Evening star., 1945-07-05
Australians Attack
Last Jap Positions
AT BaIikpapan
American Croft Enter
Boy, Not Yet Cleared
Of Enemy's Mines
BY the Associated Press.

BALIKPAPAN. July S. - Aus
tralian infantrymen today
struck at the last japanese
footholds in Balikpapan, Bor-
.neo's major oil port, which
already for all practical pur-
poses is in Allied hands.
(The Tokyo radio insisted Japa-
nese lines were holding and that
an Australian attack spearheaded
by so tanks had been repulsed
with heavy loss. 1t estimated AL
lied casualties at l,100 since the
beachhead was won last Sunday
100 in the sea and 400 ashore.
Allied sources have said casualties
were light.)
American engineers with the in
vasion celebrated the Fourth of July
by sailing two of their LCMs into
Balikpapan Bay although it was not
yet cleared of Japanese mines.
The landing of the LCMs at
Japanese built pontoon wharves
marked the first entry of Allied
shipping into the bay since the JapS
took over in 1941.
Artillery Duel Across Bay.
The bay itself was in strong con-
trast with the wrecked and SCARED
port city. Only few sunken ships
protrude above its calm waters.
Meanwhile, artillery dueled with
strongly placed enemy guns across
the 3-mile-wide Balikpapan Bay
while enginetrs rushed reconstruc-
ton of captured Sepinggang airstrip
and column smashed against
strong opposition in a drive to en-
velop Manggar, last major enemy
airfield in the invasion territory.
Three Australian columns, which
swept through the heart Of the
burned and devastated central city
yesterday, joined in headlong
smash against the final refinery
area of Pandaniari, as the main Jap
anese forces appeared to be with
drawing to the northeast toward
Samarinda in the heart of the OIL
producing region.
An AuSsie unit swept in an en-
circling movement on Pandaniari
from the ridges which overlooked
and controlled the central dock and
industrial areas of Balikpapan.
Still another column pushed after
the retreating enemy on the Sama-
rinda road with the help of strong
naval gunfire and artillery support.
Opposition Above Balikpapan.
Aussies showing to within 4 miles
of Manggar Airfield, more than 10
miles north of Balikpapan, met
strong opposition along the highway
from Sepinggang, whose area was
so pitted, mined and cratered that
equipment for reconstruction had
to be delivered by landing craft
from the sea.
First patrols of the onsweeping
AuSsies entered the central dock
area Tuesday while the main forces
occupied overlooking and dominat-
ing ridges. Yesterday the invad-
erS swept down from the ridges in
three lines to take over the once
rich port which was more than so
per cent smashed by naval and air
bombardment before the invasion
ever started.
With scant pause, the charging
infantrymen pushed through the
ruins to the assault on the Panda-
Mari area south of the Pandaniari
River. Across the river native quar-
ters built just before the war, for
mer Dutch barracks and the city's
second residential area remain to
be taken.
Australian Air Force planes flying
from Sepinggang strip already are
acting as observers for artillery and
naval fire against japanese place
ments and engineers at the field
estimated it could be expanded to
accommodate Allied bombers as
well as fighter nlanas