AIR STRENGTH IN MALAYA

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23537, 15 January 1942, Page 5

AIR STRENGTH IN MALAYA

“SUPERIORITY WITHIN THREE DAYS" PREDICTION MADE IN SINGAPORE (Received January 14, 10.15 p.m.) NEW YORK, January 13. Dispatches from Singapore contain the prediction, credited to a high British authority, that the Allies will have aerial superiority in Malaya and the outlying islands within three days, says the "New York Sun s’ Washington correspondent. To integrate Allied aerial superiority first into the Malayan picture and second into the general war scheme in the Far East, it must be realised that the Japanese communication lines will become more difficult as the Japanese advance, and British command of the air would subject them to an unbearable strain. It would particularly hamper Japanese efforts to bring up supplies by sea and to get behind the British lines by landings along the coast south of the defending positions. , . A message from London says that the “Daily Mail.” in a leading article on this report, says that past experience of optimistic news from Singapore has led the public to regard official messages from there with a certain scepticism.