Papuans’ War

Effort

How They Are Helping the Allies

(From the Commonwealth Department of Information ) THE history of the Papuan and Nevr Guinea campaigns against the Jap anese is partly a history of the loyalty of the New Guinea natives, their patient devotion to duty, and, more recently, their gallantry under fire For the past year, Papuan infantry led by white officers have been continually harassing the Japanese lines of com munication. In one area the Papuans killed 450 enemy troops for two of their own casualties. Their technique is based on surprise, darkness, and ambush.

Many of these natives have an old score to settle with the Japanese. Some of them have seen their villages sacked and burnt and their women raped.

Already many of them have won fame as warriors with modern weapons. Among them is Katue, a sergeant who won the Military Medal, coveted by soldiers black or white, English, Australian or Papuan, for conspicuous valour in the bloody fighting at Buna. Others have been recommended for decorations.

Sergeant Katue. MM. won his decora tion for his activities in the Buna area.

Amongst other things, he sneaked regu larly through the enemy’s lines to bring back valuable information. In addition, he, with a small party of Papuan sol diers, later killed 40 Japanese, burning their stores, and capturing their equip ment, in a series of small raids.

Sergeant Kari is also a mighty man in the Papuan Infantry. He shot 31 out of 54 Japanese killed in an action which denied the enemy the use of a vital road.

THE Papuan soldier has also beaten the Japanese at his own game of infiltration. Frequently they pene trate behind the Japanese lines and bring back vital intelligence. Occasionally they are ambushed themselves but they do not panic under fire.

During their training they mastered the use of rifles and light automatics with surprising ease, but their greatest difficulty was to stay in step. Within the battalions are men who are each other’s hereditary enemies. They have forgot ten their feuds to best the common foe Apart from organised military roles, great work has been done by the indi vidual police boys who often accompany the Australian patrols. One such was the police boy with Lieut. Reginald Boyan, of Sydney. He was walking dir ectly ahead of the officer, when suddenly he gave a shout and threw himself into the bushes. The Australians followed.

A slight detour and the police boy showed them what he had seen. A patrol of 15 armed Japs walking down the trail.

The Australians might never have seen them.

And what would have happened to US fighter pilot Second Lieut. Kimball if it had not been for the New Guinea natives? Lieut. Kimball baled out after a fight with Zeros, only to find himself left dangling high above the ground when his silken parachute caught in a tall tree. He hung there trapped and helpless until his arms and legs seemed paralysed. Then came some natives to his rescue. They' placed a long pole across from one tree to another. Lieut Kimball was able to crawl along it and then down one of the trees. He reached his base after eight days’ jungle hike.

MANY have seen the pictorial record of the horrible dangers and hard ships of the three-days’ carry of the wounded from the forward areas at Mubo to the base. Some of these pic tures show a young Middle East veteran wounded in the leg being carried along a track hewn out of the mountain side.

The natives are treading the path cautiously, handing the stretcher along almost in single file.

In May this year three of the inmates of a ward in a New Guinea hospital were wounded carriers. One of the natives was the boss boy of one of our forward supply columns when a Jap sol dier appeared on the track and opened fire. The native was slow in taking cover and was hit in the shoulder.

Another was wounded in similar circum stances, and the third was struck by shrapnel from a Japanese bomb during a raid on Wau.

The Australians who run a small boat service up and down the coast, con stantly overlooked by the Japanese Air Force, would be unable to function with out their native crews. These Austra lians experienced many nerve-racking strafing raids and speak highly of the courage of their native boys under this form of attack.

THE Papuan natives show their worth as much out of action as in the forward areas. A typical story is that of the West Australian signaller in the early days of Milne Bay who was given the task of laying 21 miles of line through rough country. He was given a party of native boys to help him. After he had gone a few miles he went down with malaria. He showed the boys how to lay the line from tree to tree and then stumbled along behind them. The natives laid the line. It still stands to-day. In addition, all that kept this West Aus

tralian going was quinine—quinine brought by a native boy who had to travel 30 miles to get it.

Stretcher-bearing difficulties in the fighting in the Mubo area were incred ible Normal carrying is 16 natives to each casualty. After one recent patrol clash it took 216 natives to carry out eight wounded. They might never have got out if it had not been for these natives.