FUTURE MOVES

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 163, 12 July 1943, Page 3

FUTURE MOVES

PACIFIC PUSHES Mac Arthur Commands Respect As Strategist Rec. 1 p.m. NEW YORK, July 11. Qualified observers in Washington are supremely confident that the Allies will attain their immediate objectives in the Pacific offensive; says the Washington correspondent of the New York Times—but a bigger question remains unanswered. The question is whether General Mac Arthur's forces are sufficiently powerful to continue fighting, after the fall of the present objectives, until more important bases to the north and north-east are taken. If General Mac Arthur's forces are not strong enough to continue their victorious push without pausing for recovery, and reinforcement and consolidation of newly-won positions, delay similar to that following the fall of Guadalcanar may follow. American strategists envisage the following schedule for the Allied advance:—Munda, Bougainville, Buka and Rabaul, with a clean-up of New Guinea possibly accompanying the latter phase. Then comes the big strategic problem — whether we strike boldly northwards towards the main Japanese naval base of Truk, courting a naval engagement with the Japanese fleet, and from there to Tokyo, or whether we pause to reclaim the Philippines and East Indies. The Washington correspondent of the Wall Street Journal says General Mac Arthur commands the respect of White House as a strategist. The new Pacific drive is a test of the "island by island" campaign. If New Guinea and Rabaul topple within four to six months, the theory will have been proved. Otherwise Allied strategy will be limited to direct punches against Japan from China. This means retaking Burma first.