Gen. Mac Arthur leads allied surprise attack against Japanese on New Guinea. General Douglas Mac Arthur of the U.S.

Gen. Mac Arthur leads allied surprise attack against Japanese on New Guinea. General Douglas Mac Arthur of the U.S. Army, Allied Commander in Chief in the Southwest Pacific, points from the gunport of an American Flying Fortress to Allied paratroopers descending on the outer defenses of Lae, New Guinea, in a suprise attack on Sept. 5 1943. Gen. Mac Arthur's plane led the biggest fligth of Allied aircraft ever assembled in the Southwest Pacific area to carry the paratroops and artillery pieces needed for the attack. The assault followed by one day the surprise landings of Australian troops on beaches near Lae and completed the encirclement of a large force of Japanese troops defending the strategic enemy base.