FATE SEALED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 September 1943, Page 3

FATE SEALED

REMNANTS OF LAE GARRISON ‘CUT OFF BY AIR PATROLS & PARATROOPS. , GENERAL MACARTHUR’S COMMENT. • (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) I SYDNEY, September 19. Only a handful of Japanese were found among the ruins of the base of Lae, when it was encircled by Australian troops. Scattered elements of the enemy garrison are heading for the foothills of the Atzera Ranges, but their fate is sealed, as strong A.I.F. patrols and American paratroops, arc waiting for them on the mountain trails. General MacArthur, in a special message, said: “The Lae victory, accomplished in face of superior forces available to the enemy, represents a serious blow to him. With God’s help we are making our way back.” Next to the American’s capture of Guadalcanal in the Solomons, where the original garrison was estimated at 1 40,000, the Japanese Lae-Salamaua garrison is the biggest cleaned out in the Pacific war. The garrison’s strength was first estimated at 20,000, but later General Blarney said that the estimate had been “pruned.” > The Japanese deathroll at Lae has not been compiled, but nearly 1000 killed in the fighting around the base have been counted. AIR WARFARE RAGING IN SOLOMONS. HEAVY JAPANESE LOSSES. SYDNEY, September 19. Allied air forces in the central Solomons are maintaining day and night attacks on Japanese aerodromes in the Buin-Faisi area at the south end of Bougainville Island. In an attempt to interfere with the offensive, the Japanese are throwing in large formations of fighters, 30 of which have been shot down by Allied planes in two days’ air operations in the area for the loss of six Allied aircraft. At least another eight Japanese planes have been destroyed on the ground. Since launching the Solomons offensive on August 7, 1942, up to last Tuesday Admiral Halsey’s navy aircraft and '■ General Harmon’s army planes have destroyed 2136 Japanese aircraft. American troops have repulsed a Japanese attack on Arundel Island, between the New Georgia and Kolombangara Islands in the Solomons. The Japanese made the attack after several hundred troops succeeded at nig it in re-inforcing the enemy garrison holding the north-eastern corner of the island.