MAY BE IMPORTANT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 May 1943, Page 4

MAY BE IMPORTANT

OCCUPATION OF RUSSELL ISLANDS OPERATION PRECISELY PLANNED. NEW FIGHTER BASE GAINED BY AMERICANS. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.15 p.m.) WASHINGTON, May 5. The United States occupation of the Russell Islands, 30 miles north of Guadalcanal, may be the prelude to much more important operations, according to an Associated Press correspondent here. Authorities emphasise that the Russells could serve either offensively or defensively, but that their geographical relationships to the big American base in Guadalcanal suggests that their occupation has a primarily defensive purpose. By their use, raids on the main American positions can be greatly minimised, thus strengthening the main positions for future operations against the principal Japanese bases in the Bougainville area. Rear-Admiral Richmond Kelly, who led the landing expedition, says the Russels will provide valuable advanced fighter bases. They reduce by a third the distance between Guadalcanal and New Georgia, where the Japanese have strong air bases at Munda and Kolombangara. During the Guadalcanal fighting the Japanese used the Russells as a shuttle base for troops. Enemy ships carrying reinforcements and supplies stopped there, and divided their cargoes among small boats, which slipped across to Guadalcanal under cover of darkness. Observers state that the United States occupation of the Russells in February was a precise manoeuvre, carried out by well-trained amphibious units. The movement was co-ordinated with General MacArthur’s ’Command, which provided bombers for diversionary attacks on the enemy’s Solomons bases. Before the American troops landed, native scouts under British officers went ahead to reconnoitre.