Battle Will Show If Allied Strategy Has Been Correct

Taranaki Daily News, 27 August 1942, Page 3

Battle Will Show If Allied Strategy Has Been Correct

Special Australian Correspondent.

Supply and shipping still big difficulty.

Rec. 11.45 p.m. Sydney, Aug. is. The war in the Pacific has now entered the crucial period which will determine the su,ccess of the United Nations strategy against the shrewdness of the military power of Japan. This is the view of J. Joseph Harsch, Christian Science Monitor war correspondent, who has just returned to America from Australia. "The task confronting the United Nations is to fight a successful holding war from China, Siberia and Australia until major American forces can be diverted to those places," he says. "Meanwhile, the Japanese conquests will be consolidated intensively if the enemy is left in unharassed possession of the occupied areas. "Our supply lines are the longest ever known in warfare. Our command is not unified. Shipments of men and material for the Pacific are determined not by needs but by what can be spared from other fionts. The Japanese tacticians have displayed considerable ability. The High Command at .no point has been tempted to over-extension by easy victory. It has always kept its basic aim, to push back the whole periphery." Mr. Harsch believes that Japan is unlikely to embark on any fresh ambitious moves until she has consolidated her present holdings. Therefore he considers Japan will not attack Siberia but will ' prefer to wait a cheaper conquest if Russia collapses. i "Undoubtedly Japan considers AustraI lia and New Zealand desirable," says Mr. Harsch, "but they are regarded as of secondary importance owing to their relaI tive poverty of raw materials and war ' resources."