JAPS ALARMED

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 153, 30 June 1944, Page 5

JAPS ALARMED

MARIANAS OUTCOME Serious Influence Upon Future War Situation N.Z. Press Association—Copyright Rec. 9.30 a.m. NEW YORK, June 29. "The United States thrust to Sai-1 pan. coupled with other American offensive gestures throughout the Pacific, has brought the war to a very serious stage," said Tokyo official radio, in a broadcast to the Japanese people. "We have 100,000.000 people. Japan must realise now, if ever, that the outcome of the. battle of the Marianas will exert a very serious influence upon the future war situation. "This is an offensive in which the j enemy is prepared to make sacrifices and, even though there are times when there is no strategy whatever behind his actions as regards tactics,/ seriousness is lying deep in the heart of the enemv," the radio added. j "The fierceness of the enemy's j fighting spirit, and the enormous ] number of his ground troops, all are, at their highest since the beginning j of the war." Allies' Next Objectives "The Jananese mainland, the Philippines "and the greater part of : the Dutch East Indies will be our: next targets following the complete occupation of Saipan," said the! Secretarv of the Navy, Mr. Forrestal. who made this prediction in outlin-! ing the steady westward advance of the American troops since the reoccupation of the Aleutians and the capture of the Solomons a year ago. ••lhat advance," he added, "has isolated pockets of enemy troops totalling 200.000 men, who are practicallv out of range of help from their' homeland. These groups are in the Marshalls. the Gilberts and the Carolines. "The latest offensive blow against the Marianas, aimed at the control of Saipan. already has permitted our air and surface fleets to strike still harder westward." added Mr. Forrestal. He said that the two great turning points in the Pacific war were the Battle of jVlidwav and the conquest of Guadalcanal - . The defeat of the Japanese carrier air forces in the Battle of the Eastei n Philippines last week had benefited the United States greatlv. With his fleet aircraft practically _ annihilated. plus a number of his combatant ships sunk or damaged, the enemy had no choice other than to live up, at least for the time qeing, his effort to use his fleet to interfere with our operations in the Marianas. v