URGENT JOB NORTH OF AUSTRALIA

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 265, 7 August 1942, Page 5

URGENT JOB NORTH OF AUSTRALIA

Indirect Danger To N.Z. (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Special Australian Correspondent.) (Received August 6, 1 1.50 p.m.) SYDNEY, Aug. 6. In the past 48 hours Australians have felt their sense of security, which was engendered by the victories of the Coral Sea and Midway Island, slipping away from them. The present enemy moves are as great a menace to New Zealand’s security as Australia’s.

Despite the absence of official news, it is generally believed that events in the south-west Pacific are approaching a climax. General Blarney, head of the Australian Forces, told war correspondents that the Japanese force making a land drive from Gona were members of a picked force trained in commando methods. He said he expected the. Allied forces to be thoroughly equipped when the time came for them to go into battle. The supply of equipment was such that Australia was now almost out of the difficult position of even sixs months ago. He looked forward with confidence to the outcome of any emergency which might arise. Questions in the public mind here are: First, in view of the Allied air strength and the Japanese defeats at sea, how dad the enemy manage to land at Gona? .Secondly, why were the Allies not able to. prevent him from reinforcing the original small invasion force? Thirdly, how was he able, in less than a fortnight, to take command of a etreteh of country extending 60 miles inland to the Kokoda aerodrome and infiltrate even beyond that point? Answers to these questions are eagerly awaited.

Concerning the area to which the Japanese have now advanced, an American correspondent wrote: “There can be no excuse for failure here. It is country made for defence.”

The ominous position in India as related to the south-west- Pacific is widelystressed. “The, Japanese hope to conquer India without a fight,” says the “Daily; Telegraph" in an editorial. “If India fell to the Japanese a vast army, air force and fleet would be avalable for a direct assault on Australia. In the meantime, we are dangerously on lhe defensive.” Hughes Again Warns. A sharp warning note sounded by Mr. W. M. Hughes, who, as a member of the Australian War Advisory Council, must know the Allies' plan of strategy, is given wide prominence. “Our policy,” he declares, “is following blindly the track which led to the downfall of. Malay a and all the other countries which fell almost without effort before the onslaught of Japan.” Culls are made for an immediate Allied offensive. “Is General MacArthur getting all the planes, ships and equipment he needs?” asks the “Daily’ Telegraph.” “Or is he held back by men above him who shape and direct the grand strategy. If he is being restrained, then this is the moment for Mr. Curtin to reatlim—as unequivocally as he did before—Australia’s belief that whatever happens in this theatre must affect the Allied cause everywhere.” FURTHER WARNINGS U.S. Correspondents Critical (By Telegraph.—Press Assn. —Copyright.) (Special Australian Correspondent.) SYDNEY, August 6. Efforts to awaken the United States to the dangers of Japan’s “hidden offensive”, in the south-west Pacific are being made by American war correspondents writing from Australia. Stressing the sorry underestimation of the danger to the Allies’ Pacific strategy of the pending Japanese moves, they emphasize that Australia, which offered opportunities for development of a second front has been allowed, to degenerate to “a secondary front.” Writing in the “Christian Science Monitor,” Mr. W. E. Lucas describes the Japanese in the past six months as burrowing like moles under a vast area bounded by an arc sweeping from Timor to the Solomons, and coming to surface only occasionally to construct bases. "The enemy’s purpose,” he says, “is clear —to build bases to check any Allied move northward, and also to use them for an assault against Australia if this comes within the scope of Tokio’s grana strategy. ** He lays that “success of this Japanese move is the measure of Allied impotence. The Japanese have been able to penetrate and consolidate while the Allies are able to do little to stop them.” Mr. Lucas points out that each Japanese move has been seemingly insignificant when taken from the context, but total results lias been to piu down the Allies-to months of ‘defensive activity,’ while they try to build an offensive force. Japanese Zero Threat. “American airmen are handicapped by flying aircraft inferior to the Japanese planes,” said Mr. William Dunn, Columbia Broadcasting correspondent, in a radio talk from Australia. “They are supremely confident of their ability to do the job here, but emphasize that they need planes to outfly the Zeros.” The “Sydney Morning Herald’’ voices the fear that after overwhelming Port Moresby, the Japanese forces may move against the northern Australian mainland. While this may be exaggerated realism, there can be no over-estimation of the seriousness of the present posi-, tion. Port Moresby and New Caledonia are the last Allied bases off Australia’s east coast. If these fall, the possibility of launching an Allied offensive from Australia might be checked beyond power of restarting, nt least for a very considerable time.