Evening star., 1942-09-11
New Guineu Thrust

the crest of the Owen Stanley range
in New Guinea is surprise as un-
expected as it is ominous. That
mountain barrier had been depend
! ed upon to hold back the invaders
from Port Moresby, the main ad-
vance base for the defense of Aus
tralia. Something must have hap
| pened which had not been foreSeen.
Either the japanese have been Sc
cretly reinforcing their troops or
there were weak spots in the Austria
liam defense. Perhaps, even, both
possibilities may prove to have been
true.
In the absence of detailed infor-
nation about the actual happening,
it may be we'll to review the known
facts of the situation. The south
eastern tip of the vast island of
New Guinea is an elongated penin-
sula averaging about 100 miles in
width. Down the center of that pc
nlnSula runs range of rugged
mountains averaging more than TO-
600 feet in height. At only one point
is there notch in this mountain
wall, known as The Gap, over which
runs rough trail leading from the
settlement of Buna on the north
eastern coast to Port Moresby on the
southwestern coast. That trail was
considered impregnable, since it
skirts precipices and runs through re-
putedly impenetrable jungles. Recent
eyewitness accounts state that it was
held by adequate forces of veteran
Australian bushmen, we'll versed in
jungle warfare.
The japanese first landed at Buna
and adjacent points on the north
eastern coast some two months ago.
Meeting with almost no initial
ground opposition, they pushed rap
idly inland through the fairly open
plateau country which slopes up to-
ward the main range. There they
were met and held by the Austria
lians, while their landing places
were repeatedly bombed by the Allied
aircraft, which was supposed to have
prevented heavy reinforcements of
men and equipment.
In this, however, the Allies may
have been deceived, for strong Japa-
nese forces must have been needed
for the thrust across the pass. Picked
jungle fighters, perhaps the same
ones who did such marvels in Ma
laya, are reported to have carried
out the operation with their amaz-
ing inf1ltration tactics through
seemingly i1npenetrable terrain. It
is unlikely that their equipment in
cluded much more than automatic
rifles and machine guns; but this
is presumably true of the Australian
defenders as WELL 1t is known that
all supplies for the defenders in the
mountains had to be brought from
Port MoreSby by native carriers
whose packs were limited to forty
pounds per man, including their own
food. This is because the range
drops much more precipitately on
the Port Moresby side, and the trail
is thus proportionately more diff
cult. The japanese will be working
downhill, but it is unlikely that they
can get heavy equipment over the
divide, at least until the trail has
been notably widened and improved.
Port Moresby is supposed to be
we'll fortified, with a large garrison
of Australian and American troops,
besides an extensive air base and the
support of naval units. A direct as
sault by light japanese forces should
thus be impracticable, at least for
the immediate future. Nevertheless,
the situation is grave. The loss of
Port Moresby. or even it's close in
vestiture, would uncover the north
ern tip of Australia and render ex-
tremely difficult an Allied counter
offensive to drive the japanese from
this entire region, such as had been
hoped after our recent successes in
the Solomon Islands. A seemingly
hopeful prospect in this theater OF
war thus suddenly has been COM
promised.