VITAL AIRFIELD ON GUADALCANAR

Southland Times, Issue 24880, 21 October 1942, Page 5

VITAL AIRFIELD ON GUADALCANAR

IMPORTANCE OF BATTLE IN PACIFIC AREA (United Press Association —Telegraph Copyright) (Rec. 11.20 p.m.) NEW YORK, October 20. The Japanese attack on Guadalcanar must be considered against the background of the whole Pacific theatre, according to Major George Fielding Eliot, writing in The New York Herald Tribune. Very great issues depend on the outcome of the fight for the airfield on one small island. If the Japanese are successful they will reap great advantages. (1) They will regain considerable freedom of action in the immediate Solomons area, for we will then be forced to retreat to our nearest air base in the New Hebrides. (2) The Japanese operations in New Guinea would be aided by their ability to concentrate larger forces there. (3) They would be enabled to detach naval and air forces for an assault on our great trans-Pacific line of communications, on which the security of Australia largely depends. In estimating the effect on the Pacific operations of the factor of air-power it is perhaps most important to remember that the effective use the Japanese have made of their rather limited air force has given us an exaggerated idea of Japanese air-power. Certainly some published statements of Japanese plane production far exceed the facts. Japan’s planes are divided between the Army and Navy. Admiral T. C. Hart, formerly Commander-in-Chief of the United States Asiatic Fleet, recently noted that all the Japanese planes encountered around the South China Sea were Navy planes. The same thing is probably true of the Solomons. This suggests that the Navy has first call on Japanese plane production. Thus the fighting in the Solomons affects a Japanese attack against Siberia, as the Army obviously could not hope for a successful campaign against the Russians without sufficient planes, but if the Japanese regain Guadalcanar they could release planes for the army on the Siberian frontier. Therefore, the influence of the fighting on Guadalcanar may be felt in Moscow, perhaps on the borders of India. This is indeed a global war.

“The reason military reinforcements were not sent to the Solomons long ago puzzles military strategists,” reports Drew Pearson, the “Washington Merry-go-Round” columnist, in pointing out that General Douglas MacArthur had sufficient troops in Australia that could be spared for the Solomons. , . “Unfortunately, there is no unity of command between the army and navy

in the South Pacific. General MacArthur runs his own show in Australia and there is apparently reluctance in the War Department or the White House to give General MacArthur orders. Recently the United States naval commander in New Zealand flew to Australia and paid a profitable visit to General MacArthur. It is hoped the friendly visit will have real results.”