NO BREATHING SPACE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 April 1943, Page 3

NO BREATHING SPACE

MUST BE GIVEN JAPANESE DR. EVATT WARNS AMERICANS ACHIEVEMENTS OF ALLIED FORCES. ENEMY PREPARING TO HIT BACK HARD. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) WASHINGTON, April 15. Dr. Evatt, in a broadcast tonight, warned Americans that the Japanese must be given no breathing space. Already, he said, the force which had been built up along the 3000 miles Japanese arc from Timor to the Solomons indicated that the Japanese were preparing to hit back hard. Dr. Evatt, while agreeing that Hitler must be beaten first, said that the United Nations could beat Hitler and at the same time keep hammering away at the Japanese whenever and whenever they found them. An integral part of the agreed plan of world strategy was to prevent the Japanese from consolidating till finally they could be sent back whence they came. Speaking of the improvement in the situation in the past year, Dr. Evatt said: “We have inflicted upon Japan a whole series of defeats. We have been able to advance our bomber line 1000 miles to the north —1000 miles nearer Tokio. For the first time since Pearl Harbour, American and Australian forces have proved conclusively that they could overcome the picked troops of Emperor Hirohito. Paying a tribute to the heroism and sacrifice of the Australian armed forces, Dr. Evatt said hat their proportion of casualties was higher than any of the other United Nations except New Zealand. Summing up the balance-sheet of the South-West Pacific, he said that General MacArthur with his American, Australian and Dutch fighters, though outnumbered, had destroyed more than 70 Japanese ships, shattered almost 1500 planes,and killed 65,000 picked troops. WELL PLEASED WITH MR STIMSON’S ASSURANCE. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) WASHINGTON, April 15. The Australian Minister of External Affairs, Dr Evatt, expressed himself as well pleased with Mr Stimson’s assurance that additional help would be forthcoming in the South-West Pacific. “This is in accordance with President Roosevelt’s recent statement to me,” he said. “It is good news, not only for Australia, but also for the American land and air forces who are fighting under great handicaps. It will be equally bad news for Japan—providing the deliveries are rapid.” The announcement that General MacArthur will receive combat aircraft to beat back the Japanese threat is front-page feature news in all the Australian afternoon papers, a special Australian correspondent in Sydney reports. The Australians, perturbed by the Japanese encroachment in the north but confident that the warnings by Generals MacArthur and Blarney, and Mr Curtin and Dr Evatt would be heeded, are genuinely gratified at the response made by Mr Stimson. OPTIMISTS REBUFFED. Australian Press correspondents in the United States warn that the extent of the flow promised by Mr Stimson should not be too hastily conjectured, but they say that his promise is a direct rebuff to those who sought to discount the urgency of the situation underlying Australia’s repeated requests for more aid. “It means the acceptance of the authoritativeness of the warnings from General MacArthur’s headquarters and the Australian Government,” writes one correspondent. “Many throughout the United States felt that Colonel Knox spoke too hastily when he threw down General Blarney’s original warning.” ALLIED LOSSES IN NEW GUINEA FIGHTING. (Special Australian Correspondent.) SYDNEY, April 16. The grand total of Allied casualties in the New Guinea fighting is 10,531, including 4554 dead or missing and 5977 wounded. These figures were officially announced by General MacArthur’s headquarters today. American casualties in this theatre are 4319, of whom 2175 are dead or missing, and 2144 wounded. The casualties include a considerable proportion of the United States Air Corps personnel. Australian casualties total 6212, including 2379 dead or missing and 3833 wounded. Many of those listed as wounded have since returned to active duty. The total Japanese casualties in the New Guinea operations are estimated at 38,000, stated to be, “practically all dead.” These figures include an estimate of 15,000 Japanese killed in the Papuan campaign and 15,000 lost in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea. They also include other Japanese convoy and air losses. No figures for sickness in the New Guinea fighting have been released. OPPOSED VIEWS REGARDING SITUATION IN PACIFIC. CONCERN IN UNITED STATES. WASHINGTON, April 15. In the Senate Senator Chandler demanded more attention for the war in the Pacific. “We should heed General MacArthur’s warning,” he said. “It is time the United States realy turned to the menace in the Pacific.” A United Press correspondent quotes responsible navy circles as saying that there is no evidence here justifying the conclusion that the Japanese are poised for an assault on Australia. They state that the Japanese have always maintained a large naval force at Truk. These authorities hold out little promise of an early Allied offensive on a major scale against the Jap-

anese, and say that heavy Pacific undertakings at this juncture would overtax the American shipping resources. However, despite reassuring official statements, it is clear that the American public are far from reassured about the situation in the Pacific. The news from the South-West Pacific is being given great prominence by all newspapers. “PACIFIC MESS” MUDDLING AND BAD MANAGEMENT. ALLEGED BY NEW YORK PAPER. (Received This Day, 9.30 a.m.) NEW YORK, April 16. _ “The whole mess in the Pacific smells of muddling and bad management, with a whiff of politics thrown in,” says the New York “Daily Mirror,” in an outspoken editorial. “It is a supreme demonstration of the national need for (1) A true High Command, which will run our two great wars in a manner to win the people’s respect ,and confidence; (2)' a proper realisation of air power as the strategic weapon of the final decision; (3) an utter divorcement of politics and any shadow of suspicion of politics from the grim business of fighting a global struggle to determine America’s very survival as a great Power. “The Washington attitude,” the paper adds, “thinks ■ Japan will not hit _ us while we are down. In the meantime General MacArthur and a fly-swatter can hold Australia and a vast number of islands against the most brutal and most aggressive warrior race in modern history. The Washington attitude now bears down at a new tangent—the studied, if not inspired, implication that the mountain of appeals for aid from the South-West Pacific represents only a complaining . chorus, probably staged for effect, and that there is really no danger. This tangent has received the official blessing of Colonel Knox, who said there was no indication of a Japanese naval threat against Australia. Within a day Gen-i eral MacArthur revealed the presence! of huge enemy concentrations at Truk and Rabaul. General MacArthur’s facts are unquestionable as to their integrity. They have been established on the spot by reconnaissance. How pitifully he has been supplied to meet the menace is just beginning to be appreciated. The censorship prevents the publication of figures, but none, even in Washington, disputes the statement that' General MacArthur has been handicapped by an appalling shortage of planes. Mr Stimson’s promise that General MacArthur will be given more supplies, particularly aircraft, is in itself an admission that he has not been properly supplied.” The “Daily Mirror” advocates the creation of a High Command, a single department, to replace the present War and Navy Departments, giving equal representation to air, land and sea power. Such a command, says the paper, would not tolerate the present ridiculous division of the Pacific War into a Navy show and an Army show.