A PERCEPTABLE HARDENING

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 2, 12 January 1942, Page 4

A PERCEPTABLE HARDENING

JAPANESE boastfulness and empty challenging to the combined fleets of Britain and America to come out into the open,' do not blind us to the fact that after a. month's fighting the forces of Nippon are beginning to feel the strain. The lightning nature of the opening of the war gained for them the initial advantage, but despite the loss of island bases in the Pacific, Hongkong on the China coast, Manila on the Philippine Islands and the northern portion of Malay Peninsula recent news confirms the .opinion that the strain of these widespread operations is telling in no uncertain manner. In the Philipines the pressure on the American forces is declining, in the Malay., the dense jungle and* impenetrable swamps are an unexpected and deadly barrier to the lightly clad Japanese troops. Singapore: awaits any eventuality with calm confidence, Burma is an armed csimp, and the gallant Chinese, after defeating the invaders at Changsha have spared five divisions to the British Indian command. The Allied defence has shown a perceptable hardening. The course of the Pacific war, will however be decided on the pending naval engagement wjiich is inevitable before America can lay any effective claim to the sea lanes by which she. can send her reinforcements to her sorely pressed nationals. General Wavell on the other hand has promised that it will not be long before the combined offensive of the A.B.C.D. powers will be launched. The slight lull which has now taken place may tell its tale in a few days time in spite of the mounting Japanese threat to the; Dutch East Indies.