SAVAGE MASSACRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 August 1943, Page 4

SAVAGE MASSACRE

OF AMERICAN WOUNDED IN NEW GEORGIA DELIBERATE JAPANESE ATROCITY. AMERICAN OFFICER'S REPORT. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.50 p.m.) NEW YORK. August 9. A tight-lipped American, Lieutenant Nicholas Kliebert, has given details of the massacre of American wounded by the Japanese at Munda, in New Georgia.

He told a United' Press correspondent how eleven men he commanded, who were guarding 40 wounded men in ’litters and 100 walking wounded, battled with 300 Japanese for seven hours at night, killing 175 of the enemy. “The Japanese were advancing against our wounded.” he said. “I set up a box defence and the Japanese streamed towards us. We had to stop firing to let our only two machine-guns, which were white hot, cool off. Meantime we tossed grenades ,but the Japanese saw our guns could not be used, and swarmed, yelling, among our wounded. They stood one man against a tree and five of them bayoneted him. Many of the Japanese nulled the blankets off the litters, lined up the helpless wounded, and used jnachetes on them. They cut one mail from the top of his head to his Leet, and then shot him. Five of my men, in frenzy, dashed in and out, doing things one would not have believed possible, felling many of the enemy. Then the Japanese began on the foxholes where the walking wounded were crouched. They threw a grenade into each foxhole. We ran out of ammunition when there were seven of us left. Five escaped, but the other two were hacked to pieces. Later we found that the men I had assigned to hide the wounded had escaped and had hidden twenty cases in the jungle. The unarmed medical personnel with the wounded were the bravest men I have seen.”