FORCES IN SOLOMONS

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

FORCES IN SOLOMONS

NO MAJOR CLASH YET (Special Australian Correspondent, N.Z.P.A.) (Rec. 7 p.m.) SYDNEY, October 21. Although the Japanese and American Fleets are apparently close to each other in the Solomons area no clash has yet been reported. According to some Washington reports heavy American warships have moved to the battle zone, steaming unopposed through waters previously dominated by the Japanese Fleet. A Pearl Harbour report estimates that at least 15,000 Japanese troops have landed on Guadalcanar in the last month. No new Japanese landings on the island since last Thursday have been reported. The massing of Japanese sea, land and air power indicates that Japan intends to concentrate in the Solomons one of the greatest striking forces she has ever sent to any territory and to build up the most powerful “umbrella” of planes she has ever assembled, despite continuing heavy losses. Japan does not appear to be expecting a quick or easy victory. Toyko radio announces that the Foreign Office ' spokesman, Mr Tomokazu Hori, broadcasting to the Japanese nation, said the Pacific conflict was gradually assuming the phase of a long-term war, which was requiring all the strength of the Japanese people. He also warned the Japanese of the possibility of a general counter-attack by the United Nations against Japan and declared that United Nations strategists were considering the Pacific area and Africa, as well as Europe, for the formation of a second front. PROVISION OF SUPPLIES Urging that supplies for the Americans on Guadalcanar should be rushed from Australia, The Daily Telegraph, Sydney, says the battle for the Solomons may not be won with warships alone, but with supply ships. “Australia, only 1150 miles from the Solomons, is a place from which war material and food should go,” says the paper, pointing out that America is 6000 miles away from the battle area. The New York newspaper P.M. reported that the Japanese on Guadalcanar outnumber the American forces by two to one, but this is accepted with considerable reserve. The numbers of enemy troops are regarded here as of secondary importance in a battle in which the major issue must be decided at sea. “If we gain, complete control of the sea in the Solomons the Japanese forces on Guadalcanar will be in a trap,” The Daily Telegraph points out. “The bigger the forces the bigger the catch, but if the Japanese control the sea the trap will be on our foot.” “American strategy in the Solomons must be determined more by geography than by choice,” declares The Manchester Guardian, emphasizing the great advantages held by the Japanese in the possession of several bases within easy striking distance of Guadalcanar. With air bases already established at Buin and Buka, in the Northern Solomons, as well as at Rabaul, the Japanese have been working frantically to build new airfields. It is suggested that they may even have some kind of aerodrome on Shortland Island (where a large concentration of enemy transports has been reported) just 260 miles north-east of Guadalcanar or New Georgia. ADMIRAL KING CAUTIOUS The Commander-in-Chief of the United States Navy, Admiral E. J. King, was cautious on the subject of the Solomons in a New York speech. “Although America was still fighting a two-ocean war with a one-ocean navy we took the offensive at Tulagi in August,” he said, “and the Japanese fear and resent it. A second-ocean Navy is well on the way this year, but there will not be any miracles in this war and no inventors to produce machines to knock out the Japanese and their planes. There is no cheap way of winning this war.” Admiral King added that officers returning from the Solomons had assured him that all the services there were “in the ditch digging together.”

IMPORTANT BATTLE Comparatively Small Forces NEW YORK, October 20. “It is strange that in a war in which armies are counted by millions and nearly 2,000,000,000 persons are involved that the decisive engagement should be fought in a scantily-populated, halfunexplored area without economic importance,” comments The New York Times in an editorial. “Yet this is a true description of the battle of the Solomons. The land forces on either side are small beside those fighting within the city of Stalingrad and the air forces are small beside those that participated in the Dieppe raid. It is impossible to estimate the naval forces, but we are entitled to suppose that what occurs in the next few days on and over the sea at this intersection of power in the Far East will have a profound effect on the strategy of the war in the Pacific. “The time had to come in this area when the Japanese, mustering all their striking power, would move against the Americans employing all their defensive and offensive forces. The Americans have no doubts of the ultimate issue in the Pacific. As for the immediate result at Guadalcanar, we can hope and pray—that is all we can do, aside from working harder and making sacrifices to help the cause along. LAND-BASED PLANES Importance In Solomons WASHINGTON, October 20. Colonel Frank Knox, Secretary of the Navy, told his Press conference: “The Solomons battle is still a good, stiff, hard fight. In my judgment the Japanese have by no means as yet exercised their maximum force.” He said that he had nothing to add to the most recent communique announcing the sudden reappearance of American warships in the Solomons and he added that communiques were being issued as rapidly as the information was received. Colonel Knox indicated that landbased aeroplanes would play a much greater part in the naval activity in the Solomons. Asked if he would comment upon the number of the planes, he replied that such information could not be disclosed, but he could say that the number of land-based planes used by the Navy was steadily increasing. He praised the Office of War Information’s report on the performance of American planes which, he said, was extremely well done.