WAR IN PACIFIC

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 December 1942, Page 3

WAR IN PACIFIC

THE OUTLOOK FOR 1943 JAPAN FIGHTING FOR TIME. • TO COMPLETE DEFENSIVE CHAIN. (Special Australian Correspondent.) SYDNEY, December 29. During 1943 the war in the Pacific will reach its crucial stage. Some time during the next 12 months our “holding policy’ will end. We hope then to find ourselves pursuing the enemy toward Tokio. Roles in the Pacific war are being reversed, and it is clear that the Japanese are strengthening the outer defences of their new empire in preparation for a big Allied offensive. Tme to complete these defences in the South Pacific is the stake for which Japan is playing in the desperate delaying actions she is now fighting in Papua and the south-east Solomons, New Japanese aerodromes are being rushed to completion to form a powerful chain of aerial bases stretching from Sumatra halfway to Hawaii. Jack Turcott, New York “Daily News” correspondent in the southwest Pacific, says Japan already has major aerodromes or is building sizeable strips at Medan, Batavia, Sourabaya, Koepang, Dilli, Tenimber, Madang. Lae, Salamaua, Gasmata, Rabaul, Buka, Buin, Munda. Nauru and Nonouti—an arc completely hemming in the Allies within the south-west Pacific area.

“These new Japanese aerodromes in the conquered territories are main bases as which the enemy will be able to maintain, supply and repair large fleets of warplanes,’ declared Mr Turcott. “This aerial chain places the Japanese withih 700 miles of every Allied outpost in the south-west Pacific, enabling enemy squadrons of medium and heavy bombers to harass the Allies while Japanese naval superiority westward of the Solomons prevents effective retaliation except by air.” THE ATTACKS ON TIMOR. Mr Turcott points to Timor as an excellent illustration of Japanese strategy. The enemy there is secure, he says so long as the American fleet is tied down at the Solomons, since the United Nations could not undertake an invasion of Timor from' Australia without a powerful task force crossng the Ara* pura and Timor Seas. Allied bombers have been delivering steady blows against Timor aerodromes, but the damaged runways have been repaired within a few hours and the planes destroyed on the ground have been quickly replaced from neighbouring bases. The Japanese as yet have no need to maintain large air and naval forces around Singapore, Java, Borneo, the Moluccas and the Philippines because the Allies lack bases in these regions, says Mr Turcott. Thus the enemy is able to concentrate warships and planes in the New Britain and Bismarck archpelago area keeping the American naval units in the Solomons and the Allied air force in the south-west Pacific engaged indefinitely in fighting local actions not materially affecting the Japanese position. SOME CHINKS APPARENT. That the Japanese “holding" strategy is being implemented rapidly is indicated by the recent heavy aerial reinforcement of their Rabaul base,, as well as fresh aerodrome building activities. But some chinks in the ar-mour-plated plan have already become apparent. The “Sydney Morning Herald” military correspondent today emphasisies that Japan is now losing combat planes and merchant shipping beyond her replacement ability The qualitative as well as quantitative superiority of the Allied aircraft will give the United Nations strking power, which must eventually crack the Japanese defence ring—but the enemy strategy is sound in that it imposes maximum delays on the United Nations. Inefficient general staff work and the .inability of the Japanese High Command to plan or execute war movements or cope with the unexpected will be a main reason for Japan’s loss of the war, according to Richard Tregaskis, American correspondent in the South Pacific. Though her initial campaigns were wonderfully successful because they went according to a prearranged plan, much of the later enemy military and naval manoeuvering has been notably stupid, says Mr Tregaskis in an analysis of Japan’s failures in the Coral Sea and Midway battles and the subsequent efforts to retake Guadalcanal. “When he has met unexpected resistance, the Japanese hhs failed,” declares Mr Tregaskis. “Too often he comes into battle arrogantly confident only to crumple rapidly when he has been surprised. The fundamental defect of the Japanese mentality seems to be that when he is surprised he loses his head. That is not to say he is not capable of putting up a terrific resistance. He will give us a wearing fight—but his recent failures are the writing on the wall for his eventual downfall.”