OUTLOOK SERIOUS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 December 1941, Page 3

OUTLOOK SERIOUS

THE THREAT TO MANILA FURTHER LANDING MADE BY ENEMY. HUNDRED TRANSPORTS ROUND LUZON. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) LONDON, December 25. The latest dispatches from Manila confirm that the situation is serious. The Commander-in-Chief, General MacArthur, is personally leading his forces, who are carrying out a series of strong and fierce delaying actions agains very serious odds. The army has announced that forward forces from the Manila headquarters are taking the field to oppose troops which are threatening the capital from the north and south. In the last two days three more important landings have been made, two of them within 50 miles of Manila. Il is officially stated in the capital that at least 100 heavily convoyed enemy transports are in the waters round Luzon Island and the enemy is still being reinforced. The United States War Department said yesterday that consideration was being given to a withdrawal of the Commonwealth Government and military forces from Manila. An army communique issued earlier at Manila stated that the declaring of Manila to be an open city was being considered.

SHIP A DAY SUNK BV DUTCH FORCES SINCE HOSTILITIES BEGAN IN PACIFIC. NATIVES AS HOME GUARDS IN EAST INDIES. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, December 24. One Japanese ship a day has been sunk by the Dutch forces since the beginning of the western Pacific hostilities, making a total of 16. This and other news broadcast by Batavia radio underline the support that is being given to ; the Allied cause by the force of the free Netherlands. The broadcast added that chieftains of the Netherlands East Indies native villages have applied for formal permission to form groups of Home Guards in every village should an emergency arise. A Batavia communique describes the latest operations round the Dutch possessions, stating that at one point Japanese bombers tried to attack Dutch territory but were, chased off by Dutch fighters before they were able to drop their bombs. A Japanese tanker of over 10,000 tons was sunk by Dutch planes during an attack off Davao. The bombs which registered direct hits were of 300 kilograms. “Dutch bombers,” the communique continues, “attacked in waves over the harbour of Davao and encountered heavy fighter and anti-aircraft opposition. One of the Dutch flying-boats was so heavily damaged that it was forced to land on the sea. The crew were picked up by another flying-boat which landed alongside the damaged plane before it sank. All the other planes returned to their base. Batavia also reported yesterday that Japanese planes attacked Sarong, in Dutch New Guinea, but were driven off by Dutch fighters. Singapore reports say that Dutch aircraft scored a direct hit on a Japanese cruiser and on a large aircraft tender in Davao Bay in Mindinao Island. Japanese air raids on the Netherlands East Indies have so far caused about 500 casualties.

It is officially announced in Singapore that a number of Japanese warships and transports have been reported off the coast of Sarawak. They are being attacked by sea and air, and so far three large troop transports and one tanker have been sunk by Allied forces. Extensive reconnaissances are being carried out by our aircraft. A communique in Batavia states that these four vessels were sunk by one of the Dutch submarines. . . A raid on the capital of Sarawak is reported from Singapore. Casualties were not heavy. EXTENDED POWERS GIVEN TO CHIANG KAI-SHEK MOBILISATION OF CHINA’S POWER. SUPPORT FOR ATLANTIC DECLARATION: CHUNGKING, December 24. The central executive committee of the Kuomintang (Government party) has appointed Mr T. V. Soong, For-’ eign Minister, succeeding Dr Quo Tai-chi, who is appointed chairman of the foreign affairs sub-committee of the Supreme National Defence Council. The central committee granted Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek extended war powers, including authorisation to enact, revise and enforce laws and edicts. . ■ The committee issued a manifesto voicing its hearty support of the Roose-velt-Churchill Atlantic declaration. Full mobilisation of China’s tremendous power to provide millions more men for the Pacific wax' was demanded in the manifesto.

The Tokio radio declared that Marshal Chiang Kai-shek is sending a strong Chinese army from Yunnan to Burma to strengthen the British defences. It added that Burma will probably be the next Far Eastern battlefield. CHINA & BRITAIN EARLIER OFFERS OF HELP < REJECTED. ACCORDING TO MR W. H. DONALD. MANILA, December 24. The Manila “Tribune” today publishes an interview with Mr W. H. Donald, the Australian adviser to Chungking Government, who said that Britain a year and a half ago turned down three Chinese offers to protect

Hong Kong against a possible Japanese attack. Mr Donald, who is now in Manila, added that China had offered to place 200,000 to 300,000 Chinese troops undei’ the British service, to appoint British officers to replace the vacant posts of the German military advisers with the Chinese Army, and, furthermore, to place Chinese resources at Britain’s disposal. Mr Donald said that Britain declined the offers because of a fear that acceptance would offend Japan.

■ ENEMY CLAIM ■ ATTACK ON AERODROME IN BURMA. (Received This Day, 10.30 a.m.) ' LONDON, December 25. The Rome radio quoted a message from Tokio, asserting that Japanese planes heavily raided a British aerodrome in- Burma and destroyed 21 planes on the ground. AUSTRALIAN VIEW OF STRATEGIC POSITION IN PACIFIC. CABLEGRAMS TO CHURCHILL & ROOSEVELT, CANBERRA, December 23. The Australian War Council is greatly interested in the meeting between Mr Roosevelt and Mr Churchill in Washington, and the opportunity was taken by the Prime Minister, Mr Curtin, to send personal cablegrams to them setting out Australia’s views on the course of Allied strategy in the Pacific.

The fact that Mr Curtin has approached the President of the United States and the British Prime Minister direct, instead of through the customary British channels, is regarded here as another indication of the development of. Australian nationhood. The cablegrams set out the Australian Government’s conception, of the whole strategic problem in the Pacific and of every country with which Japan is waging war.