LARGER FORCES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 October 1942, Page 3

LARGER FORCES

EMPLOYED BY BOTH SIDES IN NEW GUINEA MOUNTAIN BATTLE. FLYING FORTRESS RAID ON RABAUL. (Special Australian. Correspondent.) SYDNEY, October 22.. Both sides are employing larger forces in the Owen Stanley Range struggle. Heavier fighting has developed, and the Japanese have been forced from a defensive position near Eora Creek village. War correspondents believe the enemy is now being slowly driven from the last geographical feature which lends itself to a stand in the high ground of the mountains. Once their present posts are vacated the Japanese will find themselves on the steep slope to Kokoda, where attempts to halt an advancing force would be extremely difficult.

The Japanese are now “on the edge of the range” beyond Eora Creek. The descent is rapid, and in one section drops 2400 feet in little more than two miles.

Poor visibility hampered observation of the results of a recent raid by Flying Fortresses on Rabaul. However, airmen were able to report fires and heavy explosions among shipping, while fires were also started round the airfield. Raids on Timor and New Britain are also reported in today’s communique. North American B2s’s sank a launch with machine-gun fire near Gasmata, on the south coast of New Zritain, and strafed the Chores of Luschan Harbour, 17 miles west of Gasmata. The Timor raid was carried out by Hudson bombers on reconnaissance, and the target was the village of Maobisse. There are large enemy barracks at Maobisse, where Portuguese troops were formerly stationed. Reports of the raid say that serious damage was done.