Imperial Valley press., 1943-11-22

.
artillery fire. Pieces of human
flesh and clothing hung from the
Jungle oyergrOWth.
DECISIVE ROLE
But infantry craftsmanship play
cd a decisive role. 1t. Col. George
Van Order. New Hope, Pa. counted
1876 dead Japanese, all of whom
we're shot in the head, neck or
breast
The marine counterattack which
! shattered enemy hopes of eStab-
/ fishing a base for attacks on the
+ left flank of our Bougainville
beachhead occurred Nov. 7 to 8.
It was fought in the gray twilight
of the Jungle floor below towering.
/ tangled ironwood and banyan trees
or at night in pitch blackness.
In those conditions it's only hits
/ that count" Van Order said drily
Van Order is roly poly veteran
marine and son of a marine colonel
He was born in the Pensacola ma
rine barracks during Florida hur-
ricane. All officers and enlisted
men fondly know him as The
/ Beast
Cur dead in this engagement to-
tailed l8, although there were many
more non-fatal wounds. Hidden
enemy machine gun nests obtained
many opening shots before the ma
rineS could return the fire.
1t was the second battle within
i a week for the marine units which
stormed Cape ToroKina Oh Nov. |,
/ the day our Bougainville beachhead
was seized, and put 18 enemy pill
/ boxes out of action despite heavy
/ resistance. Both battles were a
triumph of aggressive tactics and
/ GOODNESS under fire
GIVES ACCOUNT
Van Order gave the following ac-
count of The Koromokina river ac-
! ton.
/ At dawn on Nov two japanese
/ landing barges came ashore 500
yards beyond advanced marine po-
sitionS in front OF the koromokua,
The barges so closely resemblcd
American landing boats they were
unrecognized until 80 or TO Japs
had rushed past Van Order.
They were wearing black capeS
and black helmet covers-perhaps
indicating they had hoped to land
/ before daybreak,' Van Order said.
The japanese Immediately pre-
pared deep, mutually supporting
/ foxholes. Soon two more Jap barges
j landed further to the west beyond
the range Of marine beach defense
guns.
The clatter and while of machine
guns and rifles deepened as the
veterans of Cape Torokina moved
into attacking positions during the
noon hour.
But early in the afternoon l9
more Jap barges landed at the
mouth of the Laruma river about
5000 yards west of the battle area.
It is now evident these reinforce
ments must have covered the dis
tance TO the front on the double,
WARNER COMMANDS
The marines struck just before
four o'clock. They advanced two
companies abreast, one under dash
ing, colorful Capt. Gordon Warner
of Long Beach, Calf, the hero OF
Cape, Torokina, and the other un-
der quiet precise Capt. Frank
Vogel of Columbus, o.
IL tfsin
rines stabbed in and out oil enemy
positions answering Jap fire swift
~ and competently, tanks arrived
guided by 1t. Elmer MoSkowitz,
New York city.
Warner took over the tanks, yell
ing in japanese:
The marines arc here-comc out
and die" as he did on Cape Toro-
kina
During this battle phase, Jap
machinegun fired from two or three
footrange wounded him in the leg
As dusk fell, the front still was
confused. Several marine units were
behind the enemy line and some
japanese patrols were behind oul
llleS. oilc SiltiIy DdliOl CiOootu
the KoromOkina and attacked tho
hospital
INSIDE JAP POSITION
BY nightfall Ii. Thomas II. Har
vey, Kingston, N c., and his pla-
toon found themselves deep inside
japanese positions. They cut
through to the coast and biyouack,
ed for the night, knowing marine
artillery was scheduled TO shel