WAR IN PACIFIC

Waikato Times, Volume 128, Issue 21369, 13 March 1941, Page 2

WAR IN PACIFIC

TACTICS OF NAVIES CLASH HELD INEVITABLE ‘ JAPAN AND AMERICA (Times Air Mail Service) SYDNEY, February 22. What will happen if Japan fights the United States, or as the Japanese would put it, if the United States I fights Japan, for in these latitudes it j is America which is represented as J the aggressor, keeping a peacefully j inclined nation on the jump? writes I the special representative of the i Australian Associated Press in the ; Far East. I Oh that score, it is curious for an | Australian to see Australia linked, by some Japanese, with the aggressor nations. To these people. Australia is part of a potential encirclement or “American horseshoe,” as it has been call- , extending from San Francisco, through Hawaii to New Zealand and Australia and thence to Manila and Singapore. Admiral Nobumasa Suyetsugu, president of the Central Co-opera-tive Council of the Imperial Rule Assistance Association and a most influential Japanese, high in the Imperial war councils, has been discussing the question of war in the Pacific. At present, Admiral Suyetsugu says, the United States is mapping its strategy from the south. 'Supposing the war breaks out, how will it move? The main line of attack for the American fleet is a line connecting San Francisco, Hawaii, Midway, Guam, and the Philippines. It is the easiest course to take. But it happens that this is precisely the course over which Japan has a vast network of defences”— from the Kuriles in the north to Formosa in the south. The network extends also as far as Hainan to the Spratley Islands. “Since a headlong thrust by the American fleet would be to poke its nose into a trap, it is not likely to adopt such a course.” Attack from South The northern route, Admiral Suyetsugu says, is along the Aleutians and Kamchatka down to the Kuriles ancf Hokkaido. This is the shortest course, but it is foggy ail the year round. With such bad visibility no fleet can operate on a big scale nor make much use of planes. The only course remaining for the American fleet, therefore is the southern one. This is why the United States is so bent on fortifying Its southern bases. The route that American strategists are visualising is a line extending from a point south of Hawaii, through south of Japanese mandated islands, to New Zealand, Australia, Manila and Singapore. This line is intended to encircle Japan. ‘^ f 3 bi ?, ® eet . clin Ss to Manila or Singapore, Admiral Suyetsugu says, the waters round it will be blockaded and the ships attacked by aircraft. . . . Consequently, if they wish to come to grips with the Japanese Navy, they must come up into waters near Japan.” + , t* l3 * people who believe that Japanese naval strength is infenor to that of the United States make a big mistake.” Vice-Admiral Yoshijiro Hamada thinks that United States participation in the European war is inevitable this year, and that war between the United States and Japan is consequently unavoidable. geographical features of the Pacific, he says, lie in the vastness of the area and the exist! form many archi Pelagoes which to7a pan PPmg ' StoneS Ir6m America Fortifying Pacific Islands According to the principle of dynamics, force is in inverse ratio P°J^ SqUare . of dlstance - The transc °P eratl °ns by the United - will be no exception to this principle. The reason why the American Government insisted so strongly on the naval ratio of five to Washin gt°n Conference was that it anticipated the necessity of naval operations across the PacificJ? the Case of war with Japan." Ihe American counter to this factor Vice-Admiral Hamada says, is to fortify the stepping-stones in the Pacific. Innumerable coral islands scattered hke stars in the waters of the Equator ofter the best naval and air^ ba ses if they are properly fortiThe best advance post for the American Navy today, however, is Pearl Harbour, in Hawaii, and “it is certain that naval battles will be fought between Japan and America m the waters covering a distance ot some 3000 nautical miles between Hawaii and Japan. Possibility of the use of the south- ; era route, however, has been in- : creased by tne likelihood of the use by the American fleet of French nos- ! | essl °ns m the Southern Pacific, and ; Singapore and Hong Kong, as well l as Dar win, and their intention to j form a naval base at Samoa.