REACHING A CLIMAX

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 September 1942, Page 4

REACHING A CLIMAX

NAVAL HIDE & SEEK IN PACIFIC BRITISH AND AMERICAN DISCUSSION. ATTEMPT BY JAPANESE FLEET EXPECTED. (Special- Australian Correspondent.) (Received This Day, 1.5 p.m.) SYDNEY, This Day. The Japanese fleet reported to be moving south towards the Solomons is believed to be the same fleet as was driven back north of Tulagi by Flying Fortresses on September 14. It is generally believed that Japan will soon launch her heaviest efforts to retake the

Solomons. Washington opinion is. that this Japanese force may be joined by a second force for new attacks. “It. is a safe and sound assumption that the Japanese will make major new attempts to reconquer the Solomons,” said Colonel Knox (Secretary for the Navy) at a Press conference. Questioned on reports of Japanese fleet movements, he added that the United Stales forces were operating on that basis. To do otherwise would be foolish. •, The Washington correspondent oi the “New York Times” says the withdrawal of the Japanese fleet beyond the normal patrol range of American aircraft has aroused speculation as to whether the American air power in the Solomons has forced the enemy to temper his bold strokes. The writer points out that: “Strong Japanese naval forces have not followed up the advantage won by the Japanese ground forces in New Guinea. For the first time in their campaigns the Japanese have not delivered the strokes necessary to win New Guinea or to recapture the Solomons before the chances of doing so are irretrievably lost.” The importance of building up American bomber strength in the SouthWest Pacific is stressed by the “New York Times,” which states that Japanese naval operations against either the Solomons or New Guinea involve running the gauntlet of bombers in narrow waters. The Japanese, therefore, are facing the same risks as the British look when the Repulse and Prince of Wales were sunk by planes off Malaya. Nevertheless, it is widely believed that the Japanese must accept these risks.

The London “Evening Standard” says the naval hide and seek in the Pacific is reaching a climax. The paper stresses the importance of Rabaul, from which base the main enemy .fleet in the Solomons is believed to have operated. “The naval reoccupation of Rabaul must remain a major objective of the Anzac command,” says the “Standard.” The “Sydney Morning Herald” says: “Stronger Japanese efforts to recapture the Southern Solomons will certainly be made, for reasons both of strategy and prestige.” Stronger attacks against Port Moresby are also considered an early probability. The “New York Times” says: “The present lull in the fighting in New Guinea does not mean that the Japanese have been stopped. It is more likely that they are gathering their strength to strike again, since every pause in their advance from Buna has been followed by a more powerful forward thrust.” Remarking that the New Guinea campaign so far bears “a disquieting resemblance to the disastrous defence of Malaya, the “New York Times” says the bright spot in the picture is the United Nations’ aerial strength, which .the British lacked in Malaya and the Americans in the Philippines. “Our planes seem to nave complete control of the sky over Nev; Guinea,” the newspaper says, “and the Japanese supply problem, although the enemy manages to move on the thinnest lines of communication. The chief Allied problem, however, is to solve the Japanese jungle tactics. Port Moresby is the key to the defence of our new conquest in the Solomons, and every other Allied base in the South Seas.”