TIDE OF WAR IN PACIFIC TURNS

Southland Times, Issue 24872, 12 October 1942, Page 5

TIDE OF WAR IN PACIFIC TURNS

Observers’ Opinions (Special Australian Correspondent, N.Z.P.A.) (Rec. 7 p.m.) SYDNEY, October 11. “Despite the grave Japanese threats to American positions in the Solomons a strong feeling is generally evident among observers, both in Australia and the United States, that the tide' of the Pacific war is now turning slowly in favour of the Allies. Australia’s Prime Minister, Mr John Curtin, indicated that this optimistic assessment applied also to the global war when he told Parliament it was his belief that the Axis was not now making progress on any front. The cause for which the Allied Nations were fighting was being gradually vindicated. “Simultaneously with the steady advance of the Australians in New Guinea the Americans have already beaten off new attempts to expel them from the Solomons and have retained a marked air superiority, destroying more than 200 Japanese planes at a cost of less than 40 of their own,’ writes The Sydney Morning Herald military correspondent today. “The Americans have also turned the tables against the Japanese at the other end of the Pacific. Their forces in the Aleutians are definitely closing in on Japan. “The year 1942 is the last defensive year for the United Nations,” says Major George Fielding Eliot in The New York Herald Tribune. “It is the year in which the United Nations hold fast while America prepares means of holding the Japanese and Germany, encircling by sea and land to prevent | them from joining hands or gaining new resources or bases. The building up of a world-wide system of protected communications is an essential preliminary to offensive operations which this system is making possible and which will decide the war. One of the greatest achievements of the Allies has been the consolidation of the great Pacific route from America to Australia and the operations in NewGuinea are directly connected with the protection of this far-flung artery of power.” ENEMY’S FIGHTING QUALITIES “The Rising Sun appears to have gone down, again over Attu and Agattu in the Aleutians and there is evidence that the Japanese are finding their Aleutians adventures not worth the cost,” says The New York Herald Tribune’s editor. “One thousand miles away in the tropic jungles of New Guinea the enemy seems to have made a similar discovery and simply decamped. But we should not too readily yield to the temptation to reduce our estimates of the Japanese fighting qualities. The aggressive spirit that tries everything, even in facing risks and that is willing abruptly to I cut losses in one theatre where matters do not go well in order to try somewhere else can be overdone, but it has a great military virtue. Since the Allies reformed their shattered lines in the Pacific the war has consisted of a series of Japanese offensive thrusts, which were repelled with heavy Japanese losses, but there has been attrition on our .side, too. In the Pacific war from Andreanof to the Owen Stanley Range strategists cannot be judged until the last scores are in, but boldness- is always advantageous, even if the operations do not turn out exactly as planned.” DAMAGE AT KIETA The New York Times, commenting on the operations of Australia-based bombers in the Solomons area, says the net results of the damage done on Kieta airfield has not been officially estimated, but it must have tremend-. ously assisted the United States Marines on Guadalcanar, because the Japanese Air Force has been obviously preparing a counter-attack against Guadalcanar. In the Aleutians it is reported that recent aerial pictures demonstrate that the Japanese haye not abandoned Kiska, but are bending every effort to make the base stronger. Many buildings have been sunk in pits and dummy airfields have been constructed. JAPANESE~ON kiska Increased U.S. Air Attacks (Rec. 7.30 p.m.) NEW YORK, October 10. The bleak, remote base of Kiska is feeling the increased weight of. American air attacks, against which the Japanese are apparently unable to offer effective defence, says The New York Times Washington correspondent. There are indications that the threat arising from the Japanese occupation of Kiska has been turned instead into a Japanese effort merely to survive the winter weather which will soon sweep the island. The Japanese on Kiska possess only seaplanes for air defence, many of which have been shot down by bombers. Informed quarters in Washington are not attempting to minimize the potential effective strength of the Japanese on Kiska, who are estimated to number 10,000, ■if the Japanese Navy sends sufficient air and naval power to the Aleutians. However, this possibility appears to be remote. QUALITY OF JAPANESE WAR MATERIAL Best Designs From Allies And Enemies I (Rec. 9.30 p.m.) NEW YORK, October 10. I There is nothing flimsy about captured Japanese war material, according to the correspondent of the United Press of America at Marine headquarters in the Solomon Islands. Machineguns were of the latest air-cooled design, either of European construction or an exact duplicate. Flame-throw-ers were modern with a range of 40 feet. One-man light machine-guns equalled the best American in performance and construction. Spare radio tubes were paced in mahogany boxes which were masterpieces of cabinetmaking. Each tube was cradled in sponge-rubber moulded to fit the contours of the glass. Wrecked Zero fighters, from the propeller to the tail-skid, were/ expertly built of the best materials and assembled with great care and skill. Japanese military observers attached to embassies throughout the world did their jobs well. Incorporated in each weapon are the best designs obtainable from the different models used both by their Allies and their enemies.