PACIFIC THEATRES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 September 1942, Page 4

PACIFIC THEATRES

PROSPECTS IN SOLOMONS & NEW GUINEA

VIEWS OF CORRESPONDENTS.

ALTERNATIVES FACING JAPANESE.

(Special Australian Correspondent.) (Received This Day, 1.10 p.m.) SYDNEY, This Day.

“American doughboys and Australian diggers forgot their differences in the heat of the battle at Milne Bay. Where before there had been bickering and petty jealousy, now the Allied camps are exchanging compliments.” —This comment is made by the American United Press correspondent (Mr James Hewlett) writing from somewhere in New Guinea.

Mr Hewlett says the soldiers of each ctountry now glowingly praise their Allies, while American Air Force officers say: “If Australian bomber pilots were any better they would be perfect.”

“The Japanese have had a bad week in the Solomons,” remarks the Sydney “Herald” today, in a leading article assessing, the improved South Pacific outlook. “If the Japanese mean to force their way into the Coral Sea they must first retake Guadalcanal',' the paper adds. “Their recent reverses suggest that such a project cannot be undertaken with any reasonable hope of success unless they are prepared to commit a strong battle fleet to the task. If the enemy is not willing to do that, then a renewed American attack towards his central position at Rabaul is only a matter of time.” A belief here that the initiative m the South Pacific may soon pass to the Allies is reflected in a despatch from Mr Robert Miller, American United Press correspondent at Pearl Har : bour. “For the first time since the United States attack on the Solomons began on August 7,” he says, “American troops are believed to be on rhe offensive . The latest Navy communique foreshadows a possible American advance northward, but the new attacks will not be as easy as those made early m August, when the Japanese were taken by surprise. The conquest of the remaining Solomon Islands must be carried out with an overwhelming superiority of men, ships and planes. The marines expect heavy losses, but are eager to go. Military experts now agree that the American positions m the Solomons are almost impregnable, after six weeks of sanguinary fighting in which I saw young marines storming dangerous caverns. I saw 1,500 Japanese wiped out at Tulagi, Guvutu and Tanamvogo. I saw the surf run red with blood when the marines turned their guns on enemy troops who swam out to sea rather than surrender. There is no front and no rear in the Solomons. The United States land commander there, MajorGeneral Vandergrift, is as much in the front line as any of his men. Recently two Japanese were killed in broad daylight a hundred feet from his headquarters, when they made a mad rush in an attempt to kill him.” In the New Guinea land fighting it is believed that if the Japanese supply line across the Owen Stanley ranges can be cut by the new Australian offensive, the . enemy’s campaign here must end. Hard fighting is certain. The latest reconnaissance shows that the Japanese evidently are well seized of the urgency of the supply position of their forward troops, and have constructed a new bridge across the Kumusi River at Wairopi. This structure is wide enough to carry road vehicles.