FORESEEN BY LORD JELLICOE

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 257, 29 July 1942, Page 8

FORESEEN BY LORD JELLICOE

Pearl Harbour Attack

That Japan would begin a Pacific war with a surprise attack such as had , been made on Pearl Harbour and that such a war was inevitable, had been forecast by Lord Jellicoe, said Air Commodore R. V. Goddard, Chief of the Air Staff, in an address at the annual meeting of. the Wellington branch of the Navy- League. In a -report on the development of sea power in the Pacific, Lord Jellicoe had said that the maintenance of sea power was vital to the British Empire and to New Zealand, and had pointed out that ihe motives which made the Japanese our allies in the last war would not hold good in any future war. It should therefore be assumed that the Japanese would not be on Britain’s side in any future war. Dorff Jellicoe had enunciated the Japanese policy of conquest and explained why it could not be long delayed. He also pointed out that the Japanese success against'the Russians in the Yellow Sea battle in 190-1 had largely been due to a surprise attack before war was declared. From this he thought it certain that in any future war the Japanese would launch a powerful attack on the most important naval base in the Pacific before the war had -begun, and that was what had happened at Pearl Harbour. Dealing with the present war, Air Commodore Goddard said that the role of the Air Force was to co-operate with the Navy and the Army in subduing the enemy. Fortunately the Japanese had been arrested in their southward drive by sea power. He did not say that they had been stopped, but they had been halted for the time being. To maintain naval dominance in this part of the world a fleet had to operate under air protection provided not only by carrier-borne aircraft but also by .'more powerful air forces from shore bases. In' concluding, he said he had no doubt that present developments of Allied sea and air power would result in the driving back of the Japanese and the restoration of peace in the Pacific.