AMERICAN VIEWS ON JAP THREAT

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 111, 4 February 1943, Page 5

AMERICAN VIEWS ON JAP THREAT

(By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Special Australian Correspondent.) SYDNEY, February 3.

While there is no official Washington statement on the Tokio claim to have sunk five Allied' warships—two battleships and three cruisers—in the southern Solomons, the “New York Times” believes that such an attack did take place. The paper offers no comment on thet Japanese claims, but says that, the Tokio report of the battle should be read in the light of the urgent, appeals for aid made by the Australian Prime Minister, Mr. Curtin. It expresses the belief that Darwin has become an immediate objective for the enemy forces massing in Timor and adjacent jumping-off places. Australian newspaper correspondents in the United States say that the number of anti-climaxes in the Pacific war has produced, among many Americans, a feeling that Australia is continually crying “wolf.” Nevertheless, each Australian warning has been followed by a major engagement, in which the Allied forces, generally inferior to those of the enemy, have been able to secure victories. The "New York Journal-Ameriean declares that the southern Pacific is a major battle zone and should not be maintained as a mere proving ground tor token elements of the American land, sea and air forces. The paper praises General MacArthur as a superb strategist and says: "He is thoroughly capable of winning the war in the Pacific. He should have the opportunity to win it, and specially he should have the means to win it. ’