Wairarapa Times-Age WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1943. MANY ROADS TO TOKIO.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 September 1943, Page 2

Wairarapa Times-Age WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1943. MANY ROADS TO TOKIO.

FOLLOWING upon a recent statement by General MacArthur in which lie emphasised the value and importance of Australia as a base for offensive action against Japan, there have been some suggestions by American commentators that the Allied Commander-In-Chief in the South-West Pacific lias been or is to be shelved and that the operations he has. developed so well and skilfully will take only a minor place in Allied strategic plans. Official and other authoritative comments in.the United States indicate that no’foundation exists for suggestions of this kind. The reasonable view of the whole matter seems to be that taken by a Sydney newspaper which concluded its comments on the subject (the other day by recalling that President Roosevelt said in February last that there were many roads to Tokio, none of which would be neglected. Probably it will be time enough to raise any question of the overlapping of commands, or conflict of authority , in the Pacific, wdien the war against Japan has been carried well beyond its present stage. Much as the outlook is brightened by the relative decline in Japanese sea and air( power to which, Mr Churchill referred when he opened the recent war debate in the House, of Commons, Japan remains a very formidable enemy, occupying an enormous amount of invaded territory, both on the mainland of Asia and in East Indian and Pacific island groups. There is a cheek, to unwise optimism in the views expressed in Cairo not long ago by Admiral Sir Conrad Helfrich, commander of all the Netherlands naval forces east of the Red Sea. Admiral Helfrich observed that it would be necessary to occupy each of the territories seized by Japan and that even ■when the communications of the Japanese had been cut, they would have food and would fight as long as their ammunition lasted. Reasonable hopes are raised, however, that in the immediate future it will be possible to impose an enormous and rapidly increasing strain on Japan by simultaneous attack in and iiom a. number of different quarters. While-the operations in the South and South-West Pacific are developing well and with excellent promise, preparations are at a very advanced stage for operations on a very much greater scale from India. In a recent article in the “Christian Science Monitor,” Mr Gunther Stein, the Chungking correspondent of that paper, who visited India as an accredited military writer, stated that: —

A rapidly expanding army in India awaits the order that will launch the major mainland and ground attack across Japaneseoccupied Burma. . . . The armies who will respond when the order for attack comes include apparently 2,000,000 Indians, as well as British, American and Chinese troops who are being toughened for the hardships of jungle fighting.

Meantime, Mr Stein added, British and American air attacks, maintained throughout the flood-like rains of the monsoon season, which started in the early northern summer, have softened the approach for the ground forces. This unremitting air onset has (lone much to prevent the development by the Japanese of Burmese airfields for offensive, or even for defensive purposes. The continual bombing and strafing of railway lines, bridges, highway and river traffic and port installations also has done a great deal to hinder the economic exploitation of Burma. Account has to be taken not only of offensive action on a. great scale from India, but of a considerable and growing preponderance of Allied naval strength in the Pacific. It is likely enough that the use by the Allies of the power of attack by land, sea and air they have developed will lead eventually to a considerable contraction of the Pacific war area and make necessary readjustments in direction and command. It is not obvious, however, that any problem of this kind exists at the moment. It appears to be a matter, as President Roosevelt has said, of neglecting none of the roads that lead to Tokio.