BID WEEK FOR JAPS. IN TOE SOLOMONS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 231, 30 September 1942, Page 3

BID WEEK FOR JAPS. IN TOE SOLOMONS

RECENT REVERSES

South Pacific Outlook Believed Improved

Special Australian Correspondent United Press Association—Copyright Rec. 12.30 p.m. SYDNEY, this day. "The Japanese have had a bad week in the Solomons," remarks the Sydney Morning Herald, in assessing the improved South Pacific outlook to-day. If the Japanese mean to force their way into the Coral Sea they must first retake Guadalcanal" states the paper editorially. "Their recent reverses suggest that such a project cannot be undertaken with any reasonable hope of success unless they are prepared to commit a strong battle fleet to the task. If the enemy are unwilling to do that then a renewed American attack towards their central position at Rabaul is only a matter of time."

The belief that the initiative in the South Pacific may soon pass to the Allies is reflected in a dispatch from Robert Miller, American United Press correspondent at Pearl Harbour. "For the first time since the United States attack on the Solomons began on August 7 American troops are believed to be on the offensive," he says. "The latest navy communique foreshadows a possible American advance northward, but new attacks will not be as easy as in early August, when the Japanese were taken by surprise.

"The conquest of the remaining Solomon Islands must be carried out with overwhelming superiority of men, ships and planes. The marines expect heavy losses, but they are eager to go.

"Military experts now agree that the American positions in the Solomons are almost impregnable after six weeks' sanguinary fighting, in which I saw young marines storming dangerous caverns. I saw 1500 Japanese wiped out on Tulagi, Gavutu and Tanambogo. I saw the surf run red with blood when the marines turned their guns on enemy troops who swam out to sea rather than surrender.

"There is no front, no rear, in the Solomons. The United States land commander there, Major-General Vandegrift, is as much in the front line as any of his men. Recently two Japanese were killed in broad daylignt 100 feet from his headquarters when they made a mad rush in an attempt to kill him."