THROWN BACK

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 October 1943, Page 3

THROWN BACK

IN ATTEMPT TO REACH COAST TRAPPED JAPANESE IN NEW GUINEA. AUSTRALIANS INFLICT HEAVY LOSSES. (Special Australian Correspondent.) SYDNEY. October 24. The trapped Japanese forces near Finschhafen have been thrown back in their drive toward the coast. Australian Ninth Division troops have flung the Japanese out of the-village of Katika, north of Finschhafen and only a mile from the coast. The enemy left behind more than 500 killed, bringing the total of their dead since the Australians captured Finschhafen on October 2 to nearly 1200. The Japanese, who number several housand in this area, began their drive to the coast from the Statelberg hills, north-west of Finschhafen. They had retired to these hills following the fall of Finschhafen. Heavy casualties and material losses arc believed to have been inflicted when Liberators, on Thursday, dropped 221 tons of bombs on enemy positions near Statelberg. Big explosions suggested that our bombs had touched off munitions dumps. Previously the heaviest bomb-loads, dropped in New Guinea were 206 tons on .Madang on September 3, and 177 tons in Salamaua on July 14. It is thought that probably the enemy in the Statelberg hills was reinforced in the last few weeks by troops who travelled overland from the north. These troops may have been assigned to reinforce the enemy’s defence at Finschhafen. The assumption is that they arrived after the town had fallen. Tiiey then attempted to cut an escape lane to the sea. Their advance forces occupied Katika, while their mam strength remained bivouacked around Statelberg, where they were- attacked by our big bombers. Some war correspondents sugges that this victory implies that the Japanese have failed completely in thencoastal drive, and that their entire Statelberg forces are in danger of being isolated. The success certainly tightens the Allied hold on the Huon Peninsula area, and our control of Vitiaz Strait, between New Guinea and New Britain. . . It is through the Vitiaz Strait that relief for the beleaguered Japanese would have to come. The purpose of the enemy’s coastal drive may have been to stage an evacuation, or to reestablish sea communication with other Japanese forces situated further to the north-west on the New Guinea coast. Our aircraft have attacked the land line of supply of the Japanese troops in the Ramu Valley, wiping out a truck column, destroying two bridges, and causing a landslide in a mountain cutting. R.A.A.F, fighter pilots have been cooperating with forward troops in tactical reconnaissance and strafing flights. The total of Japanese killed in the strafing raids has been considerable, and important information of assistance to the Australian drive has been gained. Most of the reconnaissance flights are made at a height of only 40 feet in the treacherous down draughts and cross-winds of the valley, but so far only one Australian pilot has been lost. RAPID GROWTH OF NEW GUINEA CAPITAL. UNDER STRESS OF WAR DEMANDS (Special Australian Correspondent.) SYDNEY, October 24. More than 2000 miles of telephone wire and 47 exchanges have been installed in and round Port Moresby in the past 14 months. New Guinea’s capital has grown into possibly the world’s largest war time mushroom town, with a telephone service adequate for a peace time population of 75,000 people. Before this rapid development began a “handful of phones and a few thousand yards of wire” formed the backbone of Port Moresby’s communications. - War correspondents pay tribute to the Australian and American signallers who are responsible for this transformation. Their greatest achievement has been the reconstruction of 150 miles of line across New Guinea. This line, laid in 23 days, runs over the 12,000 ft. Owen Stanley Ranges, and additional sections lead to the north and south. Often Allied signal units have had to fight it out with Japanese ambushes which have been set cunningly around an enemy-made break in one of our wires. WOUNDED MEN TAKEN AWAY BY AIR. FROM MIDST OF BATTLE. (Received This Day, 9.40 a.m.) SYDNEY, This Day. Seriously wounded soldiers were carried to safety while a battle ■ laged around an Allied advanced dressing station six miles north of Finschhafen, in New Guinea, last week. Many of the men had undergone major operations only a few hours previously. Miraculously, casualties among the patients were extremely light, although the entire station area was raked by enemy mortar and machine-gun fire. Most of the medical equipment had to be abandoned by the evacuating personnel, but it was later recovered .after our infantry had repulsed the Japanese. AGAIN BLASTED NICKEL MINING CENTRE IN CELEBES. LONG ROUND TRIP MADE BY ALIED BOMBERS. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copj' right) SYDNEY, October 24. The Japanese nickel mining centre of Pomelaa in the Celebes has again been attacked by General MacArthur s heavy bombers in a daylight raid. Extensive damage was caused by 24 tons of explosives', large fires being started in buildings near the jetties. All our planes returned from this long-range mission, which involved a round trip of more than 2000 miles. . Pomelaa, a most important nickel

mining centre in the Netherlands East Indies, was first attacked by our bombers about two months ago. Near Kavieng, New Ireland, our night patrol bombers attacked and damaged a 2600-ton enemy cargo ship. Allied light naval craft in western New Britain waters sank a small coastal' vessel loaded with fuel and ammunition off Gasmata. , The Japanese barge base at Borgeil Bay, near Cape Gloucester, has again been under attack. Our aircraft have caused heavy destruction to barges in this area. MARKED DECLINE IN QUALITY OF JAPANESE AIRMEN. i NOTED IN THE SOLOMONS. (Special Australian Correspondent ) (Received This Day, 9.40 a.m.) SYDNEY, This Day. A marked deterioration in the ability and courage of Japanese pilots is being revealed by the Allied air offensive in the Solomons, says an Australian war correspondent in that area. Speedy Corsairs and Grumman Hellcat fighters have the edge on Zeros, and American and New Zealand pilots are having a right royal time,” he adds. Often Japanese fighter pilots prefer to.hide in clouds rather than mix it and when they do fight they are being shot down like ducks. For instance, 21 Corsairs which encountered 40 Zeros in a sweep over Ballale, in the Shortland Islands,, shot down 14 and damaged two without losing a plane themselves.” Ballale, which has been under repeated attack by Admiral Halsey’s bombers, is a tiny flat island just large enough to acommodate an airstrip. It is an excellent proving ground for Allied pilots and bomb-aimers.