MUCH IMPROVED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 September 1943, Page 3

MUCH IMPROVED

OUTLOOK IN SOUTH-WEST PACIFIC JAPANESE MENACED at raeaul AS WELL AS IN NEW GUINEA. L GENERAL MACARTHUR’S STRATEGY. (By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright) NEW YORK, September 13. There is a strong possibility that not ■ only New Guinea but adjacent New i Britain, with the important Japanese ' base at Rabaul, will be in Allied hands by the end of the year, says the correspondent of the United Pres? of ! America in the South-West Pacific, Harold Guard. He says a tour of the ' front line areas round Lae and Salamaua left three definite impressions. First, the Japanese have been pre- ; vented from reinforcing either their : front lines or their nearby supply bases. - Secondly, the Allies for the first time ‘ in the South-West Pacific are pursuing a definite line of attack. Thirdly, the Allies now have the where-withal to beat the Japanese at their own leap-frog game of coastal landings, elimitating or neutralising important enemy positions. ' The current Allied operations in New Guinea are comparable with the Japanese operations in Malaya, during which enemy air supremacy, plus control of the coast, proved devastating for the defenders. Distances and terrain were likewise similar. General MacArthur has turned the tables on the Japanese in the South-West Pacific. At the end of the next three months he will have made a long jump toward his proclaimed objective, the Philippines. POLITICAL FIGHT EXPECTED IN UNITED STATES. OVER THE PACIFIC COMMAND. NEW YORK, September 12. According to reports from Australia and elsewhere, General MacArthur is to play second fiddle to Admiral Montbatten in the campaign pointed to Tokio, says the New York “Daily Mirror” in an editorial. “Senator James Mead, when talking to reporters in New Guinea, leaves little room for doubt that though General MacArthur may get some reinforcements, Lord Mountbatteil is receiving priorities for the big push,” it says. The "Mirror” points out that General MacArthur was not invited to the Quebec conference and never received mention in the speeches of President ’ Roosevelt and Mr Churchill. “We believe these obvious attempts to sidetrack General MacArthur and hushhush his accomplishments are dangerous mistakes, subordinating, victory to politics,” it declares. “General MacArthur remains our greatest general and the logical choice for the supreme command of the effort against Japan.” The New York “Daily News” predicts that these reports will precipitate a free-for-all fight on Capitol Hill on the question of whether Messrs. Roosevelt and Churchill decided to blanket General MacArthur as a dangerous political opponent in the 1944 election making Lord Mountbatten the ccmmander-in-Chief in South-West Asia. PRESSURE INCREASED ON LAE AND SALAMAUA. WATCH AGAINST ENEMY ESCAPE BY SEA. LONDON, September 13. In New Guinea the Allies are increasing their pressure on the Japanese .strongholds of Lae and Salamaua. ' Australian and American forces are closing in on Lae and nayal and air forces are making sure the garrison docs not escape, by sea. Veteran Australian troops are consolidating their hold on the airfield at Salamaua.