GREAT OFFENSIVE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 January 1943, Page 4

GREAT OFFENSIVE

PREPARED BY AMERICANS IN PACIFIC AFTER YEAR OF HOLDING WAR. ACHIEVEMENT IN CONSTRUCTION OF BASES. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 10.20 a.m.) NEW YORK, January 5. “United States armed forces, afterfighting a defensive and holding •' war in the Pacific fcr a year, are now ’’preparing a great offensive against Japan,” declares Mr Robert Miller, United Press correspondent on Guadalcanal.

“The invasion of Guadalcanal, despite glaring policy mistakes and numerous operational blunders,” the correspondent adds, “has placed the United States, in a formidable position in the South Pacic. The most amazing scenes in history are taking place preparatory to a huge offensive. Miniature Gibraltars are being made of islands previously occupied only by copra planters and natives. Great airfields are being hewn from dense jungles. Immense harbours are being dredged in scores of sections along the vital line from the United States to Australia. The supply route to Australia, which at first was only a thin thread, is now a gigantic highway, anchored together by strategic islands, to which millions of tons of supplies and hundreds of thousands of the United States troops are moving. The Navy in the Pacific has shown a wonderful recovery after a disappointing start. The early operations were hindered by lack of experienced officers. Thousands of raw recruits of the United States Air Force carried the ball during the first year. No praise can be too great for the Air Force, which saved our skins at the Coral Sea, Midway and the Solomons. There is still a crying need for more planes. The greatest accomplishment in the 'Pacific theatre, unbelievable unless seen, has' been the herculean task of building bases, with men labouring day and night in malarial swamps, on desolate coral reefs, and in dense jungle.” ALLIED AIRCRAFT PREPARING WAY FOR ATTACK ON SANANANDA LONDON, January 5. Allied fighters and bombers are now preparing the way for an attack on the Japanese Papuan positions at Sanananda Point.