ABSOLUTE SECRECY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 December 1942, Page 3

ABSOLUTE SECRECY

t MOVEMENT OF ALLIED FORCES REASON FOR PAPUAN SUCCESS. Si MR CURTIN REVIEWS WAR POSITION. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) CANBERRA, December 10. Reviewing the war on the various battlefronts, the Prime Minister, Mr Curtin, said the success of Allied operations in New Guinea lay in the absolute secrecy of movement of the Allied forces in this area. The offensive here might have been taken much earlier had not two Australian brigades returning from the Middle East been diverted for the defence of Ceylon. In Timor, Australian guerilla forces had been doing bold work. When the , time came, it was important that .Australia should be ready and able to eject Ihe Japanese from their base in this region. The results in the Solomons, declared Mr Curtin, were a good omen for the ultimate result of the. South Pacific conflict. Touching on the North African and Middle East battlefronts, the Prime Minister said that in the Eighth Army’s latest drive, the Australian Ninth Division had lost 2,740, of whom 620 were killed. . ’ Shipping was a grave problem for ourselves as well as the Japanese, since the offensive stage of Allied strategy had created an extremely heavy demand for sea transport. In Australian waters enemy submarine action had been on a reduced scale, as the result of good work by Australian and American naval forces. While the Australian Government had been able to secure some additional shipping from overseas sources and the Commonwealth’s own shipbuilding programme was assisting materially, the position was still acute.