MORE CHANGES

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 256, 29 October 1942, Page 5

MORE CHANGES

FORECAST IN PACIFIC Evidence That Serious Mistakes Admitted SYDNEY, Oct. 28. Further changes in the South-west vi? cl !?P commands are forecast in Washington. The fact that recent statements by the military correspondent of the New York Times, Major Hanson Baldwin, were passed by the United States Navy Office is considered a confirmation of the impressions that these mistakes were serious. Reports reaching Sydney state that Washington has been jolted by Major Baldwin's disclosures, particularly his statement that the sinking of four cruisers, including the Canberra. was the result of their being surprised "like sitting ducks, and not able to get off more than a few ineffective salvoes." Stating that either Vice-Admiral Halsey or General Mac Arthur should be put in charge of the whole of the South Pacific area, the New York Daily News says that General MacArthur's original offensive plan against the Japanese for a "drive north via New Guinea" was preferable to the navy's plan of attack from New Zealand through the Solomons, because it would have flanked the Solomons and made them useless, if not actually dangerous to the Japanese.

American Losses Serious Tokyo radio has been making its usual large claims of losses inflicted on the American fleet in the Solomons. However, the Japanese admit their own heavy losses, including the sinking of two cruisers, two destroyers, a submarine and five transports, as well as damage to a number of other ships. The Japanese communique adds that more than 100 Japanese aircraft have been lost in the Solomons operations. American claims now place this number at close to 400. The United States Navy's latest losses in the Solomons are serious, but not unexpected, according to Vice-Admiral Edwards, second-in-command of the United States fleet. He added that although the United States Navy was prepared to accept such losses. United States naval strength in the South Pacific was considerably below that of the Japanese, whose navy was now the I second largest in the world because of Britain's heavy losses. Vice-Admiral Edwards revealed that several enemy submarines took part in the attacks against the air-craft-carrier Wasp. Some of these submarines were believed to have been destroyed. Both fleets are still in the battle area, according to authoritative American sources. The Secretary of the United States Navy, Colonel Frank Knox, says the struggle so far has been a battle of manoeuvre rather than one in which the opposing fleets lined up opposite each other. The American forces were putting up a game fight, he told reporters. He dismissed the Japanese claim to have sunk four United States carriers and one battleship as "just another fishing expedition." Colonel Knox, as well as President Roosevelt, declined to foreshadow the result of the battle. TOKYO ON SOLOMONS Rec. 2 p.m. NEW YORK, Oct. 2S. The Tokyo official radio has repeated claims of a victory in the Solomons, qualified with a warning from naval quarters that the battle is still in progress and the final result, therefore, cannot be foreseen. The naval commentator added: "This is one of the greatest naval battles since the outbreak of the war."