Pacific News-Review

Notes And Comment On

The Progress Of The War

From Aug. 16 To Sept. 14

Aug. 16: The Russian armies have made their third major break-through in a month and all German positions in Southern Russia east of the Dneiper River are now threatened.

Aug. 16: Rome has been declared an open city, according to Rome Radio.

There are doubts as to whether this is a legitimate move on the part of Italy; and, in any case, it is looked upon as a step in Italy’s withdrawal from the war.

Aug. 17; The Axis forces are retreat ing fast in north-eastern Sicily. The Italian mainland is now within range of Allied guns.

Aug. 18: The conquest of Sicily vir tually ended, as the Americans fought their way through Messina. The “heel” and “toe” of Italy are under constant bombardment.

Aug. 19; A crippling air-blow was deliv ered to the Japanese in New Guinea on August 17 when more than 225 Japanese aircraft were surprised on the enemy held airfields at Wewak, Boram and Dagua, in northern New Guinea. Aerial photographs indicate that 120 aircraft were totally destroyed, 50 damaged and 1,500 enemy air personnel killed. We lost three aircraft.

Aug. 19: In a bid to cripple the Luft waffe, an air-offensive on an unprece dented scale has been launched over Europe by the Allies. From all the day and night operations 77 of our bombers, one fighter-bomber and six fighters are missing.

Aug. 21: On the Russian front, a great battle is raging for Kharkov, where the Germans have been trying to keep open an escape route.

Aug. 23: In further attacks on Wewak airfields, on Friday, 39 Japanese aircraft were destroyed on the ground, and 52 shot down. This brings the Allied score of “Wewak week” to well over 200.

Aug. 23: American and Canadian forces have re-occupied the island of Kiska, the last stronghold of the Japan ese in the Aleutians.

Aug. 24: Kharkov** has been evacuated, says German High Command, as part of a “systematic disengagement move ment” designed to shorten their lines.

The fall of Kharkov endangers all the German forces east of the Dneiper. The Russians have now opened a way into the Ukraine.

Aug. 24: RAF attacks on Germany have been renewed. Bombers attacked targets in the Rhineland, including the Farben chemical works, 16 miles south of Dusseldorf.

Aug. 25: Berlin, on Tuesday night, suffered one of the heaviest raids of the war, and shattering damage is reported.

Sw T arms of night-fighters were met by our planes and 58 of our bombers are missing.

Aug. 25: Warships for the first time in the Huon Gulf area, bombarded Finsch hafen, in New Guinea.

Aug. 25: Following the capture of Kharkov, the Russians have begun a great offensive designed to liberate the Ukraine.

Aug. 27: A new SE Asia Command has been created, under Vice-Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten. This may mark preparations for an early all-out offen sive against Japan through Burma.

Aug. 27: A new Fuhrer is foreseen in the appointment of Himmler (Chief of the Gestapo) as Minister of the Interior in Germany.

Aug. 28: One of the largest Allied raids in the New Guinea area took place on Hansa Bay. Nearly 100 planes were in action.

Aug. 29: King Boris of Bulgaria is

dead. He became ill while visiting Hit ler’s headquarters and was removed to Sofia by ambulance train.

Aug. 30: Under pressure from a pow erful pincers movement by Russians, the Germans have retired from Taganrog, strategically important port of Sea of Azov, 40 miles west of Rostov.

Aug. 30: Reports of increasing rebellion in Europe’s occupied countries, against Nazi yoke, to-day include an extensive revolt in Denmark, demands in Bulgaria for breakaway from Germans, waves of anti-German sabotage in France and Belgium, and growing tension between Sweden and Germany.

Aug. 30: The Nazis have announced that armed German forces have taken over the “protection” of Denmark. The King of Denmark, who, with his family, is a prisoner in German hands, has formally abdicated.

Aug. 31: On Aug. 30, Allied heavy bombers again attacked Wewak and Boram fields, in New Guinea, and destroyed 37, probably destroyed 12 and damaged 17 Jap aircraft.

Aug. 31: Russian armies, as part of a vast co-ordinated movement, are attack ing along a 700-miles front, from the Sea of Azov to a point 100 miFs north-east of Smolensk.

Sept. 1: The RAF last night dropped 1,500 tons of bombs on Berlin (compared with 1,800 tons on August 23). The Ger mans filled the upper air with fighters, rained down special flares, and attacked with a new technique. Forty-seven bombers lost, compared with 58 on the 23rd.

Sept. 1: The Germans, at Taganrod, suffered their greatest defeat since Sta lingrad. They lost 35,000 men and 600 tanks.

Sept. 2: Allies are shooting down five Japanese planes to one of their own over the Solomons. The bag for August was 227. An additional 36 Japanese planes were shot down over Bougainville in the last 24 hours.

Sept. 2: Ground troops are closing in on Salamaua, New Guinea.

Sept. 2: Yesterday US carrier-based planes made an attack on Japanese base on Marcus Island, about 1,200 miles south-east of Tokio.

Sept. 3: British Eighth Army marked the fourth anniversary of the outbreak of war by invading the “toe” of Italy. A bridgehead has been established.

Sept. 4: Mrs. Roosevelt, wife of the USA President, arrived in Canberra, Australia, from New Zealand.

Sept. 4: The biggest raid in the New Guinea area was carried out on Wed nesday on the Madang district. At Alexishafen (mission station) anti-air craft fire was intense. The cathedral, apparently packed with explosives, re ceived a direct hit from our bombs and exploded.

Sept. 6: British and Canadian forces now occupy a bridgehead of 40 miles on the “toe” of Italy. Resistance is com paratively weak.

Sept. 6: Eleven more towns have fallen to the advancng Red Army, in the Don bas region, the Konotop area and the Kharkov sector. Stalino is being stead ily encircled.

Sept. 6: Following a smashing blow by Liberator bombers on Lae on Friday, Sept. 3, men of a famous AIF division landed in force on the south coast of the Huon Peninsula, near Lae, at 6.30 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 4, and are ad vancing from the east upon' Lae. The landing went like clockwork. The cap ture of Lae will leave the enemy only one major base in the eastern half of New

Guinea—Wewak. A specially selected AIF force occupied an airfield near Lae on Sunday, after a five days’ forced march through the jungle. Their arrival at the Markham River coincided with the arrival of American and Australian para troops, who were dropped over the Mark ham Valley; and these forces, constantly reinforced by air, are attacking Lae on the west, from the Markham Valley.

Sept. 7: RAF heavily bombed Munich.

American bombers raided objectives in Belgium and France. These attacks were the climax of the most prolonged raids the Continent has so far experienced.

Sept. 9: Officially announced that an armistice was signed between the Allies and Italy on Sept. 3, under which Italy surrendered unconditionally. The Italians have ceased all organised resistance and are surrendering their fleet to the Allies.

The Nazis, furiously accusing the Italians of treachery, are rushing troops in to occupy Northern Italy and Rome.

Sept. 9: Stalino has been captured by the Russian forces, and the German armies are in full retreat from the Don bas area.

Sept. 9: The Australians have moved in *on Lae; and the ring around Lae- Salamaua, in which thousands of Japs are trapped, is being steadily tightened.

Sept. 10: American forces landed in the Naples area yesterday, and are mak ing satisfactory progress. German resist ance is expected to be stubborn; but a great Southern European front—an arc of 1,500 miles from Marseilles to Istanbul —has been opened by the Italian capitu lation.

Sept. 11: The Russians have broken through the German defence lines east of Kiev. The whole of the German defence system in the Kiev-Chernigov area is threatening to collapse.

Sept. 13: Allies are advancing rapidly up both east and west coasts of Italy, occupying Brindisi, Taranto (naval base) and Salerno, among others.

Sept. 12: Twenty-one Italian warships, including three battleships, have entered Malta, under British escort, to surrender.

Other warships have surrendered at Gibralta, and 12 others have reached the Spanish Balearic Islands (Majorca).

German aircraft sank the 35,000-tons battleship “Roma” between Sardinia and Corsica.

Sept. 13: The Japanese defence line at Salamaua is broken and the Japs are retreating, leaving behind them hundreds of dead and much equipment. The fall of Salamaua is imminent. The pressure on Lae continues.

Sept. 13: The Germans have not been able to stop the Russian break-through between the central and southern fronts.

The Russians are over-running the Ger man defences along a 120-miles front east of the Dneiper River, and are now within 30 miles of the main railway from the Crimea.

Sept. 13: Mussolini has been “rescued” by the Germans, according to a com munique from Hitler’s headquarters. His whereabouts are still unknown, but it is expected that he will head the German sponsored Italian Fascist Government in Northern Italy.

Sept. 14: Members of an Australian Militia unit on Sunday swam the Fran cisco River and captured Salamaua air field. On the same day, Australian and American troops captured the town and isthmus. . Enemy resistance in this sec tor thus eliminated and pressure on Lae increased, it is considered that Lae itself will fall soon.