NOTES ON THE WAR NEWS

Evening Post, Volume C, Issue 40, 17 February 1942, Page 4

NOTES ON THE WAR NEWS

ABDA AND ANZAC

PACIFIC COMMANDS

The use of the teftii "ABCD Powers" to indicate America, Brit- - am, China, and the dutch, in their joint iritei'est ih the Pa6iftc war is well known. Since the plan for unified command in this conflict was drawn up, the contraction "ABDA" has become equally familiar, but its meaning, except that it stands for America, Britain, Dutch, and Australia, perhaps has not. . -j It arises from the' fact that the "unified coriiriiarid" is in f kct subdivided into divisions, separately cori*trolled though under single strategical direction. .The necessity for this iS obvious when the enormous, extent of the Pacific war area and its neighbourhood is remembered. The whole is divided into four parts* two of which are the concern of composite forces— 1 ABDA arid ANZAO. The Four Areas. Frorii west to east, there is first the Indian Ocean, where the commander i is Vice-Admiral Sir Geoffrey Layton. He has an "independent command operating directly on orders from the British Admiralty," but "his force will co-operate with Admiral Heifrich." Next is the ABDA area (which will probably soon be called Abda. This is vice-Admiral Helfrich's command. It includes the East Indies and the seas about them, as far south as Australia and eastward to New Guinea. The four nations, America, Britain, the Netherlands Indies, and Australia, share the responsibility here. Eastward of this is the" Anzac area, covering the approaches to Australia and New Zealand. This is the joint responsibility of Australia, New Zealand, and the United States, arid .is under the command of Vice-Admiral H. F. Leary, U.S. navy, who recently passed through Wellington to take up his duties. The fourth division is America's, and is commanded by Admiral Nimitz, whose headquarters are at Hawaii. No Exact Outlines. Set out thus, the divisions are very vaguely outlined. They may or may not in fact be somewhat laid out with neatly drawn lines on a map. It is better' tb regard them as elastic and overlapping. One can hardly imagine a Japanese squadron being chased out of Abda into Anzac, say, and a formal notice "Passed to you" being signalled by C.-iri-C. Abda to C.-iri-C. Anzac, though stranger thirigs have happened. There is a fifth area which has no contracted riame^-the Chinese. This is entirely in the hands of General Chiang Kai-shek, who, while retaining complete freedom of action has undertaken to give the fullest co-operation with General Wavell, who is the supreme commander in the southwestern Pacific—a term which includes the ABDA area arid extends into the Anzac area, but does not include Australia. Interesting Expetito-nt. s The ABDA command is a particularly interesting one, by reason of the wide diversity of interests concerned, the disparity between the forces available or in prospect, and the psychological problems that are bound to arise. In the first place, the command in this area was given to Admiral Hart of the United States navy. This appeared to be quite correct, for the American naval contribution seemed certain to be, sooner or later, the dominant element in the ABDA forces. But Admiral Hart very soon resigned, on the ground of health, but has not retired. Weight of fighting power1 as the deteririiriing factor immediately went overboard and the new cbmmandef-in-chief is Vice-Ad-rriifal Heifrich, head of the Netherlands East Indies navy, a mari who has never handled a battle fleet, but who knows the seas about the Indies like the palm of his hand. Here the choice has fallen on the nation which has the most at stake. The British and Australian naval forces are under the commarid of Commodore J. A. Collins, formerly captain of H.M.A.S. Sydney, and the American forces are commanded by Rear-Admiral. W. A. Glassford. ■' According to the cabled announcement, neither of these two officers has a sea-going post. This combined command, placed in the hands of a representative of what frankly is a very minor navy, is one of the most interesting experiments of the war.