“ATTACK GOING WELL”

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23715, 13 August 1942, Page 5

“ATTACK GOING WELL”

OPERATION IN THE SOLOMONS

HEAVY LOSSES THOUGHT INEVITABLE

The Press Association correspondent at a South Pacific port , says that a quick and thoroughly decisive result should not immediately be expected in the Allied attack on Japanese forces in the Solomon Islands. Seizure from the sea of a defended shore is one of the most difficult and hazardous of military operations, and it cannot be achieved without payment of a heavy price in ships and personnel. After the Coral Sea battle, RearAdmiral F. C. Sherman, U.S.N., captain of the lost carrier Lexington, said that no defensive force can stop a determined offensive by air. In the Solomon Islands operation, the Allied naval units are defensive against landair attack. Ships must be lost until the Japanese air force operating against them can be denied the air. For this the Allied force has to depend immediately upon its own air forces and finally upon seizure from the land of the enemy’s airfields. Hazardous also is the landing operation for forces assaulting beaches. A sudden change in surf conditions may leave units of it stranded during precious hours, and interruption of reserves and supplies can result in part of the landing forces being cut off and slaughtered;" ' •, j: . Secr,ecy and surprise are difficult to obtain! A tactical surprise is more likely to succeed than an attempt to make the shore unnoticed. Sometimes a tactical surprise can be gained by feints; sometimes it can be obtained by dispersing the attack over several landing places, and pushing in reserves at whichever place turns out the most promising. This requires nice sense of timing, quick decision to take advantage of opportunities, and flexibility of mind that can disregard preconceived ideas. Concealment Impossible

Cover and concealment off a hostile coast are impossible. Movement is restricted during disembarkation from transports, and when moving from transports to the shore the troops must violate all rules of attack on land. They cannot seek the protection of natural cover; they are bunched in groups within fire of concealed artillery and automatic weapons; and they have restricted opportunity to return the fire. At the beach, every boat is like a defile from which the troops must pour on to an almost perfect field of fire. They are delayed by obstacles and confronted with a terrain known only through aerial reconnaissance and reports of civilians who have been there.

Night landings offer less advantage than might be thought. Detective and illuminating devices make surprise during the approach and during the assault on a beach almost impossible. Smoke may help to cover daylight landing; but its use is limited by weather, and in turn it limits supporting, fire from the protecting ships. During the critical stage of obtaining a bridgehead, the landing force is almost deprived of artillery support unless aircraft can be employed in sufficient numbers and without serious interference. Naval guns are not an effective substitute for shore artillery. Finally, the landing force needs trained troops, men who have exercised in all types of action which they might be called upon to carry out during the assault and consolidation. For all these reasons, the operation in the Solomons is child’s play for none of those, taking part. Many things can go wrong, no matter how careful the planning. Forces Engaged

The correspondent also says it is clear that the forces in the attack are predominantly American. British and Dominion counsel has no doubt been taken in the preparations for the operation. British experience of combined operations in commando raids on Axis positions has, possibly, also assisted in the laying of plans, but the naval units engaged are probably the only ones which include forces other than American. At least for the present, all communiques about the operation will probably come from Pearl Harbour or Washington. Vice-Admiral R. L. Ghormley makes all his reports in the first instance to his immediate superior, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, at Pearl Harbour. However, it is possible to judge that while ship and personnel losses may be more severe than is the public’s expectation, the operation is proceeding well, notwithstanding undoubted difficulties and probable mishaps. Admiral Ghormley and his force so far seem to have been “ringing the bell." The stakes may be high, but the reward for Allied communications in the Pacific and, more remotely but nevertheless equally clearly, for the eventual security of New Zealand and Australia will be even higher.

Mr Nash to Broadcast.—The New Zealand Minister to the United States (Mr W. Nash) will broadcast on the Pacific service of the 8.8.C., at 6.45 a.m. (Greenwich mean time), on August 14. His subject will be “Reconstruction after the War.”—London, August 11. Queen WUhelmlna in Canada. —Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands has arrived in Ottawa. She was greeted by the Governor-General of Canada (the Earl of Athlone) and the Prime Minister (Mr W. L. Mackenzie King).— Rugby, August 11.