PRELIMINARIES OVER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 December 1943, Page 4

PRELIMINARIES OVER

HARD BLOWS PROMISED IN PACIFIC

STATEMENT BY COLONEL KNOX

OPERATIONS GOING FORWARD SATISFACTORILY

(British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 11.50 a.m.) RUGBY, December 14. "Pacific preliminaries are now over and we are getting ready to deliver powerful offensive blows against the Japanese,” said Colonel Frank Knox, Secretary for the Navy, according to a Washington message. Colonel Knox added. "We are going to drive home some hard blows. The operations of our combined sea, air and land forces in all areas in the Pacific are going forward very satisfactorily. We now have the equipment and trained men to do a complete job. The whole strategy will become apparent as these things develop. It is perfectly obvious now, Colonel Knox added, that what seemed to be only nibbling was carried on with the purpose of decimating progressively the enemy’s air and surface strength. The enemy contributed to that by sending out small task forces which were regularly overwhelmed. This enabled us to nip off very important elements of the Japanese Fleet piecemeal." Colonel Knox said the United States air superiority in the Pacific continued unchallenged and added: ‘‘Air losses run between six and eight to one in favour of the United States air forces, due to the steady attrition of Japanese pilots." He derided Japanese claims as to losses inflicted on the United States sea forces.