The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1944-01-10

air. Inc Germans
would have been in q difficult situa-
ton had Norway destroyed its air.
ports"
How this lesson was applied is
shown today in the Southern Paci-
fic, where the Japs are being forced
out of one locality after another by
Selling airports which are then used
by U. S. planes to cut off Jap sup
ply lines and thus make their bases
untenable.
The first major operation of this
kind was conceived by Lieut.. Gen.
George G. Kenney in the Buna-
Coma, New Guinea operations last
March. There the U. S. troop car
rier command flew in complete
striking force from Australia-men,
equipment and food. In one troop
movement, 5000 troops were brought
from Australia to Port Moresby and
! in another 10000 whole division
was flown from Moresby over the
high Owen Stanley Mountains to
the air strips near Buna.
Supplies moved in at the rate of
more than a thousand tons week.
1t included construction equipment,
steel mats and even asphalt. A four
gun battery of 105-mm, howitzerS
was ferried over in a BIZ. The only
way ground forces could be supplied
was by air. At first there were no
parachutes. 1t was a straight air
drop and it, was never more than a
fifth of the supplies which landed
where they could be recovered and
used.
Airfields here were often built
within firing range of the enemy.
AS soon as the job was completed,
troops and supplies moved in by
air. In the offensive on Lac, Gen.
eral Arnold reveals, three air strips
were built in the mountains within
range of the Japs. First a party of
American engineers made a long
overland journey to reach the sites.
With the help of natives they clear
ed enough ground for transports to
land. Then CAT transports ferried
in an airborne engineer battalion.
1t took 100 plane loads for this
transfer, and in addition, an air.
borne anti-aircraft company had to
be brought In for protection Of the
field. This was Marilian airfield.
Marilinan was later one of the
bases which provided fighter cover
for the great paratroop landing at
Nadzab, an operation which was to
end palm tree o-palm- tree" fight
ing and set the pattern for warfare
at 200 miles an hour.
The Fifth Air Force landed 100
American paratroops fully supplied.
plus 38 Australian artillerymen and
guns, at NadZab.
These operations in the Markham
valley are worthy Of note," writes
General Arnold. In front, 48 med
ium bombers opened the fight by
strafing Jap positions. They were
followed by six attack planes that
laid smoke screens to cover the land
ing of paratroopers from the 50
transports. Above these flew Flying
FortresseS carrying material and
three more Fortresses with Generals
Macarthur and Kenney and their
Stats. A fighter escort of 146 Light
nings and ThunderboltS covered the
flight at various attitudes while four
more Fortresses and "a more med
ium bombers straffed Jap positions.
Five weeks after the landing at
Nadzab, the U. S. Air Forces raided
Rabaul, sinking 122 ships, destroying
or damaging l84 planes at a cost OF
only four U. S. planes.
Similar operations were carried
out in the U. S. invasion of Italy at
Salerno. On the morning Of Sept. 10.
says General Arnold, the command
ers of our airborne troops were not
flied that air reinforcementS were
required by the U. S. Fifth Army
within "a hours. At 8:45 a. m. on the
same Gay, Pathfinder units of the
ariborne task force took off from
Sicily, reaching the drop zone at
, ll:l4. Twenty five minutes later the
first paratroopers arrived and in the
following hour and a half 80 air.
crafts dropped 1900 paratoopes and
their equipment in an area less than
mile long and a half mile wide.
BY 2 in the morning these para
troopers were completely organized
and marching into position on the
front line.