and machine-gunning attacks by enemy aircraft. The Australian Army Minister, Mr Forde, said today that the great majority of Australian troops in Malaya had reached Singapore fortress safely. After expressing sympathy with the relatives, Mr Forde said the fight put up by the Australians was a magnificent one against overwhelming odds. Whenever they met the Japanese they proved greatly superior man for man and inflicted heavy losses, and they stopped the enemy’s progress whenever they engaged them in battle. Mr Forde said he had received advice from Major-General Bennett that the Australian casualties had not been as heavy as was at first feared. AID FOR SINGAPORE COLONEL KNOX CAUTIOUS. WASHINGTON, February 5. The Secretary of the Navy, Colonel Knox, declined comment to reporters on General Wavell’s announcement that British-American aid was being hurried to Singapore. “I honestly don’t know the answer to that one,” he said. A member of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate said that the Secretaries of War and the Navy in secret hearings gave the committee a full report on the strategic situation in the Far East, and it was an encouraging picture insofar as long-term activities were concerned.