JAP. THREAT

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 114, 16 May 1942, Page 7

JAP. THREAT

UNABATED MENACE

Enemy Committed To South

Drive

United Press Association.—Copyright.

SYDNEY, May 15

Sailors who fought in the Coral Sea battle have landed at an Australian port. Some arrived as casualties. Others have been given shore leave. The significance of the battle continues to be widely debated and the Japanese threat to the AustraliaAmerican supply line is generally admitted to be unabated.

"The strength of the forces which the Allies hammered in the Solomons and beat back in the Coral Sea," says the Sydney Morning Herald, "shows how deeply the Japanese are committed to a continuance of their southward drive, with the invasion or immobilisation of Australia as their primary aim.

'Military necessity would dictate this policy, even if ambition and appetite had been satisfied by victories and territories already won. It is in the New Guinea and New Britain area that the most pressing danger lies. There the enemy is a great and growing force."

Enemy Building Up Forces

All commentators emphasise that the Japanese have been steadily building up their air forces in the area, and probably their naval forces. Their struggle for air mastery over the islands is described as "protracted, bitter and costly." Emphasis is also given to the growing threat of Japanese naval forces to Australia, its outposts and its supply lines.

The Daily Mail, in a leading article, sa3 - s: "The battle marked a definite stage in the Pacific war. The tide of Japanese aggression has flowed everywhere and covered every territorial objective. Now, for the first time, it has been checked.

"Japan dare not stop. She is capable of attacking India and Australia simultaneously. Her operations on the Burma Road are probably designed to secure her rear for an assault on India.

"Undoubtedly, Japan has calculated an attack on Vladivostock, Siberia and the Aleutian Islands, but this must be done this year to stand any chance of success. Much depends, of course, on the Russian war and the determination of the United Nations to strike back hard and swiftly from India and Australia."

Aircraft Carriers' Importance

A cablegram from New Ycrk states that Mr. Hanson Baldwin, writing in the New York Times, says changes which are taking place in the organisation of the American Navy Department and commands afloat will result in greater emphasis on r.aval aviation. He explains that experiences in the Coral Sea Battle emphasised the eminent importance of the aircraft-carrier.

While the battleship is in no way abandoned, the carrier definitely has been brought under the spotlight and American production and conversion of ships into carriers, which already is unmatched anywhere, will soon be considerably increased, following predicted changes in organisation.

30,000 JAPS. ATTACK

CHINESE RECAPTURE TOWN

LONDON, May 15

Rec. noon

A Chungking dispatch from the United Press correspondent says 30,000 Japanese, supported by an aircraft-carrier in Hangchow Bay, have launched an offensive in the coastal area of Chekiang.

The Central News agency reports that bitter fighting has been going on since Monday south of the town of Siaoshan. Authoritative sources reported last night that Chinese troops operating only 25 miles south-west of Nanking, recaptured Hohsien, on the Yangtse River, about 100 Japanese being killed It was off Hohsien on December 12, 1937, that Japanese bombers sank the United States gunboat Panay.