ACTIVE LEADER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 March 1942, Page 3

ACTIVE LEADER

GENERAL MACARTHUR’S TASK QUICK ORGANISATION OF ARMY. OFFICERS WORKING NIGHT & DAY. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) SYDNEY, March 25. Now that the excitement caused by General MacArthur’s dramatic appearance has passed, Australia will see and hear of him as the active leader of the Allied forces. He has begun work in earnest, and has issued an instruction to his general staff that nothing must interfere with the quick organisation of his army. His officers are working on it with him day and night, and it is expected that General MacArthur’s plans will be advanced considerably after he has conferred with the Australian War Cabinet this week. General MacArthur and his staff jettisoned their arms and equipment at their island rendezvous in the dash to Australia from Batan Peninsula, the Melbourne correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” says. They waited for three days for three Flying Fortresses from Australia, and then only two came. In order to cram the 21 members of the General’s party into the two planes, all the baggage and equipment had to be left. During the party’s three days and three nights on the island enemy planes were only half an hour’s flying time away, but failed to detect their presence.

UNIFIED COMMAND AUTHORITY OF HIGHEST ORDER. ANNOUNCEMENT BY FEDERAL PREMIER. CANBERRA, March 25. The Prime Minister, Mr Curtin, stated today in the House of Representatives that General MacArthur was to be given authority within Australia of the “highest order.” He said: “Unified command in the person of one who enjoys such authority both here and in America is a vital condition for the defence of Australia and for the gradual organisation of offensive action against Japan. This offensive action we are now undertaking with the powerful aid of United States armed forces.” Mr Curtin for the first time revealed officially that the Allies visualise Australia’s function in the war as an offensive base in the process of driving Japan from the south-west Pacific. “That is in fact our goal,” he said, “but let us not exaggerate the speed with which we can reach it. We must ensure that Australia is held and to that end accumulate all the resources open to us. The calamitous trend of events since the invasion of Malaya has reinforced the view that the Anzac area is an area vital to the world war.” Mr Curtin announced that the conduct of operations in the Anzac area would be vested in the supreme commander. There would be local commanders in the Australian forces for the navy and army and General Brett would be local commander of the air force. Mr Curtin again emphasised the need for the creation of a Pacific Council in Washington, and added that there could be no dispute that developments in the past month had far outrun the arrangements concluded last February for a division of control in the Pacific area between London and Washington. The Commonwealth, he said, had become a much more active partner in the operational direction of the war. He pointed out that since Japan entered the war the Commonwealth had concentrated its efforts, firstly on securing the rapid disposition of men and supplies in the maximum possible strength at joints where they could be used most effectively, and secondly in securing speed and efficiency in the higher Allied war direction, in which respect General MacArthur could count to the limit on the co-operation of the Government and people and all the Australian war time authorities. Intimate discussions had been held with General MacArthur since his arrival to define without delay the new arrangements in the Commonwealth which his appointment entailed. Dr. Evatt in Washington was pursuing further plans the Government had in mind for the better adaptation of the machinery of the AJlied war direction to the present needs of Australia and New Zealand in the Pacific area. When a council was established in Washington major policy questions would be referred back to the War Cabinet by the Australian representative either in London or Washington.

FAILURE IN PROSPECT JAPANESE BLITZ TACTICS. (By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright) CANBERRA, March 24. Addressing the Returned Sailors’ and Soldiers’ Imperial League here tonight, the Prime Minister (Mr J. Curtin) said he thought that Japan had discovered that blitz tactics would not enable it indefinitely to swallow one country after another. The rapidity with which Japan had moved since the initial success on December 7 could no longer be maintained. It could be said on the highest authority that ' the enemy had now reached a stage where the future held increasing disappointments and retreats. , Mr Curtin added that there had been too much talk by armchair strategists about the way the offensive against Japan should be conducted. It would be well for Germany, Italy, and Japan to realise that they were a long way from dictating peace terms. Indeed, the writing was on the wall for those men who thought they could rule the world by force of arms.