Evening star., 1942-12-28
Mortar Gunner Turns
Taunts 10 Praise by
Role as Commando
WieIds Tommy Gun Like
Veteran in Roid on
Jop-Held ViIIoee
Nv GEORGE WEIJ.ER.
ForeiEn Correspondent Of The Star {
ChjcaRo Daily Revs

fOfefGn C0rreSp0noent OF The 8tAr ana
Chicaso Daily News.
WITH THE ALLIED TROOPS
IN NEW GUINEA, Dec. n de-
layed How mortar gunner
taunted by his infantrymen friends,
who claimed that the heavy
weapons place was always safely in
the rear, obtained q tommy gun and
led an attack on q coastal village
held by a greatly superior number
OF Japs, was told today by 1t. Paul
Schwartz of Syracuse, the daring
Infantry ofncer who commanded
the raid.
The heavy weapons worm, who
turned and bit the Japs rs well As
his prosecutors simultaneously, was
Roland Atchison, of Ionia, Mich.
who had spent many sweating
hours carrying 4 mortar's ponderous
base plate across marshes and
swamps to hidden locations.
When he heard that 1t. Schwartz
was about to leave on an exceed
ngly dangerous Commando raid
against the Jap-held village Of
Tankenai, several hundred yards
from the still bullet-swept Buns
Village, Atchison followed the
grapevine telegraph until he reach
ed the bearded young Schwartz's
advance post. Concealing from 1t.
Schwartz the fact that he never
had fred tommy-g before in his
HE, Atchison asked to accompany
the expedition which originally con-
sisted OF IA hand-picked men.
Crcled Around Village,
LII. Schwartz's party, dartins along
the shore and slipping through the
brush, reached Suwar, one of those
large patches Of Kunai grass more
than head high where no breeze stirs
and men have been known to faint
under Papua's terrible sun. Com
manding the Kunai meadow was q
Jap machine gun guarding the ap-
proach to the village. With 4 tiny
force 1t. Schwartz made 4 wide
circle around the village and, when
he figured he was well in the rear
cut once again toward the beach.
When 1 asked for volunteers
Atchison was always the most in
sistent," said It. Schwartz. FIRST
we got three Japs and made them
clear part Of the village. Then we
got bolder and decided to take the
whole village. We never would have
dared try it if We had known how
many there were in it,
Two further machine gun posts
guarded the outer village. Scat
tering his tinv force with snipers
arranged in Jap fashion for rear
cover, 1t. Schwartz made a head
long attack on two machine-gun
posts
That mortar gunner did one
whole nest containing two Japs,
himself" said 1t. Schwartz. Then
he found two more ready to 60 for
him. One was private. the other
an officer. Knowing nothing about
tommy gun, he fired the entire
clip into the private which left him
nothing for the officer. The officer
was sitting on the ground and drew
a revolver, aimed from 10 feet away
at Atchlson head. But either the
revolver failed to 60 OF, or some
thing, because with that revolver
pointed straight at his brains. At
Gibson fitted new clip into the
tommy gun-the first time he ever
had done that in his 1ife-and then
disposed of the Jap officer"
Japs Surprised by Tactics
So taken back were the Japs in
other parts Of the village by the
suddenness Of the attack from the
rear-the Japs' own surprise tactics
turned against them-that they
milled around, 1t. Schwartz said
and the entire party fred at win
into them.
Finally, the whole party of Japs
ran westward, down the beach in
the direction of the central, or
Sananada front. 1t. Schwartz
then entered the Jap command
post, which was ramshackle VII
lage hut, and captured its contents
Meanwhile. other members of the
party found six guns. between 1000
and 1000 rounds of ammunition
and about so grenades The gren-
AIDES they flung into the sea. They
held the village almost two days,
completely blunng the Japs, and
finally withdrew only because 1t was
found impossible to send them re-
Inducements.
About 20 Japs were killed and one
American. And Atchison Is con-
sidered to have vindicated the heavy
weapons cause forever as far as
the infantry is concerned.
tCopyrisht, 1912, ChicaGo Daily News, Inc }