WHERE WILL JAPAN STRIKE NEXT?

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 292, 8 September 1942, Page 5

WHERE WILL JAPAN STRIKE NEXT?

Some Opinions Now Revised INDIA & NEW GUINEA

(By Telegraph.—Press Assu.—Copyright.) (Special Australian Correspondent.)

(Received September 7, 7 p.jn.) SYDNEY, Sept. 7.

Where will Japan strike next? An extraordinary divergence of views on this vital question has become evident during the past few days. Till the weekend the body of responsible opinion was that Japan’s forces were being, massed for an attack against Russia, but with the campaigning season in Siberia approaching its end many commentators profess the opinion that Japan has been merely feinting at Siberia, and that she will direct her main thrusts in the southwest Pacific and against India. Mr. George Welles, correspondent in Australia of the Chicago "Daily News,” deplores the tendency of the man iu the street to treat events of the past few weeks in the Pacific as a major defeat for the Japanese. He declares that the present enemy offensive lull ip not due to a lack of strength, and he emphasizes that Japan must continue to strike. Australian commentators feel that, whatever other offensive commitments Japan is prepared to undertake, she cannot afford to neglect the south-west Pacific, where the United Nations have already moved to the attack. High quarters in Washington are also reported to incline increasingly toward the view that Japan will concentrate her forces in this area. They foresee the danger that Japan is prepared to disregard the cost in an effort to neutralize Australia and New Zealand as Allied offensive bases. American naval experts would not be surprised if the Japanese naval units which were withdrawn from the Solomons suddenly reappeared, strongly reinforced, off the New Guinea coast.

Dangerous Indian Problem. The Washington “Star’s” foreign editor confirms the reports from Chungking that some of the Japanese divisions which were withdrawn in China have already embarked for the south-west Pacific. While observers believe that the Allies are now strong enough to hold »the United Nations’ territories in the south Pacific, they are less optimistic about the situation in the event of'a full-scale Japanese drive on India. Cabling to the New York “Evening Post” from New Delhi, Mr. A. T. Steele gives a warning that anti-British feeling is growing throughout India, and says: “If the Japanese start an invasion the sullen state of mind of the Indians will be • a problem of the first magnitude. Mr. Raymond Gram Swing, the best-known American news analyst, is one of those who believes that India and not Siberia is Japan’s immediate goal, and he says: “It is plain that the enemy is preparing a iiew major move, and while many predict ah attack against Siberia the Chinese report that six new Japanese mechanized divisions have appeared in Burma and Indo-China. This appears to indicate that India is Japan's objective.”

In Siberia where the Russians are prepared to wage guerrillij war, the vast distances favour strategic withdrawals, and the Japanese would face the danger of an indecisive struggle, Mr. Swing declares. He derives comfort from Mr. Togo's going, which, he says, indicates that Japan’s master-plan for war is not going well. Industrial Power.

A warning that Japan’s industrial strength is first-rate and that she would be able to withstand many years of a stalemate war is sounded by Mr. Ray Cfomley, a representative of the “Wall Street Journal,” who has just been repatriated from Tokio. Japan, he says, can be weakened only by attacks on her key industrial plants. “Japan’s heavy industry is largely new and wholly planned for military purposes,” he adds. “She is now singularly rich in raw materials.

“Japan’s weakness is her shortage of electric power, and moreover Japan’s rail system is pitifully Weak. Japan's scattered resources require, according to Japanese estimates, 15,006,000 to 20,000,000 tons of shipping",• and constant sniping at Japan’s lines of communication is therefore one of the most effective ways of weakening Japanese production.”