ISLAND HOPPING

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 200, 25 August 1942, Page 3

ISLAND HOPPING

PACIFIC WARFARE

Commando Operations Believed Well Worth While United Press Association: —Copyright SYDNEY, Aug. 24. Allied Commando operations against the Japanese Pacific outposts, are very much worth while, military commentators in Australia believe" Such hit-and-run sorties as the American raid on Makin Island, in the Gilbert Islands, must be an integral part of the Allies' Pacific strategy. These would have the effect of dispersing Japanese strength, especially air power, giving greater freedom of action to our forces engaged in major occupying operations. Such raids would also tie down for defence purposes Japanese forces which might otherwise be concentrated for spearpoint attacks. The Japanese policy has been to dispose her strength around ttie perimeter of her conquests, believing, that enemy naval forces cannot penetrate deeplv into the Japanese-held zone. This means they must control a defence line of SOOO miles along an arc from Malay to the Mariana Islands. "There must be many islands where raids can be undertaken with a reasonable hope of success and where Allied naval craft have a fanchance against enemy land-based aeroplanes and local garrisons," says the military correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald. "The Makin Island raid also shows that the element of surprise is possible even in areas where aerial reconnaissance ot' sea routes might be expected. The attack on Makin Island was singularly audacious in view of the possibility of heavy aerial interception from Jaluit, only 300 miles away in the Marshalls."

Pointer to Future Action

Military experts point out that apart from damage inflicted in specific raids, the ever-present possibility of sudden attacks by Allied guerilla forces must affect the morale of small, isolated Japanese garrisons. The latest raid is seen as a pointer to the United Nations' future course of action in the Pacific. A series of such raids would prove a serious distraction to Japanese attempts to repulse a major Allied offensive which began with the attacks on the Solomons.

Reported concentrations of enemy shipping at Rabaul may indicate that Japan is about to launch an expected major drive against the American forces in the Tulagi area, although some observers suggest that the concentration is intended for a counterblow against Port Moresby. "Japanese losses in the Solomons have done little to weaken their hold on the islands north of Australia," says the war correspondent of the Sydney Daily Telegraph. "They have been strengthening their positions on the New Guinea mainland, where they appear to be firmly entrenched.'' The same correspondent foresees the possibility that the Allies may forestall any Japanese move by an early direct attack on Rabaul.

Significance is attached in Australia to the arrival in America of Lieutenant-General George Brett. Commander of the Allied Air Forccs in the South-west Pacific, and Air Commodore R. V. Goddard, Chief of Staff of the New Zealand Air Force. Allied land-based airci-aft, it is admitted, have played a vital role in the early; stag§s_.Ql ihe Solomons offensive, and it is hoped the joint consultations between the American authorities and the two South-west Pacific air chiefs may result in an accentuated air offensive in this theatre.