Late News NAVAL POWER IN PACIFIC

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

Late News NAVAL POWER IN PACIFIC

OBSERVER EMPHASIZES IMPORTANCE (Rec. 2.10 a.m.) NEW YORK, Oct. 10. Hanson Baldwin, writing in The New York Times, says that only the spearhead of the opposing sides so far have made contact in the Pacific. He points out that both sides are so limited by the tremendous ocean distances from the small and difficult island battlefields that it is almost impossible to bring the major strength of either side into actual contact. The enemy has great numbers of troops employed on garrison and supply duties. Large air and naval forces on both sides must be used to protect the convoys. The result is that the spearheads of both sides thrust out in New Guinea, the Solomons and the Aleutians are small in size. Great forces are being massed which may never see action, but which have made the spearheads possible. The major part of the Pacific strength of both sides may some day join battle on the sea, but the major portions of the Japanese and American Navies have not yet met. Midway was the closest approach, but the forces involved represented very considerably less than the whole strength of the opposing fleets. As the war approaches a new crisis spheres of influence in the Pacific Ocean are about evenly divided between the Japanese and ourselves. The United States has established a strong defensive outpost line extending from Nome to Dutch Harbour to Hawaii and through Samoa to Australia. Japan’s outpost line extends from Kiska to Wake, the eastern fringe of the Marshalls, the Gilberts, foe Southern Solomons and along the Owen Stanley Range. As foe Japanese completed lines on either side have not been breached yet, it is necessary to conquer foe outposts before foe main line can be assaulted and we are now engaged in that process. BITTER CAMPAIGN Recent news from foe Solomons indicates that the campaign will be bitter, unrelenting and protracted, continuing to involve a considerable portion of foe naval strength of both sides. We are firmly placed on foe Tulagi, Favutu and Tanombogo portions of Guadalcanar and Florida, but it is evident that the Japanese hold a kind of hit-and-run naval superiority in and around the shores of these islands. Japanese surface craft continue to land considerable numbers of troops each night on Guadalcanar. Thus foe Solomon campaign shows that air-power is not enough. The Pacific war is a sea war. Naval superiority as well as air superiority is essential to final victory. - This does not mean that our positions in the Solomons are doomed, far from it. It will probably take a major Japanese effort to oust our forces. On the other hand the problems of supply and distance are so great that it will require an increasing effort on our part to keep them there. Certainly it would necessitate a major effort to advance further.