SURPRISE SPRUNG

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 November 1943, Page 4

SURPRISE SPRUNG

ON JAPANESE IN NEW GUINEA AUSTRALIANS GET USEFUL HELP FROM BRITISH TANKS & AMERICAN GUNS (Special Australian Correspondent.) (Received This Day, Noon.) SYDNEY, This Day. Twenty-eight ton British Matilda tanks were the big surprise weapon used by the Australians in their drive against Satelberg, which began last Wednesday. It was the first time heavy tanks had been used in New Guinea. Smashing through the jungle, the Matildas quickly drove the Japanese from their last strongpoints on the vital Coconut Ridge. This ridge, commanding the main track 3,000 yards from Satelberg, had seriousl?/ hindered the A.I.F. advance. Our troops are now less than a mile from the town. Elaborate precautions were taken to ensure that the tanks would be a complete surprise to the enemy. After being landed from barges, the Matildas were concealed in Coconut plantations. They were later moved up to the Satelberg track, after bridges on the coast had been strengthened. A heavy artillery barrage provided a sound cover to conceal the noise of the tanks’ movement. Again they were hidden, this time in thick bamboo, to await the launching of Wednesday’s attack. Australian war correspondents who watched the offensive say the tanks moved out towards Satelberg just before dawn. Then Australian 25-pound-ers poured shells into the first objective on Coconut Ridge, an area roughly 300 yards by 150 yards, studded with enemy defences. American rocket guns, firing a selfpropelled fragmentation bomb, which are being used for the first time in New Guinea, joined with the 25-pound-ers. Under this barrage the tanks moved forward and in a few minutes their cannon and machine-guns were blazing away at the first' Japanese bunker lying across the trail. Then the Australian infantry took a hand, and shortly afterwards our Air Force went into action. United States Lightnings provided cover for R.A.A.F. Vultee-Vengeance dive-bombers and Marauder medium bombers which pounded the entire area. After this, the tanks moved along Coconut Ridge, blasting out stubborn enemy pockets of resistance. They were followed by the infantry, who completed the mopping up. The condition of the ridge after its capture testified to the accuracy and hitting power of the Allied artillery and aerial bombardment. Many strongly built defences were destroyed and fragmentation bombs from the American rocket guns had achieved devastating results. Again on Thursday and Friday Australian troops enlarged their gains. Satelberg now towers 1.200 feet above them. Despite the ferocity of the fighting, our casualties are described as “incredibly light.” However, hard battling lies ahead before Satelberg falls. The Australians first used tanks in the Buna and Sanananda campaigns. They played a decisive role in crushing resistance. The Japanese attempted to use tanks when they landed at Milne Bay more than a year ago, but they became bogged down in jungle swamps and had to be abandoned.