Wairarapa Times-Age WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 1942. JAPAN’S AMBITIONS IN THE PACIFIC.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 August 1942, Page 2

Wairarapa Times-Age WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 1942. JAPAN’S AMBITIONS IN THE PACIFIC.

OBSERVING that “The acceptance in Washington of the recent Japanese' operations (in the South-West Pacific) as feints to conceal the enemy’s intentions against Siberia is.not favourably regarded here,” a cablegram from Sydney, received yesterday, went on to quote the “Sydney Morning Herald” as contending that a major attack on Port Moresby is intended and that this vital base must be made secure. While there may be some difference of opinion as to the relative importance of present and prospective warlike operations in the South-Western Pacific and in the northern waters of the same ocean, it seems unlikely that this , will give any serious cause for contention between the Allied nations or saddle them with difficulties in the shaping of their war plans. With Australia being developed ever more formidably day. by day, and week by week, as the base for an. ultimate Allied offensive, it need not be doubted that Japan will do everything in her power to invade or neutralise that base.

From that standpoint, the continued Japanese penetration of the Pacific islands (of which the latest steps are a landing at Buna, on the Papuan coast, and an advance inland from that point towards Port Moresby, and the occupation of Guadalcanal-, in the Solomons) must be regarded very seriously indeed. In view of the vital part shore-based aircraft have played in recent combined air and naval operations in the Pacific, the advancement of Japanese aerodromes may be considered very reasonably to threaten Port Moresby and ultimately Australia. It has been pointed out, too, that the enemy is now nearer than ever to New Caledonia, an island outpost of the utmost importance to both Australia and New Zealand.

While it would be foolish to minimise the menace that is developing'visibly in the South-Western Pacific, there are weighty grounds for believing that Japan intends also, at no very distant date, to attack Asiatic Russia. As to this, the military correspondent of the “Sydney Morning Herald” wrote recently:—

It is axiomatic that Japan must attack Siberia when she deems the moment ripe, because otherwise Japanese cities would forever be confronted by an intolerable menace from the air. Every inch of Japanese territory is within easy bomber range of Vladivostok and Khaborovsk. The danger is so real that, right through the Chinese and Pacific wars, Japan has kept large numbers of troops and planes on the Russian frontier. These are currently estimated at half a million picked men, and the short distance from the Japanese islands and the north Chinese bases allows rapid reinforcement.

Other reports have stated that at least five additional Japanese divisions have recently been shifted from China to Manehukuo, that another five or more divisions have finished training in Formosa and that a further force of possibly twice that number of divisions will be made ready for a northern campaign. It has been said, also, that possibly 2,000 to 3,000 Japanese aircraft are gradually being concentrated for use against Russia. September, one correspondent stated recently, is considered a likely date for the Japanese attack, but it may come earlier to coincide with the height of the German offensive in Southern Russia.

Much, of course, must depend upon the preparations Russia has made to deal with this attack if it comes—there is a good deal to indicate that in spite of the demands the Avar in the west is making on the Soviet, these preparations are on a great and formidable scale —but in any case it evidently is incumbent on the Allies to be ready to deal with their enemy in both the North and the South-Western Pacific. Serious account has to be taken of the Japanese penetration of the Aleutian Islands, as well as of the extension of aggression in the South-Western Pacific which is regarded in Australia with natural concern.

A vigorous handling by the United Nations of the total situation may give form and reality to the hopeful anticipation expressed recently by General Chiang Kai-shek, when he declared that Japan’s depredations in the South Seas would prove for her the prelude to disaster. In support of that view, the Chinese Generalissimo observed that a particular Japanese weakness was that the total tonnage of Japanese naval and merchant vessels was not more than 5,000,000. With so few ships, he added, it would be impossible for Japan to maintain the vast fronts over which she had'sppead her forces.