ANXIETY GROWING

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20918, 19 October 1942, Page 3

ANXIETY GROWING

BATTLE OUTCOME FLEET MOVES SECRET LAND FORCES EQUAL (By Telegraph —Press Assn. —Copyright.) (Special Australian Correspondent.) (J 0.30 a.m.) SYDNEY, Oct. T 9. What Tittle late news has-been received of the Solomons fighting is of a sombre character. It is revealed from Washington that, in the face of the apparent Japanese sea and air control, American anxiety about the outcome is growing. However, beyond an earlier report that a naval battle is raging, no official mention has been made of operations by a strong Allied naval force somewhere in the area. Now that American land-based air power has been so seriously crippled, it is on the hidden operations of the Allied fleet that the final outcome will depend. With the American and Japanese forces on Guadalcanar evenly matched. victory must go to the side able to throw the speediest reinforcements into the battle. It is believed that large-scale land fighting has not yet developed, but an American press correspondent says: “The peril of the American troops has increased ominously, not only with the landing of strong enemy reinforcements, but with the news that a large.group of enemy- ships has been sighted near Shortland Island, 260 miles -northwest of Guadalcanar.* It is evident that America’s hold on .the south Pacific war crucible of the Solomons is truly, in the balance. It is evident that the enemy intends .to envelop and smother the American positions ashore after having softened the fire points and crushed the airport facilities.” Japan’s first objective of neutralising American land-based air power on the vital Henderson airfield appears to have been' accomplished and the secrecy-shrouded sea battle must be the final determining factor. If the Japanese succeed in retaking the Solomons without crippling losses to their own sea power, they might be in a position to accomplish their original Pacific strategy of driving on to New Caledonia and taking that, declares the war commentator in the Sydney Sunday Sun. He adds: “II New Caledonia fell to the Japanese and the Allies were so weakened in this area that they could not take it back, the outlook for Australia and New Zealand would be dark. , The enemy would have a base beside out main Pacific supply lines from America. He would only be 1000 miles from Sydney and Auckland. New Caledonia would afford! him harbours, airfields and mineral riches, including vital nickel to plate bis bullets and chrome and manganese to harden his steel. It is a natural base from which to strike at eastern Australia.” Danger to New Hebrides The Japanese conquest of New Coiedonia would almost certainly involve the preliminary occupation oi Allied bases in the New Hebrides and the New Guinea stronghold at Port Moresby. The American news magazine Time to-dav declares: “General MacArthui lfas enough men to retake all New Guinea, but offensive risk in ships and the price may not be worth the cost.” Time places the number of Japanese in all New Guinea at not more than 20.000. Pointing out the audacity oi the enemy in stretching his fingers over thousands of miles of the Pacific, the magazine says there were not more than 3000 Japanese in the southeast Solomons when the American Marines launched their offensive early ir. August. Japan’s total Pacific ex-, pansion has engaged probably not more than 200,000 troops.

Some Americans were asking why more Australians were not fighting with the Americans in the Solomons. The American news analyst, Mr. William Winter, said, in a special radio talk to Australia from San Francisco, that he indicated the answer was Australia’s recognition that this was a global'war and that she had sent her troops to fight in other parts of the world. Australia would be the nation most directly affected by the American defeat in the Solomons Apart from the danger to her supply lines. Brisbane and other eastern coastal cities would be threatened. “The Japanese know that if they resigned the southern Solomons to us the rest df .their shaky new Empire would go. but if they can eject us they would get a new hold on theii dream of world conquest.” declares the New York Herald-Tribune, summarising the issues at stake in thf present battle. “They do not flinch from risking a decisive battle on the issue.”

From the brief Navy Department commmuniques 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. “Toughest Fight of Lives”

Observers say that in Washington there is no attempt to minimise the seriousness of the situation. The only prediction -made is that the “Japanese are in for the/toughest fight of theii lives in the attempt to take Guadal canar from the Marines.” The observers point out that the United States military leaders anticipated an all-out Japanese • attempt to recapture Guadalcanar and no doubt were prepared for it.

“This may be America’s long-hoped-for chance to crush the Japanese fleet,” says Mr. Glen Perry, the New York Sun’s correspondent in Washington. “It is not impossible that the Japanese may be walking into a deadly trap.” The Sydney Morning Herald suggests that Japan ; may have been forced to throw in her main battle fleet to force a decision since they could not afford continued attrition, trading ship for ship and plane for plane against, the vastly superior building capacity of the United States.

The military correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald says the extension of the Japanese attack to shelling one point in the New Hebrides shows the importance the enemy attributes to the recent developments south of the Solomons. The Allied occupation of the New Hebrides and Fiii. as well as New Caledonia, means that the Allies have completed 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. “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,” declares the Daily Morning Herald correspondent. “Its various links fit compactly into the general defence system. It is about 500 miles from Guadalcanar to the New Hebrides from which New Caledonia is 300 miles distant and Fiji about 600 miles away. Each link is a stepping-stone to the next and troops and supplies may be moved quickly from bases to the various pressure points. By striking at the New Hebrides, the. Japanese probably hoped to break a link in the chain to prevent the free movement of rein-.’ forcements from one group to another.” I