U.S. infantrymen cross New Guinea River. A platoon of U.S.

U.S. infantrymen cross New Guinea River. A platoon of U.S. infantrymen crosses a river bed to scarch for Japanese in the New Guinea jungles of the Southwest Pacific. Islanders accompany the American troops as guides. Allied capture of Pacific bases is tightening a constriction circle on the Japanese homeland. Allied control of Diak Island, off the northwest coast of Dutch New Guinea, and seizure of half the island of Saipan in the Marianas group of the Central Pacific, less than 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) from Japan were among major successes of June, 1944.