FIGHTING IN SOLOMONS

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23802, 23 November 1942, Page 5

FIGHTING IN SOLOMONS

AMERICAN FORCES ADVANCE JAPANESE NAVAL LOSSES (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright.) (Rec. 9.15 p.m.) WASHINGTON, Nov. 21. A United States Navy communique says that although enemy patrols are active the Army and Marine Corps forces have advanced on the westward flank of their positions on Guadalcanar west of Point Crus. Army Lockheed Lightning fighters shot down three Zeros in the Buin area. Patrol activity on Guadalcanar resulted in the outpost lines advancing. About 35 Japanese were killed. The United States forces suffered few casualties. To-day American aircraft carried out 11 attack missions against enemy installations on Guadalcanar. The ground forces were engaged in minor activities on Guadalcanar. A recent dispatch from Admiral William F. Halsey has confirmed the damage which it was reported was inflicted on the enemy when a battleship or cruiser, three cruisers, and a destroyer were sunk, and a battleship, cruiser, and destroyer were damaged. This is additional t'" the damage inflicted on the Japanese in the Solomons. An earlier communique stated that on November 18 Army Flying Fortresses attacked Japanese cargo vessels in the Buin area. Two hits were scored. Ten Zero fighters and two float oiplanes were shot down. A group of Army Marauder bombers also attacked cargo vessels in the same area. Two Zero fighters were shot down. It is now estimated that about 1500 Japanese troop reinforcements , were landed near Tetere during the night of November 2-3. As announced in a previous communique, about half of these enemy troops have since been killed and the remainder have dispersed into the jungle. Greater Victory When reporters at a press conference asked the Secretary of the Navy (Colonel Knox) whether Rear-Ad-miral Lee’s report of enemy losses duplicated those announced on November 16, Colonel Knox stated flatly; “No, therefore the victory was proportionately greater than at first, althougn all told the Japanese fleet was pretty badly punished.” He added that 28 ships had been sunk and 10 damaged. Colonel Knox commented that the wiping out of the Japanese party which landed early in November east of the American position on Guadalcanar was very significant and the effectiveness of the Japanese reinforcements was destroyed. In connnexion with this and other triumphs he could fairly say that the American hold on Guadalcanar was now very secure. Asked about the remaining Japanese land strength on Guadalcanar, Colonel Knox replied: “The American forces outnumber the enemy, but how greatly I could not say." Colonel Knox said the naval engage - ment on Saturday night was the first in which American battleships engaged the enemy in full battle array. It was a very efficient and well handled manoeuvre and caught the Japanese by surprise. During the press conference Colonel Knox turned to Rear-Admiral Young and asked him to reply to recent criticism about unity of command in the Solomons. Rear-Admiral Young said he had just returned from a tour of 23,000 miles in the Pacific theatre of war and had found “from General MacArthur down absolutely no vestige of disunity and saw as complete co-opera-tion and joint efficiency as could exist anywhere.” Breaking in, Colonel Knox gave as an example of real co-operation that somewhere in the Pacific a huge airfield capable of handling large bombers was built in one week. American Superiority “Competent Washington observers express the opinion that the Japanese Navy cannot stand the losses which United States warships, aeroplanes, and submarines are’exacting,” says Mr Glen Perry, of the "New York Sun.” He adds: "Assuming the accuracy of the naval communiques—and the Navy is extremely cautious —a hole is being knocked in the Japanese fleet which will not be made up in this war. The box score in the Solomons battle has reached fabulous proportions, apd this encounter demonstrates conclusively the absolute superiority of the American Navy, which, after Pearl Harbour, got off the floor and landed a whole series of return blows, achieving miraculous and almost unbelievable things.” “There is every reason to believe that the Navy is winning the war in the Pacific,” he adds. “In support of their big offensive in the Solomons last week, the Japanese have apparently thrown in practically all their available air strength, in the south-western Pacific, but it was not sufficient to wrest aerial superiority from the Americans,” said Mr Tillman Durdin in a dispatch to the “New York Times” from Guadalcanar. “Meanwhile the Japanese apparently have not enough air power for the Solomons and New Guinea simultaneously. “The strengthened Allied air power in New Guinea may represent the margin between a merely defensive holding war and a successful offensive to dislodge the Japanese, not only from Buna, but from the remainder of New Guinea. Unless the Japanese use many more aeroplanes than at present, the Allies can certainly make Lae and Salamaua untenable. If Japan is running short of aeroplanes, pilots, and fuel, our advance in the Pacific will be progressively easier.”