LONG WAR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 March 1943, Page 3

LONG WAR

FACED IN THE PACIFIC FEDERAL PREMIER’S DECLARATION SYDNEY NEWSPAPER’S COMMENT NEED OF PREVENTING JAPAN DIGGING IN. (Special Australian Correspondent.) SYDNEY, March 29. “The truth is we face a long struggle which will outlast the struggle for Europe,” declared the Prime Minister, Mr. Curtin, speaking at a rally for Australia’s third Liberty Loan of £100,000,000, which closes on April 20. Mr ’ Curtin acknowledged that the full strength of the United Nations’ resources could not be swung against Japan till Hitler was beaten. Another message says, Mr Curtin warned Australians that the war would probably last three more years. “We must face a continuous war of attrition in the Pacific,” he added. “The Japanese know that if they cannot win this time it will be impossible for them to win even after centuries.” The continuation of the “holding” war policy in the Pacific, is the subject for editorial review by the “Sydney Morning Herald” today. The paper says Mr Churchill’s recent reference to partial demobilisation following the defeat of Hitler which has been severely criticised in some quarters in the United States need not in itself cause dubiety or misgiving. “It is the intention to prosecute the war in the Pacific with full vigour and to an absolute conclusion that matters,” declares the ‘Herald.’ “Mr Churchill’s word that Britain would continue to fight with the utmost energy till the unconditional surrender of Japan was good enough for President Roosevelt as it is for all of us who are fighting the Japanese. “If any doubts exist today, they concern not the will of Britain or America to wage war in the Pacific to a finish, but the degree of realisation by the Allied leaders in London and Washington of what the task of crushing Japan will involve, particularly if no major effort can be made to discharge it till after the defeat of Germany.

“No change can be made now in the basic global strategy. The policy of ‘beating Hitler first’ has never been seriously contested and, in any case, the United Nations are committed to it beyond recall. But what sometimes appears overlooked is that the Japanese will not remain passive till the Allies are ready to deal with them. The longer and harder the job of destroying Hitler, the more necessary will it become to make due provision for keeping Japan engaged and preventing het from digging in so deeply that her dislodgement may tax the Allied strength beyond endurance. “What is sought within the framework of the ‘holding’ war is the means or really holding Japan’s power in check, of wearing down her resources, and of preparing the ground for the ultimate combined attack on her.