CLOSING EVERY LAND GAP

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 217, 9 June 1943, Page 5

CLOSING EVERY LAND GAP

Japanese Spread In S.W. Pacific GRIM TASK AHEAD (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Special Australian Correspondent.) (Received June 8, 9.45 p.m.) SYDNEY, June 8. A review of the growth of operations within the South-West Pacific Command area during the past year affords •striking evidence of the inevitability of long and bloody island . warfare against the Japanese. lu spite of the terrific punishment which has been inflicted, principally by Allied air attacks, the enemy has increased the number of his occupied points in this area from 10 to nearly 150. The enemy airfields now number about 60. Month by nfonth, the Japanese occupation has spread, closing every land gap in their 2000-mile island defensive arc. Figures of the losses inflicted on the enemy since April of last year throw into bold relief the gigantic scale of the enemy’s infiltration policy. • The Allied score-sheet for the past 14 months reads: — JAPANESE AIRCRAFT. Definitely destroyed, 1070; probably destroyed, 147; damaged, 396. Many others are claimed as merely snot out ot action. JAPANESE SHIPS. Sunk: One aircraft-carrier, nine cruisers, 16 destroyers, 9 submarines, 8 tenders and other war vessels, 57 merchnntmen, and 31 smaller craft. Probably sunk': Three cruisers, 6 destroyers, 4 submarines, 5 miscellaneous war vessels, and 19 merchantmen. Damaged: Two aircraft-carriers, 22 cruisers, 18 destroyers, 1 submarine, 6 tenders, 164 merchantmen, and 1(1 smaller craft.

JAPANESE PERSONNEL.

Thirty thousand troops killed in the Papuan campaign and the Bismarck Sea battle; 1500 pilots and aircrews lost with their destroyed aircraft; and many hundreds of troops killed in smaller-scale land fighting and air attacks. Mounting Enemy Strength.

In spite of these losses, Japanese strength has steadily mounted. • At the western end of their island chain, Timor, which a year ago provided only three worth-while targets for Allied bombing, is now a full-time objective, honeycombed with cells of enemy activity. Simultaneously with their Papuan defeat, the Japanese occupied Dutch New Guinea. The first Allied air attacks in this sector were made last February and were directed against four targets, .today, 23 Japanese-occupied points in Dutch New Guinea are under attack. When the Japanese occupied Wewak, in northern New Guinea, last December, it was a mission outpost. Today it ranks only after Truk and Rabaul as the most formidable base in the entire southern Pacific. Four heavy Allied air attacks have been made against it in eight days—l 9 since the beginning of the yC To the east along the north New Guinea const, Madung in the past six months has also been converted to a powerful base. Fifty Allied bombing attacks do not appear to have hampered its steady development. In spite of 133 raids in 14 months, Lae remains a .vital enemy forward base with a strong garrison, and its airfield is still in service. Menace of Rabaul. In the past year, Rabaul has been raided on more than 100 occasions. Enormous losses have been inflicted on the Japanese. Yet its importance remains undiminished. Ships and aircraft destroyed by bombing are quickly replaced. Round the New Britain coastline, ~O enemy-occupied points are now receiving the weight of our air offensive. One ot these, Gasmata, is powerful enough to have warranted 100 raids in the past year. , . . Observers in this theatre say that to dispossess the Japanese will involve a “never-ending succession of Bunas, ine Japanese arc seen as engaged in building tip their defences for the start of the Pacific war proper, when huge Allied. air and sea armadas will be flung against them. But even then, bloody , and prolonged fighting is regarded as inevitable. "Meanwhile, increasing Allied air power is endeavouring to check the Japanese spread. In the past year, South-wes’ Pacific aircraft have carried out more than 3000 separate missions, ranging up to 2500 miles. Flying hours on attack missions and reconnaissance flights are estimated to total 230 years. Our land forces, which are loss publicized, arc still active. I3ut the fact tn<it wherever the Japanese have been checked at one spot they have broken out at several gives a guide to the magnitude of the grim task ahead.