FIJIAN COMMANDOS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 October 1943, Page 4

FIJIAN COMMANDOS

FIGHTING AGAINST JAPANESE ON GUADALCANAL & NEW GEORGIA EXCELLENT FRONT-LINE TROOPS (N.Z.E.F. Official War Correspondent) New Zealand officers and n.c.o.’s of the Fijian commandos who have matched their wits and weapons against the Japanese on Guadalcanal and New Georgia regard him as worthy of the most alert attention. They have met him mainly on patrols in front of Allied lines and well behind the Japanese positions. They have watched him from observations posts on hilltops, and have wormed to the fringe of enemy encampments to learn the size of his force, its dispositions and arms, and if possible to capture papers which might reveal plans of attack and defence. They have ambushed Japanese and been ambushed, by them. They have crept through enemy lines to make contact with isolated Allied units. They have cut Japanese wire entanglements and communications, gone to ground on the spot,.waited till enemy gangs arrived to repair the damage, and wiped them out en bloc from ambush. They were on New Georgia soon after the Americans landed, and were still there three days after Munda airfield was in American hands.

So the commandos ought to know something of the Japanese. Their contact has been closer, more intimate and more gripping in suspense than that of most other front-line troops. Their advice has been sought at conferences of high Allied military chiefs, as it will now be available for the New Zealand soldiers in their coming engagements. The first time the unit fought as a full commando was on New Georgia. It landed on Zanana Beach, about 7000 yards from Munda airfield, on July 2, a short time after the original American invasion. The Allies at that stage had established their beach-head, but the Fijians undertook to provide flank reconnaissance to give warning of any enemy counter-attack. Patrols moved out into the bush. Sometimes they travelled for miles without sighting the enemy, and would perhaps be away for four days. Sometimes they came upon Japanese ambushes and pillboxes within a few yards of the American lines. Sometimes they circled right round the Japanese, watching and waiting in the rear to gather information. They worked on compass bearing on most of these long patrols, for New Georgia was flat near the Munda field and had no prominent landmarks. Existing tracks, invariably ambushed by the enemy, were avoided whenever possible. The Fijians had patrols posted round the whole airfield a few days after the operations started. Not once did their observation of the field slacken.

The outstanding lesson learned by the Fijian commandos is the saipe as has been learned by all troops in the Asiatic and Pacific fronts: That the Japanese will never quit while he has strength to fight and a weapon to fight with. One by one he must be eliminated, which may account for the protracted and stubborn fighting reported

from areas in which he has been met and beaten back.