NAVAL BATTLE?

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20914, 14 October 1942, Page 5

NAVAL BATTLE?

ALLIES AND JAPAN PARIS RADIO REPORT VITAL STRUGGLE NEAR (By Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright.) (Special Australian Correspondent.) (2.30 p.m.) SYDNEY, Oct. 13. The Jaoanese vavy has been engaged by' the ‘ Allied forces near the Solomons, according to the Paris radio. The results of the engagement will be announced soon, says the radio, quoting the Japanese navy spokesman. There is no news here of such a battle, but Australian observers generally share the belief of London and Washington military and naval experts that a large-scale battle is developing in the Solomons. 1 The Japanese reinforcements, which are being landed on Guadaleanar Island under the cover of darkness, are believed to include veteran jungle lighters from New Guinea as well as troops from China. The vital importance of the battle of the Solomons to Australia and New Zealand is stressed in an editorial by the Sydney Daily Telegraph to-day. The paper says: “If the Japanese drove the Americans from Guadaleanar, the eastern coast of Australia and the Allied supply route to this country and New Zealand would be open to a flanking attack. The meagre information available suggests that the enemy’s plan is to concentrate all his available south-west Pacific forces in the Solomons. Such a move could tilt the balance of power in favour of the Japanese:’’ Strong Reinforcements Needed Emohasising the need for strong Allied reinforcements on Guadaleanar Island, the Daily Telegraph adds: “It is'not suggested that the enemy is preventing American reinforcements from landing. If the distance from the United States is the reason for the lack of reinforcements, why not send men from Australia? This and other related problems could be solved more expeditiously if we had a single command in the south-west Pacific—not a military corpmand based on Australia and a naval Command based on New Zealand. Independent commands in inter-dependent strategic areas are illogical. The Solomons, battle should not be regarded merely as a naval show'.'' Its’ outcome could materially affect the fortunes of r the United Nations. We cannot afford' to risk a major reverse through remote control and.divided command.’’

The opinion in Britain and America is that the Japanese are going slowly ih '-New Guinea 'and the Aleutians in order to muster their forces for a great effort iri the Solomons. It appears ‘to be generally recognised that the possession of Guadaleanar airfield would enable the Japanese to prosecute'their prime • purpose in the south-west' 1 Pacific—-the attempted occupation of the New Hebrides and New Caledonia, 'placing them across the supply line from America to Australia and New Zealand. ' ’ “No'one should minimise the danger of the fresh Japanese troop landings in 1h& Solomons,”- gays “the London Daily Telegraph; ’‘■‘The • Tokio war lords are showing they’ are well aware that,’ unless they hold the airfields and harbour's of the island chain from Asia aerbss 1 the soilth-west Pacific, they cannot keep their conquests.”