NAVAL STRENGTH

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 March 1942, Page 3

NAVAL STRENGTH

JAPANESE PREPONDERANCE INCREASED BY LOSS OF DUTCH CRUISERS. VULNERABILITY OF JAVA. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, March 4. The desperate nature of the struggle for Java was emphasised by an authoritative commentator in London who pointed out that the Japanese command of the sea in the south-west Pacific, which was never so strong as now, is the determining factor. The Allied navies have done their utmost to check the invasion of the island. Their available cruiser squadron made a very dashing attack against a vastly superior enemy naval force which escorted a large transport fleet. The attack was successful, but on their way home the Dutch cruisers came across a Japanese submarine line and two were lost. The loss of these two 6-inch-gun cruisers was another crippling blow to Allied seapower in the Far East. From reconnaissance reports so far received it is plain that the Japanese have sent an immense number of cruisers, destroyers, and submarines to the East Indies. They are able to risk the uncovering of Japan proper as the result of the surprise attack on Pearl Harbour. The commentator said that all reinforcements in bulk for Java must be transported by sea, and that the command of all the surrounding seas rests in the enemy hands. In addition, the Japanese have aerodromes in the surrounding islands which might have been used for the strengthening of the defenders’ fighter force. Java, with its dense population, vast plains, good motor roads and railways, is not a country where Nature offers many possibilities to the defenders against vastly superior forces. The plain of Bandoeng is encircled by mountains, but they are not insurmountable to the swarms of troops which command of the sea has enabled the Japanese to land. The present events were the logical result of what Mi' Churchill called the “heavy and far-reaching military defeat” at Singapore.