ADVANCE ON MADANG

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 October 1943, Page 3

ADVANCE ON MADANG

STEADY PROGRESS MADE BY AUSTRALIANS EXPLORATION OF ENEMY DEFENCES. DEEP UNDERGROWN WORKINGS. (Special Australian Correspondent.) SYDNEY, October 11. Japanese troops retreating up the Ramu River valley toward Madang in the face of advancing Australian troops are restroying bridges in a vain attempt to stem the pursuit. The Australians, who are less than 45 miles south-west of dhe big enemy base of Madang. are now mainly occupied with enlarging the area they control before attempting direct assaults on Japanese coastal strongholds. At the week-end. Vengeance divebombers supported Allied troops engaged in mopping up Japanese remnants in the hills round Finschhafen. Small pockets of hidden enemy soldiers were cleared out. These enemy oldiers are mostly marines, who are described by an Australian war correspondent as the “most enthusiastic diggers on earth.” Subterranean passages have been cut into all sections of the New Guinea plantation areas. To get to one of these shelters situated on a hillside, Australian infantrymen found it necessary to climb down a 25ft. ladder and the main passage extended 60 feet to a covered exit on lower ground. From the main passages. annexes were cut where marines the elite of Nippon’s warriors, lived and slept in damp and stinking quarters.

Not the least acceptable to the booty which victory has placed in the hands of the Australians has been chickens from poultry runs which appear to form an integral part of Japanese garrison establishments. The Australians had been living on an unrelieved diet of bully beef for a long time.