PACIFIC WAR ZONE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 23, 10 November 1944, Page 4

PACIFIC WAR ZONE

JAPAN today is fighting a lone battle against forces whicti must eventually overwhelm her. No longer can the enemy enlarge his sphere of conquest; his present task is to endeavour to hold his outer defence line. The initiative in the Pacific war zone has already passed to'the Allies-, who have, as yet, exerted only a portion of the pressure they will be able to bring to bear within the next few months. In the four prime elements of warfare —-armies, navies, air forces, and merchant shipping—Allied resources are far greater than those of the enemy, and the full utilisation of those resources is soon to begin. Opinions vary as to the number of men Japan has under arms, but the most recent figures suggest that the effective army numbers five millions, of whom one million are engaged in China and half a million are stationed on the Manchurian frontier. Of the remainder a proportion are held on garrison duty at Japanese home bases and in occupied countries, ajid the remainder are engaged in active warfare on the outer defence perimeter in New Guinea and Burma. The United Nations, on the other hand, have a vast but undisclosed number of men already serving in the pacific. The Chinese? forces probably number two millions, India has a similar number, thousands of British, Indian and East African troops are at battle stations in Ceylon, and at least seven Allied divisions are engaged in the South Sea Islands and New Guinea. As far as shipping is concerned, both naval and merchant, Japanese losses have been catastrophic. In two and a half years of war enemy losses have totalled 248 warships of various types and over 600 merchant vessels. The losses of the United Nations have been about a quarter of those of the enemy, and now that the Mediter- ■ ranean Fleet is free for duty elsewhere, great reinforcements can be expected in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. The Japanese ar£ short of distant naval bases, but the Allies have thrown a chain of shore establishments around the borders of both oceans, ranging from East Africa to Australia and from the Aleutians to Zealand, with Pearl Harbour and Midway guarding the central region. In the air also enemy losses have been disastrous, and advanced Japanese landing fields such as Guadalcanar and Munda in the Solomons, Buna and Gona in Papua, and maua and Lae in New Guinea are now in Allied hands, to gether with 3fty island-based strips in the wide Pacific.