NOTES ON THE WAR NEWS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 133, 8 June 1942, Page 4

NOTES ON THE WAR NEWS

SHOCK FOR JAPAN

THE LIBYAN STRUGGLE

Step by step, Japan's naval strength, of which ,a-large part is air.power, is being cut down, and today's news records a'very heavy .stroke by the United States navy in the neighbourhood" of Midway Island, north-west of Hawaii. This battle, which is the subject of editorial comment, seems to have cost little loss to the American forces, and is one of the most encouraging events since the war in the Pacific began. The Japanese naval strategy continues curiously to omit the use of j the heavier units of the" fleet, and to rely upon long-range adventures, such las the attempt on Sydney harbour by I midget submarines and the submarine operations in the western Tasman. Their submarines have not on the whole been very successful, and seem to have overlooked the possibilities of i the Indian supply routes. The biggest convoy ever sent from Britain arrived safely in Indian ports recently, and according to the cabled report published on Saturday, "not a single in- [ cident disturbed the long voyage." That convoy should have made submarine officers' mouths water—if they had known about it. R. is quite possible that the British occupation of Diego Suarez, in. Madagascar, was a valuable contribution to its safety. Tanks in the Desert. Second in interest to the naval battle off Midway Island is the great struggle in Libya, where the conflict between the armoured forces is more protracted than previous experience had suggested it would be. Warfare allows no consideration for physical comfort The fierce winter in Russia was punctuated with fighting; as long as men could move and pull a trigger, the war went on. In complete contrast to this is the war in the desert, where heat and thirst impose a greater strain on the troops than the perils of the conflict. It is a colossal test of endurance for the men. Nobody has jfet been able to reduce a tank battle to a word picture that conveys any other idea than one of intense confusion in the fighting area, backed by an equally intense effort to maintain organisation outside it to enable the machines to carry on. Once in the battle the tank is an independent unit —a consequence of the relatively short range at which it can be most effectively vised and of its protective armour. It must get close to strike hard and certainly, and its armour fortifies the resolution of the crew to get close. The force which gains ground gains more than a few acres or miles of sandy waste, for it lis over-running its own crippled machines and those of the enemy; and these can. if not too badly damaged, oe got back for repair. It is clear, that the fury of the battle is no more intense than the at the repair and supply bases, to which exhausted men and machines are rushed back to be made fit for a fresh start. And there is over the whole scene of battle a thick fog of smoke and dust which hides details from observation, and makes it particularly difficult for the progress of the battle to*be estimated from hour to hour. t Before the Storm. Activity in Russia is on a comparatively small scale at present. The German "spring offensive" is still to come, and the relative quiet is no evidence that the enemy will spare any effort." It can be accepted as a fact that the Germans are still building up forces and supplies for a tremendous effort, to be launched when all is ready, including the condition of the country over which they must move. Against that, the Russians are preparing with equal vigour.

Timoshenko's offensive on the southern front is now in clear perspective, not as an effort to begin an all-out offensive, but as a successful attempt to damage the German organisation for a drive in the most important sector of the front. ■