BIG CLASH FORESEEN

Evening Star, Issue 24291, 4 September 1942, Page 3

BIG CLASH FORESEEN

EVENTS MOVING TO CRISIS HEAVY ALLIED AIR BLOWS (N.2.P.A. Special Aust. Correspondent)) SYDNEY, September 3. Bombers of General MacArthur’s command struck a violent blow against the Japanese in the Northern Solomons yesterday. Five tons of bombs were dropped on airfields, runways, and installations at Buka. A destroyer was also attacked, but the results were not observed. Other Allied aircraft made offensivo sweeps in the New Guinea area, bomb-, ing and strafing enemy positions and the Kokdda aerodrome at Lae. The - Japanese did not retaliate against these. attacks. Their air force in the Southwest Pacific was completely inactive. To-day’s communique also reports a. lull in the land fighting in the Kokoda sector. Some reports say that th®' enemy are moving troops from Sala- 1 maua towards Kokoda. The enemy’s thrusts towards the Kokoda gap, which crosses the Given Stanley Ranges at. a; height of 7,000 ft, are regarded as re- - connaissances in force along a fairly,' broad front. The enemy is endeavour-' ing to find a weak point in our defences. but there is no indication of any break in the Allied lines, which, have now held against the Japanese formore than a month. The enemy still have to climb about 4,000 ft through the world’s most difficult jungle country to reach the gap. While intensification of his efforts can be expected, the number of troops involved here is limited 1 . Reports from Milne Bay merely state that Australian troops are continuing “to round up isolated enemy, detachments in the jungle.” MAJOR BATTLE EXPECTED. Yesterday’s Allied raid on Buka, which is regarded as the next probable objective of the American drive in the Solomons, broke the lull in that sector. Buka is about 475 miles northwest of Tulagi and 200 miles southeast of the main Japariese South Pacific base at Rabaul. It is expected that the present Solomons stalemate position cannot continue for long, and that the opposing forces must soon join a major battle, Before the Japanese menace to Australia and New Zealand from the east is removed it -is felt here that Buka and then Rabaul must be captured. This would entail smashing Japaness naval power in the South Pacific, which would leave the way open for drives against the enemy’s more northerly Pacific bases in the mandated Marshall and Caroline Islands. Observers give a warning that each successive step of the way will present increased difficulties and prove increasingly costly in men, ships, and aircraft. To forestall Allied blows against Buka and Rabaul the Japanese must' make urgent efforts to reduce Port Moresby. Heavier action in the New Guinea sector must soon be-expected. A move by, either side is likely to be quickly, followed, by the greatest', sea and air battle-of the war. . HOSTILE DEMONSTRATIONS PROTEST AGAINST MURDERER'S EXECUTION LONDON, September 2. A crowd of several hundred gathered in the morning in Bombay street, Belfast, near the borne of Williams, who was executed for the murder of a policeman. They then marched through the adjoining thoroughfares singing Republican songs. The blinds of every, house in Bombay street were drawn, and when the crowd reached William’s home they stopped for a minute’s silence. People flocked to Roman Catholic churches, where Masses for the dead were sala. Vast crowds thronged the main street of Dublin in the morning and made hostile demonstrations against shops which attempted to stay open between 11 o’clock and noon. The shops quickly, closed, but some windows were broken. All the Dublin cinemas remained closed until 6 p.m. The size of the crowds brought traffio to a standstill, and police attempts to disperse the crowds failed. A large congregation filled the cathedral for Mass for Williams. The Lord Mayor, the corporation, and members of the Dail attended. Black flags were hoisted on telegraph poles and on houses in the Garrick Hill (Nationalist) district of Belfast. This afternoon 1,000 Belfast members of the Transport and General Workers’ Union stopped work as a protest against Williams’s execution. Thera was a similar stoppage at Newry, where Roman Catholic shops closed. Practically all the principal shops and industrial business concerns at Waterford ceased work for one hour. The Belfast police stated that a lorry preceded by a car, both filled 'with, armed men, this afternoon entered the north of Ireland at Culloville, County, Armagh. A sergeant and policemen in’ a patrolling Customs car followed and\ encountered the party, who had dismounted from the vehicles around a* bend. The men immediately opened; fire against the police with tommy guns and automatics. The sergeant returned the fire, but flying glass knocked him out, and the driver was seized before he was able to draw his revolver. The assailants, one of whom was wounded, then re-entered the vehicles and recrossed the border. Two men were sentenced at Belfast to three mouths’ imprisonment for riotous behaviour and assault on policemen. It was stated in evidence that they were in a crowd of 300 near th® City Hall, which stopped the traffic and surrounded a car, members of the crowd shouting and singing. Two women gave American soldiers the Nazi salute and shouted at them. A policeman who warned the women received a bl,ow on the back of the head and was knocked down. One of the accused ran away and the other jammed a bicycle in the policeman’s, face. The crowd began throwing bottles and other articles. A crowd followed when the accused were being taken to the police station, and attempted to release them. Th magistrate, when imposing th® sentence, said he was satisfied that the crowd was a menace to the city’# peace. LAWLESS PROCEEDING (Rec. 11.50 a.m.) LONDON, Sept. 3. A party of armed men at CarricK Macross commandeered a motor car and lorry, the drivers of which were compelled to take an armed party, across the border. Home Guards are now manning th® Ulster-Eire border for the purpose of preventing a repetition of the raid. The Belfast police early this morning searched a number of houses in ’the Nationalist districts and detained about 50 young men for questioning,,