REPORTED ENEMY PREPARATIONS AT RABAUL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 August 1942, Page 3

REPORTED ENEMY PREPARATIONS AT RABAUL

May Presage Drive Against Tulagi MAJOR-GENERAL BRETT IN AMERICA SPECULATION REGARDING ALLIED AIR PLANS (Special P.A. Correspondent.) SYDNEY, August 24. The reported concentrations of enemy shipping at Rabaul may indicate that Japan is about to launch the expected major drive against the American forces in the Tulagi area, though some observers suggest that the concentration is intended for a counter-blow against Port Moresby. “The Japanese losses in the Solomons have done little to weaken their hold on the islands north of Australia,” says the Sydney “Daily Telegraph’s” war correspondent. “They have been strengthening their positions on the New Guinea mainland, where they appear to be firmly entrenched.” The same correspondent foresees a possibility that the Allies may forestall any Japanese move by an early direct attack on Rabaul. Significance is attached here to the arrival in America of Lieutenant-General Brett, commander of the Allied air forces in the South-Western Pacific, and Air Commodore Goddard. Allied land-based aircraft are admitted to have played a vital role in the early stages of the Solomons offensive, and it is hoped that joint consultations between the American authorities and the two south-west Pacific air chiefs may result in an accentuated air offensive in this theatre.