VOLUNTEER RIFLES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 January 1943, Page 3

VOLUNTEER RIFLES

CORPS WITH GALLANT RECORD IN EARLIEST FIGHTING IN NEW GUINEA. SURVIVING MEMBERS ACTING AS GUIDES AND SCOUTS. (Special Australian Correspondent.) SYDNEY, January 21. The first men to go and fight for their homes on Australian territory, the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles, today celebrated the first anniversary of their call-up for full-time duty. The unit, which did magnificent work in the early days of the Japanese south-, ward drive, has now been disbanded. At its peak the unit numbered more than 500, its members being scattered over a vast area in New Guinea and New Britain. Many have died or are prisoners of the Japanese, but some are still in action in the jungle warfare. The New Guinea Volunteer Rifles were formed at Rabaul in September, 1939, with subsequent detachments on the New Guinea mainland at Lae, Salamaua and Madang. Mainly it was composed of returned soldiers from the last war, and men over the age for enlistment, and most of them had many years’ experience of the territories in which they were stationed. On January 21 of last year, when the alarm was given in Rabaul that a Japanese invasion fleet was approaching, the unit took up full-time duty. The local detachment fought till all their ammunition was expended, only seven eventually escaping to Australia. In New Guinea the volunteer, riflemen took charge of areas from which the civilian populations had been evacuated, and they were the only Australian soldiers there when the Japanese landed some weeks later. In patrol activities they inflicted many casualties and gained vital information concerning the strength, armaments and likely plans of the enemy. Today those members of the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles who are still on active service are acting as guides, scouts and liaison officers in the territories with which they are so familiar, and them local knowledge has been a major factor in many of the jungle warfare successes scored against the Japanese.