STREAM OF SUPPLIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 August 1942, Page 3

STREAM OF SUPPLIES

MOVING TO SOLOMONS U.S.A. NAVY DEPARTMENT REPORT. OPERATIONS PROCEEDING (By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright) (Received This Day, 11.45 a.m.) WASHINGTON, August 14. The Navy Department announc-, ed that a stream of supplies is moving to the Marine forces in the Solomons, where they are consolidating shore positions and making satisfactory progress. “Naval units,’’ the communique adds, “are engaged in protecting our lines of communication and escorting supply vessels to our occupying forces. United States Army and Allied shorebased aircraft are continuing their attack on Japanese air bases and ship concentrations in an enemy-held harbour.”

AMERICAN MARINES HIGHLY TRAINED FORCE GREATLY EXPANDED. USE OF AMPHIBIAN TANKS. LONDON. August I,'!. While it is (rue that little over a year ago the American marines, with a total establishment of 53,000 officers and men. did not have sufficient trained personnel for all the demands that were already being made on them since December 7, they arc a force which has rapidly expanded and which has always specialised in landing operations from the sea, and since 1776 they have carried out more than 200. From the known quality of the Marine Corps and from the character of Admiral Ghormley and his staff it can be taken that the fight will be carried to the Japanese all the time it is humanly possible to do so. The reported presence on the islands of American tanks leads to the assumption that the force has had at its disposal one of the Marine Corps’s latest weapons. These arc land-and-water tractors, commonly known as “Alligators.” which are designed to plough through surf and over beach obstacles and carry within each one light tank-gun carrier or other combat vehicle. The paratroops which have been reported undoubtedly belong to the Marine Coips. For more than a year the corps has been training its own air-borne troops: and. significantly, their rigorous training has included jiu-jitsu. They would not have been flown from distant land bases of the Allies but from the marines’ own ships.