LAND OFFENSIVE EXPECTED

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23800, 20 November 1942, Page 5

LAND OFFENSIVE EXPECTED

American Forces On Guadalcanar FOLLOWING UP SEA VICTORY (Special Australian Corresp., N.Z.P.A.) (Rec. 7 p.m.) SYDNEY. Nov. 19. The American land forces on Guadalcanar island are expected to launch an offensive soon to clear all the Japanese troops from the island. At Pearl Harbour Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet, has stated that the United States Navy’s domination of the Guadalcanar area permits a full-scale offensive by the American troops. United Stales naval circles are said to regard the newest victory over the Japanese fleet as even more important than the Midway Island action. They declare that it will have the most far-

reaching effects on strategy in the south-west Pacific, and believe that some little time must elapse before the Japanese are able to regroup for another attack in the Solomons. Reports from Pearl Harbour say that the retreating Japanese warships are still being pursued. Mr Joseph C. Harsch, writing in the “Christian Science Monitor," says: “The naval victory in the Solomons can be measured only in terms of whether it has opened the way to Rabaul. because our defensive position will not.be substantially improved before the Allies hold Rabaul and the whole Bismarck Archipelago. “Rabaul has obviously been the objective of our original move in the Solomons, and although the campaign so far has contributed to an ultimate Allied victory, the fact remains that the Navy, after three months of fighting, has still not advanced beyond its original positions and still counts its victories in terms of repulsing enemy counter-attacks. “One does not move under the guns of an enemy fortress except for the purpose of attempting to capture it. Therefore it is reasonable to assume that Guadalcanar and Tulagi are jumping-off points for Rabaul, which is a major goal in the Pacific. “The strategic implications of the recent naval victory will be uncertain as long as it is not known whether enough strength is left to our Pacific Fleet to capitalise the enemy’s withdrawal and follow him to Rabaul.” “New Aggressive Leadership” “The peak of Japanese naval and •air strength in the Pacific has now passed,” declares the “New York Times” commentator, Mr Hanson Baldwin. “The Solomons battle showed very encouraging evidences of a new, aggressive, and daring leadership, patterned on the Nelsonian tradition. For the second time in this war we have clearly licked the enemy with the gun, not with bomb or torpedo. Our surface ships have come into their heritage of the victory we won in the first phase of the Solomons campaign. They should soon be ready to push northward.” Major Fielding Eliot, jn the New York “Herald-Tribune,” predicts an Allied advance to Ysabel and Bougainville islands after the situation on Guadalcanar has been cleared up. "Furthermore,” he says, “if General Mac Arthur drives out the Japanese from Buna, we will then be set for a grand attack against Rabaul.” Meanwhile, observers at Pearl Harbour are more cautiously assessing the results of the battle. The “New York Times” correspondent there writes: “Japanese naval superiority has been whittled down, but it is not felt that the United States has attained a balance of power in the Pacific.” The United Press correspondent at Pearl Harbour points out that although' the Japanese have suffered heavy losses the remainder of their fleet is extremely powerful. For example, the battleships involved in the recent battle were the old Kongo class, and aircraft-carriers were not used. British observers also emphasise the great promise given by the Solomons battle. “The Japanese form of makehaste war brought big results against unprepared enemies,” says the London “Dailv Express” in a leading article. “It wil l have a different testing against the fully-armed Allies. The more we learn of the American victory the more impressive it becomes. The American two-ocean navy was not due until 1944, according to the time-table, but it is now in action. It is fighting in the seven seas of the war along with the British Navy.” A message from Guadalcanar reports that Major-General Vandegrift. commander of the American land forces in the Solomons, said: “It. is clear that the Japanese suffered a devastating defeat. The battered helmets of our fighting forces on Guadalcanar are lifted in tribute to Rear-Admirals Callaghan. Scott, Lee, and Kinkaid. who drove back the enemy’s first hostile stroke, making the later success possible.”