FATEFUL ISSUES

Evening Star, Issue 24329, 19 October 1942, Page 2

FATEFUL ISSUES

BEING DECIDED IN SOLOMONS DIRECT BEARING ON WHOLE WAR (N.Z.P.A. Special Aust. Correspondent) SYDNEY. October 17. ” Issues fateful for all belligerents, and particularly for Australia and New Zealand, are being decided on and around the shores of Guadalcanal,” the ‘ Sydney Morning Herald ’ declares in an editorial. “ Factual news of the fighting remains scanty. There is no doubt,.however, that the enemy is prepared to accept tremendous losses to repossess the islands vital aerodrome. This airfield is generally accepted as the key io the whole situation in the Solomons, and Allied positions in other south-east-ern islands of the group would soon become untenable if the Japanese should succeed in their primary objective.” “ The outcome of the swaying battle may depend on whether the Americans can retain the airfield as an effective fighter and bomber base,” the naval correspondent of the Loudon ‘ Daily ■Express ’ states. “ The bombardment of the airfield by Japanese planes and warships in an attempt to smash American air resistance is suggested by some commentators to carry the implication that the enemy now controls the waters along the beach held by the United States land forces, and this implication is further strengthened by the latest news that the Japanese have been able to land tanks and artillery. The enemy has obviously thrown a groat concentration of sea, air, and ground strength into the struggle.’ ALLIED FLANK THREAT.

The military correspondent of the ‘ Sydney Morning; Herald ’ says: “ The enemy is trying to eliminate the Allied flank threat to his South-west Pacific positions, whatever the cost. They have even been prepared to hazard capital ships within the range of Allied landbased bombers, and the Japanese must believe they have a fair chance of securing results with the heavy forces they are risking in the attack. Clearly they have subordinated their plans in other theatres, including New Guinea, to concentration in the Solomons. It is not yet clear, however, whether the Japanese in their latest attempt to retake the Southern Solomons are pursuing primarily offensive or defensive strategy. They may be attempting to conserve their outermost gains or they may want Guadalcanal back in order to strike further south through New Caledonia.”

“ If the Americans succeed in holding the South-eastern Solomons their success will have valuable repercussions in every other battleground and every other ocean,” the London ‘ Evening News ’ states in an editorial. “ There are no separate fronts in,- this war. and the swaying of one affects the balance of all. The Pacific has had and is having the most vital and direct bearing on our fortunes. At the very outset it weakened our naval strength in the Mediterranean, enabling Field-marshal Rommel to gather strength to drive us from Libya. It is the simple truth that the Japanese in the Pacific are striking blows for Hitler as well as for themselves, and the Australians and Americans are fighting battles not only for themselves but for us.’ SERIOUSNESS REALISED.

The New York ‘Herald-Tribune, 1 summarising the issues at stake in the present battle, declares: ‘‘The Japanese know that if they resigned the Southern Solomons to iis the rest of their shaky new empire would go, but if 'can;, ejeOt us: they would get a new hold on their dream of world con-* quest. They have not flinched from risking a decisive battle on the issue. “ From the brief United States navy communiques only one fact seems clear —that in this, their big push, the Japanese have suffered heavily in ships, aircraft, and men during the past week or so. Nevertheless, they have driven home, the attack with tenacity and courage, as well as with a mighty force, proving how important their objective is to them ”

Observers say that in Washington there is no attempt to minimise the seriousness of the situation, and the only prediction made is that the “ Japanese are in for the toughest fight of their lives in their attempt to take Guadalcanal from the marines.” Observers point out that United States military leaders anticipated an all-out Japanese attempt to recapture Guadalcanal, and were no doubt prepared for it. TRAP SUGGESTED. “This may be America’s long-hoped-for chance to crush the Japanese fleet,” the New York ‘ Sun’s ’ Washington correspondent (Mr Glen Perry) says. “ It is not impossible that the Japanese may be walking into a deadly trap.’ Tho ‘ Sydney Morning Herald ’ suggests that Japan may have been forced to throw in her main battle fleet to force a decision, since she could not afford the continued attrition of trading ship for ship and plane for plane against the vastly superior building capacity of the United States. The paper’s military correspondent says the extension of the Japanese attack to shelling one point in the Now Hebrides shows the importance the enemy attributes to recent developments south of the Solomons. Allied occupation of the New Hebrides and Fiji, as well as New Caledonia. means that the Allies have completed the links in a great strategical chain designed to protect sea communications between America. Australia, and New Zealand, and to form a strong position on the flank of the Japanese. STRATEGICAL CHAIN. “This chain, with its outer link in the Southern Solomons, is the strategical answer to a similar Japanese chain stretching from the mandated islands through Rabaul to Bougainville and New Georgia,” the ‘Sydney Morning Herald ’ correspondent declares, “ and its various links fit compactly into the general defence system. It is about 500 miles from Guadalcanal to the New Hebrides, from which New Caledonia is 300 miles distant and Fiji about 600 miles. Each link is a stepping stone to the next, and troops and supplies may be moved quickly from these bases to the various pressure points.

“ By striking at the Now Hebrides.” the correspondent adds. “ the Japanese probably hoped to break a link in the chain and prevent the free movement of reinforcements from one group to another.”