Ref: 1942-11-14_KL-001_f_Japs Take Terrific Beating

DAILY TELEGRAPH [Late Edition] – Tuesday 24th 1942 

JAPS TAKE TERRIFIC BEATING

Heavy Reverses In Final Battle

From HUGH DASH, Daily Telegraph War Correspondent, Somewhere in Australia.

The Japs are taking a terrific beating on all fronts in a final pitched battle for the Buna-Gona beach-head in north-east Papua.

Enemy reverses in furious fighting on Sunday were:-

SEA: Our bombers sank a Jap destroyer and two smaller vessels which apparently landed reinforcements at Buna during a rainstorm.

AIR: Beaufighters and Airacobras destroyed, on the ground and in dogfights, 19 of a force of 20 Zeros and 12 dive-bombers rushed in to stem the Buna collapse.

LAND: American combat troops captured a secret Jap landing air strip a mile from Buna. Allied forces have enveloped all Jap defence positions inside the dwindling beach-head, and are closing in for the kill.

Overwhelmed By Land & Air

In all operations we lost only one plane – an Airacobra.

Although overwhelmed on land and in the air, the enemy forces are putting up an amazing resistance.

In scattered battles over the 12 miles of coast from Gona to Buna their stubbornness is forcing the Allies to fight bitterly for every inch of new ground gained.

Our 25-pounders have been moved into position to hasten the inevitable Jap collapse.

The Jap air “rescue” force was crippled before it had fired a shot in support of enemy ground troops.

Airacobras turned back 12 dive-bombers and 20 Zeros speeding to the Buna battlefront.

The Airacobras linked up with a Beaufighter formation and stalked the Jap aircraft back to Lae, on the New Guinea coast 160 air miles north-west of Buna.

Sixteen Jap planes were shot to pieces on or over the landing field.

Beaufighters shot up three more on Salamoa landing field, on the coast 20 miles south of Lae.

They destroyed three Jap barges before they turned for home.

The Japs have lost 34 planes in five days, chiefly at Lae.

The destroyer and two large landing craft, which were sunk off Buna slipped into the coast during a storm.

They apparently landed reinforcements, but were pounced on by Flying Fortresses and North American bombers during their gateway.

A North American bomber landed a direct hit, which blew the destroyer out of the water.

The destroyer was not one of the four sighted off the coast on Saturday.

This force was last sighted steaming to the north, out of the Buna area.

The heavy Allied fighting inside the beach-head is being supported by the most powerful air forces so far used in the South-west Pacific.

The planes are working a “flying shuttle” bombardment, and return to their bases for only long enough to be refuelled and reloaded.

Attack on Buna Air Strip

The bloodiest battle is taking place around Buna.

One American column advancing from the south has seized a new air strip a mile from Buna village.

It is now attacking the main air strip at Buna.

Other Americans are blasting Buna Mission, where some Japs have dug in.

Americans working up the coast to Buna have advanced two miles beyond Cape Endairere.

Supported by U.S. Marauder bombers, they are now striking at Giropa, one mile south-east of Buna.

The Marauders are encountering terrific anti-aircraft fire from fixed defence positions.

The Japs at Buna are now enveloped and cut off from other enemy forces in the beach-head.

It is significant that our air forces did not attack Gona, north-western boundary of the beach-head.

This suggests that Australians have the situation on that front under control.

Latest despatches report that Australians are fighting on the outskirts of Gona village itself.

A combined American and Australian force which captures Soputa, eight miles inland from Buna, on Saturday, has pushed on three miles to the Sangara plantation areas.

[xxxxxx] meeting with stiff opposition from Jap field artillery and mortars.

Flying Fortresses, Beaufighters, and Havoc attack planes are strafing and bombing the five-mile stretch of trail between Sangara and Sanananda and Buna area.

They are blasting gun positions troops, and barges, and are destroying the Buna airfield.

If the Sangara defences are broken our forces will be able to drive a powerful wedge between the Jap defender at Buna and Gona.

This will clinch the Allied victory.

The frenzy of the enemy resistance indicates that the Japs appreciate the danger.

In a surprise raid on Buka [?xxxxxxxx mons?] an Allied haeavy bomber destroyed an enemy bomber ground and machine-gunned troops inflicting casualties.