NEW THREAT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 August 1942, Page 4

NEW THREAT

ENEMY LANDING IN PAPUA

PORT MORESBY MENACED.

DIFFICULT COUNTRY INLAND

The landing of a force at Buna, a little more than half-way down the northern side of the long south-east “tail” of New Guinea, brings the Japanese within 110 miles of Port Moresby, the often, but unsuccessfully, bombed capital of the Australian dependency of Papua. Hitherto, Port Moresby has been attacked mainly from Lae and Salamaua, 200 miles due north, but now, if the Japanese succeed in establishing aerodromes near Buna, the new bases will be only half an hour’s flight distant across the peninsula. However, that is a game that two can play at, and the resistance to the enemy’s landing shows that he is not likely to be left in anything like quiet occupation.

Whether the Japanese are likely to send a land expedition against Port Moresby when they have assembled enough men and equipment for the purpose has yet to be seen. All the evidence suggests that it would be a formidable undertaking, even for troops with an aptitude for jungle warfare. Between the ports the peninsula is traversed by two lines of mountains. About 25 miles inland from Buna, across a coastal lowland, is the Hydrographers Range. Beyond this is the valley of the Mambare River, which flows north-west, parallel with both coasts, and then turns almost at a right angle to enter the sea about 60 miles above Buna. North-westward of the river bend is a great mass of mountains about 50 miles wide and 100 miles long, rising to more than 13,000 ft in Mount Albert Edward, in the centre, and Mount Victoria, some 25 miles off the direct line between Port Moresby and Buna. This mountain group includes more than half a dozen other peaks above 10,000 ft high. It forms part of the peninsula’s backbone, which narrows between the Mambare River and Port Moresby to the Owen Stanley Range, of only moderate width and averaging under 10,000 ft in height. Between the range and the capital is broken country occupying a dry belt with a rainfall of about 39in in the year. According to a cablegram published recently, the only route across the range is a footpath traversing a pass 7000 ft high. The mountain country, as in other parts of New Guinea, is extraordinarily rough, overgrown and precipitous. If land fighting is provoked by the Japanese, there are plenty of Australians who know the forests well, aided by native police whose bushcraft and fighting ability have been proved repeatedly in troubles with wild tribes.