RING ROUND JAPAN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 May 1943, Page 4

RING ROUND JAPAN

BEING DRAWN BY UNITED STATES ACCORDING TO "ARMY & NAVY JOURNAL.” DEVELOPMENT OF ISLAND BASES. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.40 p.m.) NEW YORK, May 2. American forces have occupied certain undisclosed points in the Pacific, according to the semi-official “Army and Navy Journal,” which adds that the encirclement of Japan is in progress of completion. “A ring is being drawn around the enemy empire from Dutch Harbour, via Midway and Canton islands, the Enderburries, the Ellices, Samoa, the New Hebrides, Guadalcanal and New Caledonia,” says the "Journal.” "This arc is joined by another arc, furnished by the eastern tip of New Guinea and Australia, and a third arc by China and Burma. These bases, coupled with others not revealed to the public, leave Japan outlets only through Russia and the seas opening into the Indian Ocean.” Major Fielding Eliot, the military correspondent of the “New York Her-ald-Tribune” says the initiative in the Central Pacific is already passing into American hands. American activity in the area is gradually increasing and positions are being developed which will gradually envelop the Japanese strongholds. These preparations, considers Major Eliot, are apparently aimed at the Marshal Islands, because as long as the Japanese hold the Marshalls and Carolines they obstruct the direct approach from Pearl Harbour to the great enemy base at Truk. Once the Japanese were expelled from the Marshalls and the outlying Carolines, American forces could attack Truk. “The constant output of enemy propaganda, predicting both Japanese and American offensives, indicates that Tokio is becoming increasingly hervous about the Pacific situation,” concludes Major Eliot.