STRATEGIC HEIGHT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 December 1943, Page 3

STRATEGIC HEIGHT

ON EDGE OF VILLAGE OF WAREO TAKEN BY AUSTRALIANS MORE SMASHING ATTACKS ON CAPE GLOUCESTER (Special Australian Correspondent ) • SYDNEY, December 9. Australian units have captured Peak Hill, a strategic height on .the edge of Wareo village, on Iluon Peninsula, iir New Guinea. A second Australian force moving up (lie coast- has advanced 2.' miles. .Japanese casualties in recent fighting are believed to have been heavy. The latest gains in this hard-fought campaign were made last Tuesday. A well-planned outflanking movement in wild precipitous country dislodged the enemy from defences on the outskirts of Wareo village. The Japanese had apparently considered the terrain to be absolutely impassable. This land success reported in General MacArthur’s communique today coincides with further smashing aerial attacks against Cape Gloucester, in western New Britain. More than 100 Liberators, Mitchell bombers, and escorting Lightning fighters made Tuesday’s strike, when about 200 tons of bombs were dropped, bringing the aggregate for five days to more than 750tons. As well as destroying supplies and installations, these raids are believed to have killed hundreds of Japanese troops.

Two new targets are reported in the latest South-West Pacific headquarters communique. They are the aerodrome at Borpop, in eastern New Ireland, which has been pounded by R.A.A.F. Beaufort bombers, and on Haroekoe Island, west of Ceram, Dutch New Guinea, which was raided by American Liberators.