Evening star., 1942-01-26

simultaneously swarmed down on
the Americans.
Enemy activity ceased at Sundown
but American commanders ordered
their troops on the alert in anticipa-
tion of the first large Japanese night
attack of the war.
The attack came at 3 o'clock yes
| terday morning, when Japanese. es-
timated at no fewer than 1000. who
had crept through the underbrush
toward the American protective wire,
opened fire with rifles, submachine-
guns and grenadeS. supplemented by
the usual tossing of firecrackers.
American light and heavy artil-
lery opened fire Immediately, plaster
ing no-man's land with shells. while
infantrymen jumped to their firing
positions manning machineguns and
rifles The defenders located the ad-
vancing enemy by tracer bullets and
by light exploding shells.
Only handful of japanese pene-
trated as far as the american posi-
tions, where they we're quickly dis
posed of in hand-to-hand fighting.
Retire After Two Hours.
Despite the Americans deadly fire.
the Japanese pressed their attack
for nearly two hours before retiring
to their own lines.
When the firing ceased, the yells
and means of wounded Japanese
were clearly heard outside the
American barbed wire.
AS the front quieted down, with
the exception of occasional Amer
ican artillery fire, the officer COM
mandlng this sector of Gen. Doug
las MacArthur's defense described
the current fighting as "a combina-
ton of the positional fighting of the
World War and old-time American
Indian warfare. There are occa-
sional frontal attacks along definite
lines. supplemented by infiltration of
snipers"
The japanese are especially adept
at sniping. Carrying only a hand
full of rice, plus their arms. they
sneak through the lines and hide
high in the trees, and remain mo-
tionless for hours awaiting their
chance.
The average Japanese Is not an
expert marksman, but their snipers
are specially chosen crack shots.
This American unit flushed six
snipers out of a single tree Thurs
day.
Night Raids by Americans.
Americans, on the other hand,
have successfully staged numerous
night raids across no-man's land.
One major, although frequently
wounded, refused to go to the hos
pital and led repeated raids to
gather prisoners and information.
The American commander dis
closed that the first time Amer
ican troops charged the Japanese,
the enemy ran." This was while the
American-Filipino troops were NOV
ing into position on the Batan
Peninsula several weeks ago.
To prevent the isolation of other
units. the commander said, the
Americans fixed bayonets and
'shrieked war whoops" and attacked
the japanese who fed in disorder.
In second engagement, however,
the Japanese fought courageously,
resisting yard by yard as the Amer
leans successfully carried out line
Strengthening operations.
American officers consider the
/ Japanese Imperial 14th Army a
f1rst-class body of troops. This army
had been trained for the last Is
months in Formosa by Gen. Masa-
haru Homma, obviously for the spe-
cific purpose of attacking the Phil
ippines.
The present front line enemy
troops average "a years in age, hav-
ing reinforced the youngsters who
were used in the original landing
operations and who are still used as
occupational forces in various parts
of the island.
! Tough and Aggressive.
American troops in this area are
tough and aggressive. The same Is
true of plucky Filipino soldiers who
are holding neighboring sectors on
front where enemy aerial attacks
and observation impose severe disad-
vantages on Gen. MacArthur's
forces.
The japanese are trying every
form of trickery but the defenders
refuse to be fooled.
Take. for example, the Japanese
attempt to pass American sentries
by dressing soldiers in American or
Filipino uniforms.
The Americans discovered an in
fallible way to detect them due to
the inability of the japanese to pro-
nounce the letter L, which they say
as R. They simply pick password
with numerous LIS, such as Iollapa-
looza
Sentries challenge approaching
figures and if the first two syllables
of lollapalooza, for instance should
come back as ''rorra" they open fire
without waiting to hear the re-
mainder