ENTIRE PACIFIC WAR GATHERING PACE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 42, 19 February 1944, Page 5

ENTIRE PACIFIC WAR GATHERING PACE

IMPORTANCE OF TRUK

Dramatic Blow Reveals U.S. Naval Power

N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent Rec. noon SYDNEY, this day. The Japanese must risk a major fleet action or give un all their possessions south of " Truk, naval observers believe. The dramatic announcement of the attack on Truk by powerful United States forces is regarded in Australia as the most important news of the Pacific war since the bombing of Pearl Harbour. Truk was the main base for the swift Japanese penetration into the southern Pacific. "Success at Truk would bring the end of the Pacific war within sight," declares fhe Sydney Daily Telegraph in an editorial. "Once captured, Truk could provide a base from which Allied planes and ships could operate right to the Indo-China coast, cutting the Japanese Philippines, Malaya and Dutch East Indies supply lines. The Japanese forces in the Solomons, Rabaul and New Ireland would have to withdraw or be annihilated." "While it is too early to say what the attack may portend, it shows at the very least that Admiral Nimitz is determined to capitalise his gains in the Marshallc at the earliest possible moment," says the Sydney Morning Herald's military correspondent. "Since Truk is the centre of the Japanese defence organism in the Central Pacific there could be no better expression of the power of the United States Navy to penetrate deep behind the enemy's lines, notwithstanding the challenge of landbased aircraft and the potential striking power of the elusive Japanese Navy." A Sydney Morning Herald writer says the progress being made both in" the Central and Southern Pacific induces the view that the whole Pacific war is gathering pace at such a rate that the time is approaching to think in terms even beyond Rabaul or Truk. Landing Believed Likely

Despite the absence of American confirmation, there is a strong disposition here to accept the Japanese reports of a landing on Truk as correct. It is pointed out that Tokyo radio was the first to announce the landing of United States forces in the Marshalls, 1250 miles east of Truk, on January 31. The breathtaking audacity of the latest American enterprise is generally commented on. Confident in the mighty strength it has built up since Pearl Harbour the American Navy appears to have departed from the cautious strategy which dictates that each base gained shall be carefully consolidated before the next forward move is made. Truk, which the Japanese believe to be 'impregnable, is 3450 miles south-west of Pearl Harbour and 2100 miles from Tokyo. Its coast defences are of the most modern type, and the Japanese garrison there is believed to number three divisions (45.000 men). Pearl Harbour observers believe the United States carriers, probably seven or eight in number, released attacking planes in hundreds miles from Truk. The first flight was probably concentrated on Param Island, which contains a number of air-strips. Although not yet officially disclosed, it is believed the American warships then moved in to participate in the bombardment of Truk. Topography Described Truk is an archipelago composed of 11 volcanic islands and more than 80 small coral island's. All the islands are surrounded by a coral reef rising to 35 feet above sea level. They form a triangular lagoon 32 miles across at the widest point. The Allied attack is believed to have been centred against the four main islands of Truk—Eten, Param, Dublon and Fefan. The four channels leading from the Pacific into the great lagoon are spacious. The best anchorage adjoins Eten Island, which is also the site for the big air base. The islands are thickly wooded with peaks rising from 500 to 700 feet. The Japanese took Truk with the other German-held Carolines, Marianas and Marshalls a few weeks after the outbreak of the first World War. They kept them under a League of Nations mandate.