TO CHECK JAPS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 31, 6 February 1943, Page 5

TO CHECK JAPS.

BOMBING IN PACIFIC Solomons Battle Outcome Veiled In Mystery i N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent SYDNEY, Feb. 5. Allied bombers have again heavily raided Japanese airfields in New Britain and the northern Solomons. The object of the raids is to prevent enemy planes from using these bases in the battle for the Solomons. For the sixth, successive night Rabaul was the main object of these attacks. The Lukunai aerodrome was the target for the latest raid. At Arawe, west of Gasmata, New Britain, a Liberator struck at a 1000-ton enemy cargo ship. The vessel had been heavily camouflaged with palms to make it look like a small island. After a direct hit on the stern as well as a near miss the vessel was seen on a reef and listing. In New Guinea the important enemy base of Lae was twice raided by Havoc attack planes and Mitchell medium bombers. Fires were started on the aerodrome and a number of enemy aircraft are believed to have been destroyed. Parrying for Positions Veiled ,in mystery, the great struggle for the mastery of the Solomons is continuing, with the Japanese and American adversaries feinting and parrying for advantageous positions in what may become a history-making battle, says the Washington correspondent of the New York Times. High naval officers readily concede that any of the sharp encounters now proceeding throughout the island area may become the focus of a battle the impact of which on the Pacific war could be tremendous, he adds. The navy apparently is in possession of the full facts, but is maintaining an unbreakable reticence. It is refusing to give Tokyo details of losses or victories, or indications as to future moves. Officers point out that, although the battle is constantly looming, it might fizzle out through a Japanese withdrawal. It is not denied that some of the surface and air clashes have been violent. Japanese persistence -is clearly recognised. Even if the present actions close without .a decisive battle, it is felt that the enemy will continue his drive to recapture the Solomons and partially erase the loss of face which he suffered in the great sea battle in November. Japan started the war because of the impolite attitude of the American Government, said the Prime Minister of Japan, Tojo, in the House of Peers, according to the Tokyo official radio, states a further message from New York. Tojo added that he was not confident of the success of the surprise attack on Pearl Harbour or of the lightning campaign in Malaya. He said: "I felt cold water on my back when a Japanese convoy en route to 'Malaya was detected two days before the war broke out." _ . _ The Foreign Minister, Tarn, tola the House that Japan had protested to America and other enemy countries against the inhuman ejection from their homes of Japanese nationals. He said 120,000 Japanese in the United States had been moved forcibly from their homes to hinterland areas, where they were leading miserable lives. Such ejection undoubtedly was an infringement 01 international law and a very inhuman act. He added that Japan was negotiating for the repatriation of Japar*ese from enemy countries.