STILL PREPARATORY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 56, 4 September 1944, Page 1

STILL PREPARATORY

MORE FACILITIES NEEDED

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.) Rec. 11 a.m. NEW YORK, Sept. 3. General Harmon's statement on the Pacific shows that the war against Japan has not yet reached "the end of the beginning," says the New York Times's" Pearl Harbour correspondent. Admiral Nimitz's amphibious operations for the next few months will still be preparatory moves. "Besides the lack of large land areas, for bomber bases for 1000 plane raids, we still do not possess a Pacific fleet base of major potentialities in the western Pacific. Guam and Saipan, though destined for development on a surprising scale, are physically unsuited and have no first-class harbour facilities. "Another factor likely to prolong the Pacific war is the stubborn tenacity of the Japanese. Paris was liberated while the Nazis still occupied some of its buildings. So far, in the Pacific, the Japanese in a comparable position have kept on fighting. "Few Japanese emerge from blasted buildings.' There would be bullets whistling in Paris, today if the Japanese were there. Therefore belief is that the final victory will be won at great cost in individual engagements. "Our swift conquests in the central Pacific were not impeded by the air opposition and ground leadership we may expect elsewhere. "The Japanese commanders in the central Pacific displayed tactical judgment unworthy, of their men who were ordered to fight to the death."