COMPLETE SURPRISE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 September 1943, Page 3

COMPLETE SURPRISE

SPRUNG ON JAPANESE ' IN NEW GUINEA SUCCESS OF ALLIED LANDING NEAR LAE. LARGE-SCALE AMPHIBIOUS OPERATION. (By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright) SYDNEY, September, 6. 11l the largest amphibious operation ever launched in the New Guinea zone, heavy forces of Allied troops have landed north-east of the important Japanese base at Lae. The landing, which began early on Saturday morning, was,, a complete surprise to the enemy and little opposition was encountered. The Japanese line of communication with their base at Finschhafen has been cut and the investment of the Lae-Salamaua area is now under way. The landing was the culmination of six months of careful planning and was one of the best-kept secrets of the Pacific war. The first landings were made by crack troops of a famous A.I.F. division who were supported by a terrific naval .bombardment and protected by a smokescreen laid by Allied warships. General MacArthur is in personal command of the operation and with him are General Blarney, Vice-Ad-miral Carpenter and Lieutenant-Gen-eral Kenney, commanding respectively the land, sea and air forces engaged. GENERAL BLAMEY’S SURVEY. News of the invasion was first given to war correspondents by General Blarney, who called a special conference at his New Guinea headquarters. General Blarney was obviously delighted at the reports so far received, but he warned that Lae is well defended, and will not be taken easily. “It is he best organised position the Japanese have established anywhere along the coast of New Guinea, with strong beach defences and an outer perimeter of defence works,” General Blarney told the correspondents. “We are going to take Lae and kill every Jap. If any‘want to be prisoners we will take them. We learned at Guadalcanal, Buna, and Munda that the Japanese will have to be dug out. If the enemy wants to come out into the open and fight, that will give us the greatest pleasure. “The recent operations against Salamaua, which were led by Major-Gen-eral Savige, were largely a feint to attract the attention of the Japanese while the final preparations for the invasion of Lae were being made. The campaign was planned as far back as the battle for Wau, in January, and since then we have done a great deal of work and fighting. We have built roads and fought the Wau-Salamaua campaign over some of the bloodiest and most poisonous country in New Guinea. ‘Salamaua is now doomed. It 'must surrender or starve. For the Japanese there can be no reinforcements and no escape. “The landing north-east of Lae has now trapped and cut off the enemy from his Finschhafen base, and no roads suitable for large bodies of troops lead from this area. The only retreat is by the sea.” EFFECTIVE AIR BLOWS. The latest communique from General MacArthur’s headquarters announcing this successful operation also reports a simultaneous attack on Lae itself by Allied heavy bombers which dropped 96 tons of explosives, blotting out gun positions and installations. After the battering of Lae on Friday, when 84 tons of bombs were dropped and pilots described the whole place as a shambles, the Allied air forces have won another smashing victory over New Guinea. Near Morobe, on the coast, about 70 miles south of Salamaua, our fighters swooped on a formation of medium and dive-bombers, escorted by 35 Zeros. In a fierce battle, 21 enemy planes were shot down, including 16 fighters, four bombers and a flying-boat. We lost two planes. The communique also reports heavy aerial blows against Japanese objectives in the New Britain group. The main enemy base of Rabaul was subjected to a four-hour harassing attack by Allied medium bombers, causing fires and explosions at Vunakanau and Lakunai aerodromes, and anti-aircraft positions at Rataval were bombed and silenced.

Medium bombers made two daylight raids on Gasmata, on the southern coast. An aerodrome was bombed and' strafed. Anti-aircraft positions were, silenced and fires started. One bomber was shot down by ground fire. At Cape Gloucester, on the western tip of New Britain, medium bombers, with a fighter escort, bombed and heavily strafed anti-aircraft positions, supply dumps and bivouac areas round the aerodrome, causing fires. Beaufighters in a coastal sweep in western New Britain destroyed or damaged 32 enemy barges at various hide-outs. Off Cape St. George, New Ireland, a night reconnaissance unit bombed and strafed a 2000-ton enemy cargo ship, starting fires at below and stern. Kahili -aerodrome, on Bougainville Island, in the central Solomons, was again the target for Admiral Halsey’s bombers, which destroyed four grounded planes. It has now been revealed that in the raid on Kahili on Friday five enemy fighters were destroyed in air combat. Medium and heavy bombers attacked barge hide-outs on Kolombangara Island.