AMERICANS CONFIDENT

Evening Star, Issue 24332, 22 October 1942, Page 5

AMERICANS CONFIDENT

STRATEGY OF PACIFIC WAR IN BALANCE major naval battle expected f NEW YORK, Oct. 20. “It is strange that in a. war in which armies are counted by millions, and nearly 2,000,000,000 persons are involved, a decisive engagement should be fought in a scantily-populated, haltunexplored area without economic importance,’’ comments the ‘ New York Times’ in an editorial. “Yet this is a true description of the battle or tne Solomons. • . , “The'land-forces on either side are small beside those fighting within the city of Stalingrad, and tho air forces are small beside those that participated in the Dieppe raid. It is impossible to estimate tho naval forces, but we are entitled to suppose that what occurs in the next few days and over the sea at this intersection of power in the bar East will have a profound effect on tne strategy of the war iu the Pacific. “ The time had to come in this area when the Japanese, mustering all thenstriking power, would move against the Americans, employing all their defensive and offensive forces. The .Americans have no doubts of the ultimate issue in the Pacific. As for. the immediate result at Guadalcanal we can hope and pray—that is all we can do aside from working harder and making sacrifices to help the cause along. “At any moment the battle of Guadalcanal could precipitate a major fleet action, which might put Australia in peril or burst tho bubble of Japaues'e conquests,” says the 1 Christian Science Monitor.’ The paper adds: “ A major naval battle iu the Solomons can be expected soon because, unless Japan can win naval dominance she faces a continuous whittling down of sea and air power by American flyers, including Inlying Fortresses from Australia. Tokio may conclude that a decisive battle had better be fought in the Solomons rather than in Japanese waters. “ The Japanese counter-attacks have removed any prospect of exploiting the American seizure of Guadalcanal in a major United Nations offensive; indeed, the Americans must cling to the vital airfield or face the prospects of a new Japanese drive on Australia.” ENEMY AIR BASES. American strategy iu the Solomons must be determined more by geography than by choice, says the 1 Manchester Guardian,’ stressing the great advantage* held by the Japanese in the possession of several bases within easy striking distance of Guadalcanal. With air bases already established .at Bum and Buka, in the northern Solomons, as well as at Rabaul, the Japanese have been working frantically to build new airfields. It is suggested that they may even have some kind of aerodrome on Shortland . Island (where a large concentration of enemy transports has been reported), just 260 miles northeast of Guadalcanal, or New Georgia. A CAUTIOUS NOTE. The Commander-in-chief of the United States Navy, Admiral E. J. King, was cautious op the subject of the Solomons in a speqgli at New York. “ Although. America is” still fighting a two-ocean war with a one-ocean navy, we took the offensive at Tulagi in August,” he ,said, “ and the Japanese fear and resent it. A second-ocean navy is well on the way this year, but there will not be any miracles- in this war and no inventors to produce machines to knock out the Japanese and their planes. There is no cheap way of winning this war.” Admiral King added that officers returning from the Solomons had assured him that all the services there were “ in the ditch and digging in together.”