U.S. EFFORTS TO FORCE A NAVAL SHOWDOWN

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 193, 17 August 1942, Page 3

U.S. EFFORTS TO FORCE A NAVAL SHOWDOWN

CRISIS APPROACHING

Enemy Now Admitting Allied Landings

Special Australian Correspondent Rec. 2 p.m. SYDNEY, this day. After 10 days of furious fightintr fo^fh* o^™ 61 " 55 believe battlf for the Solomons is nearing a crisis However, in the absence of officii «rl., re ? orts are conflicting. rortoili has bee " reported from certain quarters that Allied and enemy fleets have been engaged in a short-range gunfire duel, other £!?.°>* tS v low1 ow stat e that the great pattie between the opposing naval forces is still to come, that so far the major opposition to the Allied drive "f 3 . b ® e " by enemy air attack, and tnat Japanese warships have been prevented from interfering with the landings by U.S. troops. The Japanese now admit that U.S. marines have landed in the SoloPreviously Tokyo maintained tnat the battle had ended on the first aZ , the complete defeat of the Allied fleet. The admission of landings is believed in Washington to mean that the Japanese have abandoned hope of driving the invaders into the sea. It is thought that the Japanese public is being prepared for some bad news. The Allied lines of communication now appear strongly established and as more troopships arrived in the ?f. ea i there is evidence that the attacks are broadening. Prominence is given here to a report from New Zealand that the U.S. marines are using water and land tractors, known as "alligators." The tractors Plough through the surf and over Deach obstacles. It is considered here that there is •very evidence that the United states hopes to force Japan into a complete naval showdown, but it is not yet clear whether such battle has yet been joined. " Proceeding Satisfactorily " The U.S. Navy Department issued no communique on Sunday, but Washington naval quarters said the assault on Japanese positions was 'proceeding satisfactorily." Apart from naval units moved south from Truk it is thought the Japanese may bring assistance from further bases to throw into the battle, which continues to go in the Allies' favour. "The operations are by no means over, but if half the Japanese claims of smashing victories against Allied warships were correct, the Japanese fleet would be back in Tulagi by now," says an English commentator reviewing the progress of operations. At General Mac Arthur's headquarters there is an inclination not to talk about the battle, which is being fought outside the South-west Pacific area. Unofficial feeling is that we have made gains at a cost still to be announced, but that we will need to follow through the initial success if we are Ho justify the Solomons action and the losses it has entailed."

The New York World Telegram correspondent says: "If we win the battle for the Solomons it will postPone, even prevent, the invasion of Australia. The fact that the Japanese are throwing in such large reinforcements instead of retreating towards their shorter South Pacific defence line is the best proof of the value of the network of bases in the Tulagi area."

Hanson Baldwin, the New York Herald-Tribune military writer, says an Allied victory in the Solomons could not in any sense be decisive. A great strategical offensive based on New Zealand and Australia and "S contiguous islands directed against Japan might require years to complete. Byron Darnton, New York Times correspondent in Australia, says the Solomons attack is the first real trial of the island-hopping method of fighting by the Allies in the Pacific. It should provide an answer to the question of whether that method is the right one. Admitting the U.S. landings in the Solomons, the Tokyo Asahi Shimbun is reported as sswing that the attacks are part of a big American four-prong offensive against Japan from the Aleutians, Australia, China and from aircraft carriers. The Eaper adds that an attack from China i the only feasible one at present.