BATTLE RAGES

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20917, 17 October 1942, Page 3

BATTLE RAGES

SOLOMONS WATERS BIG ENEMY FLEET FULL-SCALE ASSAULT FIGHT MAY BE CRUCIAL (By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (11 a.m.) NEW YORK, Oct. 16. / The Navy Department announced that a large enemy force has landed on Guadalcanar with artillery and are now shelling the American positions. The Navy Department also announced that a large concentration of enemy ships has been discovered near Shortland Island, 259 miles northwestward of Guadalcanar. “Guadalcanar has become the focal point of a major battle which may be crucial in the struggle between the -United States and Japan,’’ says the New York Times correspondent in Washington. “This became clear to-day when the Navy Department announced that the Japanese had landed more reinforcements near the American airfield, despite heavy losses inflicted by the defenders. t “One rather ominous note in the Navy Department’s communique was the statement that other enemy forces, including heavy units had been sighted in the vicinity of Guadalcanar, indicating strongly that a decisive sea action is in the making. “Few conclusions could be drawn by observers from the Navy’s Department’s partial reports, but two possibilities are notable at present in the reports. First, the power of the Japanese indicates that the main battle fleet is backing this excursion against Guadalcanar. The other was that the renewed ability of the. Japanese to bomb Guadalcanar might make the field im useable and thereby ground bombers based there as the principal defence against invasion ships. No indication has been given of the probable outcome of the battle. Navy Department spokesmen have repeatedly expressed the opinion that Guadalcanar could be held, but this prediction has been qualified by the “if” that it depended on how much the Japanese were willing to spend in the effort. Japanese Prepared to Pay Price “Lacking further 'reports, the indications at present are that the Japanese are prepared to pay a very large price, if necessary. This leaves the issue-one to be determined by the amount of force that could be rushed to the aid of the defenders.” The United States Navy Department spokesman said that stern fighting is continuing, but no complete view would be obtained until the action finished. So far as the land fighting was concerned, all the information available was being released as quickly as possible. It was announced shortly after midday ■ to-day that 27 Japanese bombers again attacked the United States shore positions on Guadalcanar, but the details were lacking. Enemy surface forces, including two transports, are still moving in waters ardund Savo Island. Three enemy transports, which earlier were reported to have been damaged, have been observed on the beach at Guadalcanal still burning. There is no news, however, of how the fighting, either by land or sea, is going. New Hebrides Shelled The Navy Department announced that the enemy made an air raid, on the American positions on Guadalcanar Island on Thursday. An enemy warship shelled the American base on Espiritu Santo Island, in the New Hebrides, " ~ . , .. Hie correspondent says that the official announcement that American soldiers have joined the Marines in the , Solomons, where the United States Army Air Force has been operating since the start-of operations, was made coincident with the statement by the Secretary of War. Mr. H. L. Stimson, showing that American Army units are now scattered throughout most of the Pacific bases which are specifically revealed officially for the first time. Botii army, air and ground forces are now in New Zealand. New Caledonia, New Hebrides and Fiji Islands. Hitherto New Zealand and New Caledonia have been known primarily as American naval bases. Hold Still Precarious

“Our position in the Solomons is still uncertain as, indeed, it must remain until it is much further extended,” says Major, Fielding Eliot, ■writing in the New York HeraldTribune. “As long as the Japanese are close at hand and able to reinforce ■their advance bases almost at will, our hold on Guadalcanar and Tulagi must continue to be precarious. “The Japanese will continue to try to push us from those islands as long as they are. able to do so. On the other hand, our only purpose in being there must be, as Admiral J, King, commander-in-chief of the United States Navy, announced at the outset, to use our new foothold as a base for further offensive operations. 'The Japanese simply cannot afford to allow us to obtain better bases and ■bases closer to Japan itself for the operations of our submarines. “The expulsion of the , Japanese from the entire New Guinea area would expose their main advance fleet base at Truk. It is therefore likely that the present Japanese operations in the Soloinons represent a full-dress attack which is intended to expel us from Guadalcanar and Tulagi, regardjggg of cost. “It is possible that the Solomons area may be about to see the first clash betwen American and Japanese .capital ships,”