HARD BLOW FOR JAPANESE

Southland Times, Issue 24838, 2 September 1942, Page 5

HARD BLOW FOR JAPANESE

DEFEAT AT MILNE BAY (Rec. 9.40 p.m.) NEW YORK, Aug; 31. A leading article in The New York Times says: “The Japanese have taken another hard blow in the defeat at Milne Bay. Their landing was an attempt partly to retrieve their expulsion from Tulagi by establishing a new bridgehead for a two-way offensive against Port Moresby and eventually Australia itself. Now the Japanese have been driven into the sea. They have lost the initiative in the New Guinea area and the waters washing its eastern shore. “A Japanese base at Milne Bay would command the approaches to Rabaul, threaten Torres Strait and menace Port Moresby, but General MacArthur foresaw these strategic possibilities even more clearly than the enemy. When the Japanese landed troops and tanks on the beaches they were already surrounded by Australian veterans hidden in the undergrowth at the foot of the mountains. The invaders hoped to take advantage of the tropical storms which kept our planes away, but they marched into a trap. Yesterday Tokyo radio broadcast pleasant items about an art exhibition at the capital and a new Japanese swimming record, but there has been no reference to Milne Bay.”