NEW MOVES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 June 1943, Page 4

NEW MOVES

AGAINST JAPANESE IN PACIFIC ANTICIPATED BY NEW YORK WRITER. HARD FIGHTING PREDICTED. (By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.40 p.m.) NEW YORK, June 7. New moves against Japan's outpost line in the Southern Pacific are likely soon, says Mr Hanson Balctwm, the “New York Times" military writer. Mr Baldwin predicts that the Allies will make powerful efforts to consolidate their positions in the Solomons and in New Guinea. “A new Allied move up the Solomons ladder has been expected for a long time,” writes Mr Baldwin. “Our leaders in the Pacific hoped to take Rabaul and New Britain last summer. But. while the United Nations have been building up* their Pacific strength, Japan has been increasing hers and the job won't be easy." Mr Baldwin says the Japanese have about 200.000 troops in the defence arc between Dutch Timor and the Solomons, but their strength is widely dispersed and there are no powerful concentrations. “The conquest of Attu Island, which obviously took longer than was expected, is indicative of the hard Pacific fighting ahead,” concludes Mr Baldwin. “It is true that our Attu troops were green, and, like all green troops, showed deficiencies in leadership and training. Nevertheless our casualties were high, considering the probability that the 2.000 Japanese holding Attu were outnumbered by perhaps as much as ten to one. Our troops in the Southern Pacific are more experienced, but the jobs facing the United Nations in the Pacific will not be easy, no matter where the fighting takes place.”