JAPANESE FORCES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 April 1943, Page 3

JAPANESE FORCES

WITHIN EASY DISTANCE OF AUSTRALIA VITAL IMPORTANCE OF AIR POWER DECLARED BY GENERAL MACARTHUR. SOME INDICATED DIFFERENCES OF OPINION. (Special Australian Correspondent.) SYDNEY, April 14. “Japanese naval forces in great strength, though now beyond our bomber line, are within easy striking distance of Australia,” declared General MacArthur today. In a special statement on the present position in the South-West Pacific, General MacArthur emphasised the vital role of air power in keeping back these enemy naval forces, pointing out that the Japanese, if they gained control of the air, would be able to move forward their convoys and continue their southward drive. In view of two other statements 'made in the past 24 hours, that of General MacArthur today assumes great importance. The first of these was a warning given by the Allied land commander ih the South-West Pacific, General Blarney, that the Japanese had 200,000 troops and an immensely powerful air force, poised above Australia’s far north. The implications of General Blarney’s statement were scouted by the United States Secretary for the Navy, Colonel Knox, who said in Washington that any Japanese attack against Australia must be accompanied by a tremendous sea force, and that there was no indication of such a concentration. General MacArthur’s statement today reveals that such a concentration does in fact exist, being held in readiness for the time when it may be propitious to move southward. ENEMY SEA CONTROL. The full text of General MacArthur’s statement, is: “The Japanese, barring our submarine activities, which are not to be discounted, have complete control of the sea-lanes in the Western Pacific and the outer approaches toward Australia. Control of such sea-lanes no longer depends solely, or perhaps even primarily, on naval power, but on air power operated from land basds held by ground troops, or supported by naval power. The first line of Australia’s defence is our bomber line. The range of our air force over the surrounding waters marks the strength of no-man’s-land which is the measure of our safety.” “if we lose the air, naval forces cannot save us. Conversely, if the enemy wins control of the air, his naval units can at once bring forward convoys of ground forces to continue his attack to the south to the limit imposed only by the effective range of his land-based air support. “The primary threat to Australia does not, therefore, require a great striking power. As a matter of fact, Japanese naval forces in great strength, though now beyond our bomber range, are within easy striking distance of Australia. “The vital factors, therefore, in the South-West Pacific, with its littoral of countless island groups and innumerable archipelagic reaches, are air forces to strike and ground forces to conquer and hold. The Allied naval forces can be counted on to play their magnificent part, but the battle of the western Pacific will be won by proper application of the air-ground team.” ENEMY PLANS NEW & HEAVY OFFENSIVE. ANTICIPATED BY FEDERAL PREMIER. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) MELBOURNE, April 14. Paving the way for a fresh drive toward Australia, Japan is preparing a new offensive in the near north on a heavier scale than the previous attacks which have been repulsed. This declaration was made today by the Prime Minister, Mr Curtin, who made it clear that he supported the statements by General Blarney that Australia was threatened by great Japanese air and troop concentrations in the arc of islands in the near north. Mr Curtin declined to make any comment on the statement by Colonel Knox that there was no indication of the presence of the tremendous Japanese sea force which would be necessary for a successful attack on Australia. But he said it appeared that the Japanese contemplated heavier attacks, both in New Guinea and the Solomons. "Large-scale Japanese air attacks have always been a prelude to subsequent combined operations,” said Mr Curtin. “Enemy shipping concentrations have recently been assembling in various convoys. The Bismarck Sea battle frustrated one approach, and the damage done to the enemy at Kavieng was another frustration, but, in spite of these reverses, the Japanese are persisting. The Japanese realise that their attacks must be on a heavier' scale to be successful.”

NEGLECT ALLEGED OF WAR IN THE PACIFIC. AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS EXPRESS CONCERN NEW YORK, April 14. Several American newspapers express concern at Japan’s tightening grip on. the Pacific. The New York “Daily News” says: “Our war against Japan has been neglected to such an extent that the enemy is now completing aerodromes in the Aleutians, and is reported to be massing 200,000 troops to the north of Australia. Apparently, he hopes, while the Allies are preoccupied elsewhere, to cancel once and for all General MacArthur’s threat, and to beat back the Americans from the Andreanov Islands, if not to invade Alaska itself. This means, at the best, a longer and tougher war than America expected. It means, we think, that it is imperative to draft 17-year-old youths in the near future.”