U.S.A. TROOPS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 June 1942, Page 4

U.S.A. TROOPS

PREPARATIONS IN NEW CALEDONIA READY TO MEET ENEMY. WELL EQUIPPED FORCE. SYDNEY, May 30. United States troops in New Caledonia are in battle positions, ready to meet the Japanese, says the Sydney Daily Telegraph’s New York correspondent, quoting a cablegram despatched to the New York Times from Noumea. Numerically strong, the Americans are splendidly equipped, the correspondent says. They are thoroughly established as a living, working, fighting force. Their job is to make this strategic Free French island (1077 miles northeast of Sydney) an impregnable Allied stronghold in the South Pacific. Preparations for conflict against possible invaders are being strenuously increased. Extensive defence construction has been carried out. The troops are training for the type of bush warfare which the countryside would demand. x Troops themselves have unloaded an dhormous amount of cargo and trucked, it to various centres. They have reconditioned roads and reopened railways. They have changed the face of Noumea and fill the shops, while a constant flow of military transports speeds between houses. Sandbags, barbed wire, trenches, and squads of marching men have given a wartime grimness to the island. Troops in summer khaki can be found the whole length of the island. The men are in splendid physical condition, but they are apt to become bored because there are no amusements, except a few cinemas showing French pictures. Radios and gramophones have been widely distributed among units to relive the monotony. They are able to listen-in to San Francisco and Australian stations. Two Americans have married here, but unattached girls are scarce. The mosquitoes are enormous and annoying, but non-malarial.