THE SOUTH-WEST PACIFIC

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23969, 9 June 1943, Page 3

THE SOUTH-WEST PACIFIC

Many More Enemy Bases YEAR’S OPERATIONS REVIEWED (Special Australian Corresp., N.Z.P.A.) (Rec. 11 p.m.) SYDNEY, June 8. The'growth of operations within the south-west Pacific Command area during the last year affords striking evidence of the inevitability of long and bloody island warfare against the Japanese. In spite of terrific punishment inflicted principally by Allied air attacks, the enemy has increased the number of his occupied points in this area from 10 to nearly 150. Enemy airfields now number about 60. Month by month Japanese occupation has spread, closing every land gap in the enemy’s 2000 miles island defensive arc. Figures of losses inflicted on the enemy since April last year throw into bold relief the gigantic scale of the enemy’s infiltration policy. The Allied score sheet for the last 14 months reads:— „ .. . , Japanese aeroplanes.—Definitely destroyed, 1070; probably destroyed. 147; damaged. 396. Many others are claimed as merely shot out of actipn. Japanese ships.—Sunk, one aircraftcarrier, nine cruisers, 16 destroyers, 9 submarines, 8 tenders and other war vessels, 57 merchantmen, and 31 smaller craft; probably sunk, 3 cruisers, 6 destroyers, 4 submarines, 5 miscellaneous war vessels, 19 merchantmen; damaged, 2 aircraft-carriers, 22 cruisers, 18 destroyers, 1 submarine, 6 tenders, 164 merchantmen and 171 smaller craft. , _ . , Japanese personnel.—Thirty thousand troops killed in the Papuan campaign and the Bismarck Sea battle; 1500 pilots and members of air crews lost with their destroyed aircraft; and many hundreds of troops killed in smaller-scale land fighting and air atIn spite of these losses Japanese strength has steadily mounted. At the western end of their island chain Timor, which a year ago provided only three worth-while targets for Allied bombing, is now a full-time objective, honeycombed with cells of enemy activity- . ~ . _ At the same time as their Papuan defeat, the Japanese occupied Dutch New Guinea. The first Allied air attacks in this sector, made last February. were directed against four targets. To-day, 23 Japanese-occupied points in Dutch New Guinea are under attack. Wevvak and Madang When the Japanese occupied Wewak, in northern New Guinea, last December, it was a mission outpost. To-day it ranks only after Truk and Rabaul as the most formidable base in the entire southern Pacific. Four heavy Allied air attacks have been made against it in eight days—l 9 since the beginning of the year. East along the north New Guinea coast. Madang has in the last six months also been converted to a powerful base. Fifty Allied bombing attacks do not appear to have hampered its steady development. In spite of 133 raids in 14 months, Lae remains a vital epemy forward base with a strong garrison, and its airfield is still in service.

In the last year Rabaul has been raided on more than 100 occasions. Enormous losses have been inflicted on the Japanese there. Yet its importance remains undiminished. Ships and aircraft destroyed by bombing are quickly replaced. Round the New Britain coastline 20 enemy-occupied points are now receiving the weight of our offensive. One of these, Gasmata, is powerful enough to have warranted 100 raids in the last year.

Observers in this theatre say that to dispossess the Japanese will involve “a never-ending succession of Bunas.” The Japanese are seen as engaged in building up their defences for the start of the Pacific war proper, when huge Allied air and sea armadas will be flung against them. But even then bloody and prolonged fighting is regarded as inevitable. Meanwhile the increasing Allied air power is endeavouring to check the spread of the Japanese. In the last year south-west Pacific aircraft have carried out more than 3000 separate missions, over distances up to 2500 miles. Flying hours on attack missions and reconnaissance, flights are estimated to total 230 years. Our Ipnd forces, less publicised, are still active. But the fact that wherever the Japanese have been checked at one spot they have broken out at several others indicates the magnitude of the grim task ahead. IJ.S. FORCES IN PACIFIC GROWING STRENGTH STATEMENT BY ADMIRAL NIMITZ (N.Z, Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, June 7. “By the end of the year our aeroplanes and ships in the Pacific will represent a very formidable force,” said the Commander-in-Chief of the United States naval forces in the Pacific (Admiral Chester W. Nimitz), speaking at a luncheon at the University of California. “We in the Pacific are receiving our share of war material. Time is now working for us. We are turning out areoplanes and warships faster than the Japanese can. It is simple arithmetic—subtraction for them and addition for us.’’ Admiral Nimitz said he had come to America for a conference which he hoped would “carry trouble” to the Japanese. Lieutenant-General Robert Richardson, the newly-appointed commanding general in the Hawaiian department, said: “The Hawaiian Islands are now ready to take care of any enemy who is rash enough to attack." Lieutenant-General Richardson, who was speaking on the anniversary of the battle of Midway Island, predicted that Hawaii would eventually become the base for an offensive against Japan. “New moves against Japan’s outpost line in the southern Pacific are likely soon,’’ says Hanson Baldwin, military writer of the “New York Times.’’ He predicts that the Allies will make powerful efforts to consolidate their position in the Solomons and New Guinea. “A new Allied move up the Solomons ladder has been expected for a long time,” writes Mr Baldwin. “Our leaders in the Pacific hoped to take Rabaul and New Britain last summer. But while the United Nations have been building up their Pacific strength Japan has been increasing hers, and the job will not be easy.” Mr Baldwin says that the Japanese have about 200.000 troops in the defence arc between Dutch Timor and Munda. in the Solomons, but their strength is widely dispersed, and there are no powerful concentrations. “The conquest of Attu, which obviously took longer than was expected, is indicative of the hard Pacific fighting ahead,” concludes Mr Baldwin. “It is true that our troops on Attu were green and, like all green troops, showed deficiencies in leadership and training. Nevertheless, our casualties were high considering the probability that the 2000 Japanese holding Attu were outnumbered by perhaps as much as 10 to one. “Our troops in the southern Pacific are more experienced, but the jobs facing the United Nations in the Pacific will not be easy, no matter where the fighting takes place.”

Mr Eden Receives Mr Maisky.— The British Foreign Secretary (Mr R. A. Eden) yesterday received the Soviet Ambassador (Mr Maisky). The American Ambassador (Mr John G. Winant) later saw Mr Eden.—Rugby, June 7.