NAVIES PREPARE IN SOLOMONS

Southland Times, Issue 24881, 22 October 1942, Page 5

NAVIES PREPARE IN SOLOMONS

BIG-SCALE BATTLE MAT DEVELOP (United Press Association— Telegraph Copyright) (Rec. 11 p.m.) NEW YORK, October 20. Informed circles believe that the American and Japanese naval forces are now jockeying for position in the decisive battle of the Solomons, says the Washington correspondent of The New York Times. A compilation of reports received in Washington indicates that the Japanese forces are probably concentrated north and west of Guadalcanal principally around New Georgia. The enemy could steam overnight to the battle area at Guadalcanar from the region between New Georgia and Rabaul, the! principle Japanese base. Ships in this locality are too far away for steady attacks by aircraft based on Guadalcanar and are likewise quite distant from the American heavy bomber bases in Australia, New Caledonia and the New Hebrides. Qualified observers express the opinion that either of two factors may have checked the Japanese on Guadal- I canar after their landing near the American positions and their temporary successes in bombing and shelling the airfield:— (1) The enemy may have encountered more air, land and sea resistance than he anticipated. (2) The Japanese may not be planning to conduct an immediate land campaign. Instead they may be seeking a naval victory as a prelude to the recapture of the airfield by land attack. The number of enemy vessels already sighted indicates the possibility that he has anticipated a sea engagement. A reference to auxiliaries is significant, as a task force sent out to make a fast attack on an island position would not hamper itself with auxiliaries other than a few tankers. If the Japanese are seeking a naval engagement it is obvious that Vice-Admiral Robert L. Ghormley, Commander-in->Chief in the South Pacific, and Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander-in-Chief of the United States Pacific Fleet, will attempt to outmanoeuvre them and decide the conditions and the time at which such an engagement will be held. Hence observers are watching with keen interest the operations on Guadalcanar itself, but none omits consideration of the possibility that what began as an island raid may eventuate as a naval engagement of record proportions.