U.S. GRAND STRATEGY

Southland Times, Issue 24835, 29 August 1942, Page 5

U.S. GRAND STRATEGY

MAIN EFFORTS IN EUROPE (Rec. 11 p.m.) NEW YORK, August 27. “The Pacific situation is satisfactory in view of all the facts,” declares Joseph Harsch, The Christian Science Monitor’s correspondent, who recently returned from covering the war in the South-west Pacific. The front was being held with not very substantial American assistance. The Allies were a long way- from beating Japan, however, he said, and still faced a desperate fight until America was able to divert her major- offensive strength to the Pacific. “But we have retained our main positions and resisted enemy attempts to cut communications and seize lines of re-entry,” he said. “The Japanese have not succeeded in shaking the Allied strategy of concentrating on Hitler while holding Japan.” Mr Harsch’s chief reason for finding the Pacific situation satisfactory is that the Japanese have not been allowed to advance beyond the lines established by American military councils years ago. He reveals that before the attack on Pearl Harbour British, American and Canadian forces were being moved in the Pacific into a buffer area between the American and Japanese spheres, but the enemy moved too quickly to permit completion of the plan and seized the Philippines after a resistance almost exactly equal to Washington’s anticipations. FALL OF MALAYA

“The American leaders did not, however, expect the easy fall of Malaya and Singapore,” he said, “but London, after the war, may reveal that it anticipated these losses and had intended to withdraw the Malaya army from Singapore to defend Burma. The final disastrous attempt to defend Singapore cost 100,000 men and may turn out to have been an improvization forced on London by the Australian Government.”

Mr Harsch believes that Java might have been held with 200 good fighters and 150 first-class bombers, but the Dutch possessed only a few obsolete planes purchased before the outbreak of the European war. They did not receive any Lease-Lend planes from America. These began to arrive in Australia only after the fall of Java. Mr Harsch says the loss of Burma was not a vital blow to the Allies as Burma forms part of the no man’s land outside the vital Allied bastions. Mr Harsch also sets out the full facts of restricted American assistance in the South-west Pacific theatre. He confesses to a sense of guilt that his dispatches, like those of other American correspondents, emphasized the cheerful aspects of . the war in the Pacific and he says he now offers the real facts by way of atonement. America, he says, followed the master strategy of concentrating her efforts on Europe and the forces available for the Pacific were extremely small for what had to be accomplished. Considering this, the success achieved had been magnificent.

GAINS IN SOLOMONS (Rec. 7.30 p.m.) WASHINGTON, Aug. 27 The Pacific War Council viewed the successes in the Solomons as a real gain. The meeting lasted 90 minutes and was devoted almost exclusively to the report of the New Zealand Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, on the South-West Pacific and New Zealand’s relation to the battle programme. The New Zealand Minister, Mr Walter Nash, acted as spokesman. Mr Nash told the Press that his own impression was that the Allied gain in the Solomons was real. There had been a considerable dispersal of Japanese forces in the South-West Pacific area

and the outlook was father encouraging. The losses of aeroplanes at one point had been in the proportion of seven Allied planes against 33 Japanese planes. Mr Nash said the council discussed the new Japanese landing in New Guinea, but he did not comment on this. He said Mr Fraser had reported on his consultations with the Australian Prime Minister, Mr John Curtin, and the Allied Commander-in-Chief, General Douglas MacArthur. President Roosevelt had discussed the Solomons operations. Mr Nash, commenting on the Press reports, said they had already given most of what was going on. The British Ambassador, Lord Halifax, said Mr Fraser had been impressed with the cordial way in .which the Australian and American forces were working together. The Australian Minister, Sir Owen Dixon, did not comment. Mr Fraser lunched with the Secretary of State, Mr Cordell Hull The President’s Secretary, Mr Stephen Early, said Mr Roosevelt stayed up until 2 o’clock this morning talking to Mr Fraser and the former Ambassador to Japan, Mr J. C. Grew, in the President’s study. Mr Nash was also present. Mr Roosevelt and Mr Fraser resumed their conference after breakfast, spending most of the morning together. Then they went to the Pacific Council meeting.