LULL IN FIGHTING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 February 1942, Page 4

LULL IN FIGHTING

ENEMY REORGANISING AWAITING FURTHER REINFORCEMENTS. ISLAND OCCUPIED BY JAPANESE (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 11.50 a.m.) WASHINGTON, February 12. The War Department reports that there has been very little ground or air fighting in the Tataan Peninsula in the past twenty-four hours. The enemy is reorganising his forces and awaiting additional supplies of reinforcements before resuming his offensive. The island of Masbate, near the centre of the Philippine archipelago, has been occupied by Japanese troops. Reports reaching General Macarthur’s headquarters from occupied areas in Luzon indicate that the Filipino farmers who were evicted from theii’ homes by the Japanese crowded into Manila or have hidden in the mountains to escape the Japanese. As a result there is a great scarcity of labourers to tend the crops and food supplies are becoming scarce. The Japanese Gen. Homma has issued a proclamation urging farmers to return to their farms to secure food supplies promptly as starvation or prosperity will be determined by their efforts.