CHANGE IN STRATEGIC PATTERN IN PACIFIC

Southland Times, Issue 24820, 12 August 1942, Page 5

CHANGE IN STRATEGIC PATTERN IN PACIFIC

(Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, August 10. British and American newspapers hail the Allied attack on the Solomons as a long-awaited turn from defensive to offensive strategy, but they comment with caution upon the probable outcome of the battle. The New York Herald-Tribune says: “Eight months of retreat, defeat and purely defensive strategy have been broken at last. As accumulating hints and bits of news indicate that what has opened in the Solomons is the first offensive effort of the United Nations in the Pacific; it is impossible to restrain a deep surge of enthusiasm and relief. What the battle has brought forth we cannot tell, but there is no longer doubt that the operation is a big one and a genuine offensive stroke. The fact that it could be made alone reveals how far the strategic pattern in the Pacific has been shifting. The simultaneous attack in the Solomons and the United States naval bombardment of Kiska combined in one plan show that our power in the Pacific is growing and making its effectiveness felt. The initiative is here in our. hands. We are taking risks and forcing the pace as the Japanese so long have done. Once we bring our offensive power to bear, whatever the costs and set-backs, that spirit will not be relinquished and the course of the war will not again be the same.” The London Times says: “The combined New Guinea, New Britain and Solomons attack bears all the marks of a deliberate offensive planned well ahead. It explains the comparative lull in this area which caused uneasiness in Australia last week. Previously the United Nations were on the defensive in that part of the world, as elsewhere. Now there is an offensive designed to oust the enemy from the places which he occupied months ago and in which he has been consolidating himself ever since.” The Evening Standard says: “The gravity of the situation in the Pacific has led to a change in Allied strategy. Australians and Americans are attacking and the attack has not come a minute too soon. The assault at least indicates that the Allies for the first time are prepared and able to take the initiative in the Pacific.”