NOTES ON THE WAR NEWS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 134, 9 June 1942, Page 4

NOTES ON THE WAR NEWS

THE NAVAL BATTLE

REPORTS STILL VAGUE

The battle between American and Japanese naval and air forces in the Midway Island area remains the most interesting news today. The fierce struggle in Libya presents no new features. In Russia. Sebastopol is being subjected to a savage attack, the revival of the trial to which the fortress has been subjected for months. Recent naval operations in the Pacific—the Coral Sea and Midway Island battles in particular—have been remarkable for the vagueness of the reports, which have left the result of the fight in doubt and the relative losses tantalisingly uncertain. This is in striking contrast to the naval battles of the war of 1914-18, when the phy« sical results of sea actions were reported with great promptitude. The reasons for this difference are complex. Lack of exact knowledge in naval headquarters, and the desire to keep useful information from the enemy have both been quoted. It is natural that each side will try to conceal its own losses from the enemy, for. as an old saying has it, "What I know and he doesn't is my opportunity," but the need for concealment does not affect reports of the enemy's losses, and the heavier these are the greater the advantage of announcing them. The moral effect on both sides is valuable. Hide and Seek. The reports on the Midway battle, however, show clearly that the American naval authorities have not, ascertained the Japanese losses exact- i ly, and point to the special and re* Imarkable conditions which affect j naval warfare in the Pacific, with its extension from the water into the air With so much sea available to run away in, the Japanese on breaking off action and withdrawing in the darkness became lost to the Americans Once beyond the limited range of reconnaissance aircraft, search for the enemy becomes impracticable. The situation after Midway is thus very like that following the Coral Sea fight. The enemy has disappeared. It may be possible to locate him before he reaches a safety zone, covered by land-based air forces; if not, the prospect of encountering him again in battle depends upon shrewd appraisement of his own estimate of the best line of action. It was such an appraisement that led to the battle of Midway Island and the engagement at Dutch Harbour. , Mainly an Air Battle. The battle appears now to have been mainly fought between ships and aircraft, rather than between ships and ships; there is in fact no indication that warships were in action with one another. This condition is no doubt largely responsible for the indefinite estimate of the enemy losses. The fact that the Americans lost only one destroyer and had an aircraft-carrier hit indicated that the Americans seized and maintained control of the air, and so made the Japanese position untenable before any fleet action became possible. The result of the battle is that Japan has suffered a very serious loss of naval strength which, added to its previous losses, has greatly reduced the danger in the Pacific to the United Nations.