LULL IN SOLOMONS

Marlborough Express, Volume LXXVI, Issue 252, 26 October 1942, Page 5

LULL IN SOLOMONS

U.S. FLEET STRENGTHENED SUBTLE STRATEGY OF STRUGGLE.

P.A. Special.

SYDNEY, Oct. 25.

No fresh action has occurred in the Solomons area, states the latest United States Navv communique. Conflicting assessments of the situation are profferred by various observers. However, the suggestion is widely made that the American Pacific Fleet has been considerably strengthened to meet anticipated Japanese thrusts. It is stated th^ the announcements of the commissioning of the two great British battleships, the Anson and the Howe, and of the presence of at least three battleships and an aircraft- carrier in the Indian Ocean have no doubt followed a general reallocation of the United Nations' naval forces. Mr David Laurence, in the New York Sun, sas that the commissioning of the Anson and the Howe should enable the release of American capital ships from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and he suggests that news of the commissioning was not released till the move had been completed. Mr Foster Hailey, the New York Times Honolulu correspondent, replying to the question: "Where is the United States Fleet?" says that the Japanese operate behind a thick sereen of submarines through which opposing surface ships must pass. With naval power in the Pacific so finely balanced, the Americans cannot afford to rnu risks. The American magazine News of the Week deelares: "The struggle for mastery in the Pacific is more involved and more sufotly fought than the public realises. A process of feint and counter-feint has been going on since Pearl Flarbour, with both sides wary of falling into traps." The New York Herald-Tribune's Washington correspondent, estimating the number of enemy troops on Guadalcanar at between 20,000 and 25,000, suggests a contributory reason for delay in the enemy's land offensive may be that United States planes from Henderson airfleld are preventing the Japanese from establishing a regular supply line to their chief beach head, Oape Esperance, on the northern side of the island. SPRIN GBOARD FOR N.Z. ATTACK The London Daily Mail's Washington correspondent believes that Japan's ambitions in an imminent offensive go much futher than the recapture of the south-eastern Solomons. He says the indications are that the enemy is planning to bear down on other Allied strongpoints further south, to pave the way for an all-out offensive against Australia. The Sydney Sun writer also suggests that the audacious Japanese strategy rnay be to strike at New Caledonia, which is garrisoned by strong American forces. "New Caledonia would be no end in itself," he says. "It is a logical operational springboard for an attack on New Zealand and Australia." However, it is the contrary opinion of most military experts that the occupation of New Caledonia will be the Japanese "end in itself." Coupled with the occupation of the New Hebrides and probably Fiji, it would favourably position Japanese naval forces to cut the American supply lines to Australia and New Zealand, neutralising these countries as offensive bases without invasion. It is authoritatively accepted that the occupation of New Guinea, the New Hebrides, New Caledonia, and Fiji, has always been an integral part of Japan's Pacific strategy — and her failure to occupy these islands in the measure of her failure in the Pacific war.