NEXT JAPANESE ATTACK

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23538, 16 January 1942, Page 5

NEXT JAPANESE ATTACK

FORCES MOVE TOWARD DUTCH OIL PORT ALLIED AIRCRAFT BOMB SHIPS (Received January 16, 12.30 a.m.) (U.P.A.) BATAVIA, January 15. Reports indicate that the next target of the Japanese will be Balikpapan, the second most important oil port in Dutch Borneo. Following the capture of the island of Tarakan further north, Japanese naval forces and transports are now moving down the coast in the direction of Balikpapan. Dutch and United States bombers have begun to attack the force, which comprises six large cruisers, six torpedo-boats, and 14 transports. Dutch troops have opened a counteroffensive against the Japanese land forces on a line near the border of Dutch Borneo and Sarawak. So far the Dutch troops are holding their own. The Japanese claim the occupation of air bases in Minahassa, in north Celebes. A high military spokesman in Rangoon said that Burma was considering an offensive against the Japanese, but was also preparing to meet a possible Japanese offensive against Burma. He emphasised that Burma would certainly be subjected to further and possibly heavier air attacks. The situation in Malaya and Singapore would have a tremendous bearing on the future course of the war. and there could be no doubt about the determination of the defenders to hold them. A Rangoon communique staled that the enemy bombed a Royal Air Force aerodrome north of Rangoon and also Tavoy in south-east Burma. There were no casualties and no damage. The Royal Air Force destroyed an enemy aeroplane at Meshod aerodrome in Thailand. News of the resistance put up by the small Dutch garrison on Tarakan is now given by one of the survivors. He said that the garrison destroyed the oil wells before they were captured by the Japanese. Immediately the Japanese landed they struck for the oil wells district, but, while the garrison was driven back, it put up a stubborn resistance. Then the garrison rallied and drove the Japanese back. The next morning the Japanese landed fresh troops and renewed their attack in the hope of taking the oil wells intact. They made a desperate effort, but huge clouds of black smoke rising from the wells told them that they were too late.

REIXFORCEMEXTS IX BURMA

LAND AND AIR FORCES

ANTI-AIRCRAFT BATTERIES

STRENGTHENED

(Received January 15, 7 p.m.)

RANGOON, January 14. Further land and air reinforcements have arrived in Burma. Anti-aircratt batteries have also been reinforced and ground crews for air units have landed at Burmese airfields, some of which are located in the jungle close to Thailand. The Royal Air Force in Burma now consists of Australian, South African, British, and Canadian pilots. Allied bombers blew up a train in a station at Ratiburi, in Thailand, during a series of attacks on Japan-ese-held bases.

AXIS PLANS FOR COXQUEST

Article by Japanese

Admiral

AUSTRALIA AND N.Z. TO

BE ISOLATED

(8.0. W.) RUGBY, January 14. The sophistry with which Axis writers delude or attempt to delude their public is amusingly illustrated by an article in the Rome newspaper “Popolo dTtalia” by Admiral Suetsuga, a former commandcr-in-chief and senior commander of the Japanese fleet, dealing in part with the outbreak of war between Japan and the United Slates. “If Mr Roosevelt,” writes Admiral Suetsuga, "were a groat statesman he would have immediately accepted Japan’s proposals. In this case, Japan would have missed a chance which would not have been offered it again at least for a century. “Thanks to Providence and the shortsightedness of Mr Roosevelt, this did not happen, and Japan was able to gain almost unlimited sway over the Pacific and Indian Oceans,”

The sincerity of the Japanese proposals can thus be assessed at its true worth, The writer goes on to indulge in an unusually vivid expression of wishful thinking. After stating that Japan is now faced with gigantic problems, he outlined the future course of the war as follows; T "As Burma and the Dutch East Indies will come under Japanese care, Japan will be freed from all care about raw materials. The China incident will be also settled. Australia and New Zealand will be in isolation and compelled to break with the Anglo-Saxons. The German and Italian armies will advance as far as the Suez Canal and will join the Japanese in the Indian Ocean. , , “The three nations thus will form one solid bloc. India will be in isolation, and England will lose its richest possession. Anglo-Saxon assistance to Russia will cease, and the Russians capitulation will then only be a question of time. Russia, too, will be compolled to come under the flag of the tripartite Powers. “The Mediterranean will become an inland ocean of the Axis Powers. North and South Africa will come under the supremacy of the Axis Powers, while France will eventual!) become a loyal collaborator with the Axis countries. This huge bloc will be formed by Axis countries extending over Asia, Africa, and Europe.’

Oil Supplies for Allies.— Measures have been taken to maintain an adequate flow of oil and gasoline to the American and Allied forces m tinvarious theatres of war. This statement followed a meeting of the new foreign Petroleum Policy Committee. The major oil companies are co-operating in working out a supply programme. Washington, January 14,