WIDE CRITICISM

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 October 1942, Page 3

WIDE CRITICISM

OF CONDUCT OF PACIFIC WAR IN UNITED STATES & AUSTRALIA DEMANDS FOR CO-ORDINATED COMMAND. AND SWIFTER RELEASE OF BATTLE NEWS. (Special Australian Correspondent.) SYDNEY, October 27. With the news of additional American losses of warships in the Solomons, the conduct of the war in the South Pacific is again being critically reviewed both in the United States and Australia. The New York paper “The American” declares that the divided command in the area has been largely responsible for the heavy losses, and the Sydney “Daily Telegraph” declares: “There cannot be close co-ordination and maximum efficiency till the whole of the South Pacific is placed under a single high command.” The appointment of the proved of-fensively-minded Vice-Admiral Halsey to the South Pacific naval command in place of Vice-Admiral Ghormley is welcomed in Australia as suggesting that Washington is anxious for aggressive action. “The changes in the command must also be accepted as confirmation that all has not gone well, in addition to being a sign of American determination to maintain an aggressive strategy in this area,” the Sydney “Herald” says. The paper also stresses the need for closer cooperation between the forces of Admiral Halsey and General MacArthur. Answering the long-smouldering gossip that General MacArthur was “put” on the shelf or exiled to Australia,” David Lawrence writes in the New York “Sun”: “If General MacArthur is not taking a bigger part in the Solomons fighting the responsibility lies with General Marshall, the United States Army Chief of Staff. It is General Marshall’s duty as a member of the high command to insist on the army's participation if he thinks it wise. General MacArthur is not shelved, but the time has not yet come for him to assume command of military operations, because the navy has not acquired big - bases or approaches to new land areas for him to command.” United States newspaper and radio commentators and Congressmen are hammering on the censorship front for a more liberal policy on the release of information about what they describe as the “unknown war with Japan,” and it is believed that swifter release of battle news, compatible with security, may be hoped for. TAKEN CALMLY SCENES ON STRICKEN SHIP. “JUST LIKE A BOAT DRILL.” (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 10.55 a.m.) NEW YORK, October 27.7 Sailors hit the water singing and laughing when they were ordered to abandon the Wasp, related a survivor, James Turner, who is visiting his family at Atlanta, Georgia. Turner, a shipfitter, second class, was sitting in the bow when the first torpedo struck the ship, hurling him to the deck and bruising his hands and knees. The ship listed heavily, but righted again before the second and third torpedoes struck. When the sailors abandoned the Wasp, planes from the carrier circled overhead, dropping inflated life rafts. Destroyers paused in depth-bombing operations to shoot a shark approaching the swimmers. W. C. Chapman, a fireman, declared at Miami that it felt lik§ an earthquake when the torpedoes shook the ship from stem to stern. Men in the forward part of the ship were thrown around like ninepins. He added that everyone aboard was calm. It seemed just like a boat drill.