ALLIED TASK IN SOLMONS

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23717, 15 August 1942, Page 5

ALLIED TASK IN SOLMONS

Note of “Restrained Optimism”.

HEAVY CASUALTIES EXPECTED A note of restrained optimism is struck by a Press Association correspondent at a South Pacific port in viewing Allied operations against Japanese positions in the Solomon Islands. He urges the continued need for patience and emphasises the impossibility at the present stage of drawing more than a few general conclusions about the development of the attack. It is clear that the American landing forces have gained bridgeheads at heavy cost. It is possible that, in proportion to the numbers of men who made the first assault, the initial losses might fairly be described as “terrific.'’ It is also obvious that the ground won cannot be developed without paying a further heavy price. Authentic news which is filtering through gives cause for a patiently hopeful outlook. It must be remembered that there has been no parallel for this action in the present war, and that the difficulties of such an operation would perhaps best be measured against those at Gallipoli in the last war, with the added complication given by the use of aircraft. It is impossible to judge exactly what is happening and what has happened during the operation. Mistakes would be inevitable. Luck has no doubt favoured first one side and then the other, but, "given the breaks” which their character, abilities, preparations, and cause deserve, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz at his remote control position in Pearl Harbour, and Vice-Admiral Robert Ghormley at his direct control position on the scone of operations, should eventually succeed in their endeavour. Hatred for Japanese There seems no reason for supposing that the operation has been opened with plans only half-baked, unless the recent Japanese activity in the group has precipitated action before its due time. Vice-Admiral Ghormley has not impressed' as a man who would be prepared to take the risk of attempting a venture with known insufficiencies in men, ships, and aircraft, and inequalities of material. Vice-Admiral Ghormley has an articulate haired for the Japanese, but it is a careful hatred. He wants to kill the Japanese but he is not likely to have at them before he considers he is ready. He is aggressive but not impetuous. One, disadvantage which the Allied soldiers in the Pacific war zones suffer is that, almost without exception, they do not hhve the battle experience of the Japanese forces. The enemy has been fighting for a number of years. The Allies have just started. No matter how sound their theories, soldiers must learn as they go along. The Solomons will help to make up the leeway. Against this is the likely quality of at least a proportion of the forces engaged. While it is true that a little over a year ago the American Marines, with a total establishment of 53,000 officers and men, did not have sufficient trained personnel for all demands already made on them since December 7, they are a force which has rapidly expanded and which has always specialised in landing operations from the sea. Since 1776 they have carried out more than 200. From the known quality of the Marine Corps and from the character of Vice-Admiral Ghormley and his staff, it can be taken that the fight will be carried to the Japanese all the time it is humanly possible to do So. The reported presence on the islands of American tanks leads to the assumption tfiat the force has had at its disposal one of the Marine Corps’ latest weapons. These are land and water tractors, commonly known as alligators, designed to plough through surf and over beach obstacles and carrying within each one light tank, gun carrier, or other combat vehicle. Paratroops which have been reported undoubtedly belong to the Marine Corps forces engaged. For more than a year the corps has been training its own air-borne troops and significantly their rigorous training has included jiu jitsu. They would not have been flown from the distant land bases of the Allies but from the marines’ own ships.

SOLOMON ISLANDS WAR ZONE

NATURE OF COUNTRY

Localities mentioned in the cabled reports, indicate that the fighting in the Solomon Islands is proceeding at and to the south o£ the centre of the group. The islands in the immediate vicinity of the battle centre of Tulagi are relatively small, and are surrounded by the three major islands of Ysabel, to the north-west, Malaita, to the east, and Guadalcanal’, to the south. It is on Guadalcanar that the Japanese are reported to have been energetically constructing aerodromes. The small islands surrounding the former British administrative centre of Tulagi are known as the Florida group. The main island of Florida is 30 miles in length, from east to west; has a maximum breadth of 10 miles; and is divided into western and eastern halves by a narrow channel called Mboli. On the south coast of western Florida is a considerable indentation within which lie several islets, including Tulagi, Makambo, and Gavutu. Their shores consist partly of low cliffs of coral limestone, partly of beaches, and partly of mangrove swamps. They have no great eminences and their vegetation is slight and open compared with the jungles of the major islands. Tulagi is only three miles in circumference and owes its importance to its containing a good, deep-water harbour. The Solomons are well supplied with good anchorages, but Tulagi offered the advantage in earlier times of not being beset by warlike hordes of savages such as made the major islands highly dangerous. Difficult to Attack The inlet of Florida enclosing the Tulagi cluster of islets has the'entrance to Mboli Passage on its cast. The area offers a considerable extent of water suitable for anchorages, and is variously known as Tulagi Harbour, Mboli Harbour, and Port Jarvis. From the viewpoint of naval action and the landing of forces, it would be difficult for the attackers and most advantageous for the defenders. Florida, which must be a field of fierce combat at the moment, is less mountainous and forested than the Solomons in general. Its greatest elevation is only 1500 ft, its hills are mainly rounded, and there are largo tracts bare of trees and covered in long grass. That half of Florida lying to the cast of Mboli Passage has a southern coast of coral limestone cliffs, which form lofty precipices at the eastern point. The formation of the interior is generally limestone. A deep valley gives access to vast limestone caverns known as the Suku Caves. The western half of Florida has attracted little attention from Europeans because of its infertile limestone and volcanic character, but its shores are much more accessible than those of the eastern half. Ysabel, Malaita, and Guadalcanar each has an area of about 2000 square miles, the two latter being the nearest neighbours of the Florida cluster which is only 20 miles from the shores of either. Malaita, long and narrow, has a central ridge of precipitous mountains. The coastal fringes are gently sloping, fertile, and densely forested, support-; mg the greatest population of all the islands, estimated as high as 100,000. The numbers and fierceness of the savages effectively discouraged development of plantations by Europeans, except on a small scale in recent years. Malaita has several good harbours on both coasts. Guadalcanar contains more plain country and is more highly developed than any of the islands. While the other major islands are long, narrow,