FIGHTING ON TRUK

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 123, 19 February 1944, Page 7

FIGHTING ON TRUK

Announced By Japanese Imperial H.Q. USE OF MOTORIZED FORCES

(By Telegraph.—Press Assn. —Copyright.) "" '»• •—> Pacific, there is no further news from Allied sources. Ampr :, ans Japanese Imperial Headquarters, however, reports that the Amenrans are launching repeated attacks with air and strong motorized forces report states that Japanese military and naval forces are engaging the bU ‘ wX"° n W« y ty a pow.rfu! Paefc Flee., supported by several hundred carrier-borne, air craft. Truk is Japan s Pearl Harbour.

A message from Washington reports that the Deputy-Chief of Naval Air Operations, Vice-Admiral McCain, in a broadcast, said: “The fact that the planes which were attacking Truk came from aircralt-earriers. necessitates maintaining a radio silence till the battle is over. Therefore, I am prevented from giving any further details tonight, but I feel sure that when the details are given out you will count today memorable in our history. The assault means that for a cliange we are carrying on the war with enough instead of too little and too late, and also means that we now have suitable bases from which to mount these strikes ever closer to the enemy’s heart. Before broadcasting, Admiral McCain told reporters that the Japanese would delay the naval showdown as long as they could, but finally would have to fight. “They have been licked in every department,” he said. “Why should they fight us? They have been licked at night, licked by lesser vessels, and licked alt over the ocean. The Japanese navy rever wanted to fight us, except Admiral Yamamoto, and he is dead.” , , . “Truk is under assault by powerful units of the Pacific Fleet in the most daring operation of the Pacific war, says the “New York Tinies Pearl Harbour correspondent. “The blasting of Truk comes months in advance’of the schedules foreseen last year by the most optimistic war planners. Neutralizing the great stronghold may shorten the Pacific war. “The attack is all the’more astonishing when it is recalled that less than three months ago we were engaged in hand-to-hand combat with a confident Japanese in the Gilbert Islands. There is every indication that the American juggernaut ha® gained such speed in recent weeks that the enemy is dizzy and rocking on his heels.” ■ New York Comment. Commenting on the Triik attack, the New York “Herald Tribune expresses the opinion that it is unlikely anythin.,, more has been attempted than a strike bv carrier-borne aviation, because oui advance can scarcely have been so rapid as to enable us to bring a full-scale landing force to bear upon so difficult an objective. The fact that such an operation is now possible speaks volumes for the massive carrier fleet which America has finally built up. It i? power to which the Japanese have found nothing to oppose. “Truk may not be the beginning of the end, but, as. Mr. Churchill said of North Africa, it is the end of 'the beginning,” says the paper. A “New York Times” editorial says the speed with which we have carried the offensive forward from the Alarshalls to Truk immediately is encouraging, and the assurance with which the Navy now feels free to operate in these once impregnable Japanese waters is evidenced by the fact that the news of the attack was announced within 36 hours of the beginning ot the engagement and probably while it was still in progress.. . Unless the .Tapane.se risk a general fleet action in waters dominated by our land planes they must apparently give up what they still hold south of Truk.