ASSAULT IN SOLOMONS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 41, 17 August 1942, Page 3

ASSAULT IN SOLOMONS

NEARING A CRISIS?

CONFLICTING NEWS OF NAVAL CLASH

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.) (Special Australian Correspondent.) (Rec. 2.30 p.m.) - SYDNEY, August 17. After ten days of furious fight- . ing: some observers believe the Battle for the Solomons is nearing a crisis. However^ in the absence of official news the reports are conflicting. While it has been reported from certain quarters that the Allied and enemy fleets have been engaged, other reports now state that the great battle between the opposing naval forces is still to come, and that so far the major opposition to the Allied drive has been by.enemy ajr attack and that the Japanese warships have been, prevented from interfering with the* landings by! U.S. troops. JAPS ADMIT LANDING. The Japanese now admit ■ that U.S. marines landed 'in' the Solomons. Previously Tokio maintained that the battle had ended on the first day with the complete defeat of the Allied fleet. The admission of the landings is believed.in Washington to mean that the Japanese have abandoned hope of driving the invaders into the sea. It is thought that the Japanese public are being prepared for some bad news. .. The Aliied,lines of communication now appear to be strongly established, and as more troopships arrive in the area there is evidence that the attacks are broadening. ;.'■:' Prominence is given here to a report from New Zealand that U.S. mar-ines-are using. water and land tractors known as "Alligators/ 5 It is considered r here ;that'there is every evidence that .the United. States hopes to force Japan into a complete naval showdown but it is not> yet clear whether such a battle has yet been joined. t The United States-Navy Department issued no, communique, on Sunday, but Washington naval quarters said the assault on. the Japanese positions "was proceeding satisfactorily." Apart from the naval units moved southwards from Truk it is thought that the Japanese may bring assistance from further bases, to- throw into the battle, which continues to go in the Allied favour. • EXAGGERATED CLAIMS. "The operations are by no means overi but: if half the Japanese claims of smashing victories against Allied warships were correct, the Japanese fleet would- be back in Tulagi by now," . says an English commentator, reviewing the progress of the opera- ■ tiOnS;: .':.■■ ■:•■-. '■ • '■■■ ■ ' . '- ■" •" At. General Mac Arthur's headquar-. ters there is an inclination not to talk about the^battle which is being fought outside the' South-west Pacific' area. / "The, unofficial .feeling is that we 1 have made gains at a cost which :is still to,be announced, but that we will need to follow through our initial success if we are to justify the Solomons action and the losses it has entailed," says the correspondent of the "New York World-Telegram." "If we win the Battle for the Solomons it will postpone and even prevent invasion of Australia. The fact that the Japanese are throwing in such large reinfqrqements instead of retreating towards their shorter South Pacific defence line is the - best proof' of the value of! the network of bases in the Tijlagi area." Pf NOT DECISIVE SPHERE. •': Mr". Hanson Baldwin, military writer of the "New" York Times," says that an Allied victory in the Solomons could not. in any sense be decisive. A great strategical - offensive based on . New Zealand and Australia and its contiguous islands, and directed against Japan, might require years-to complete. Mr. Byron Darnton, the "New York Times" correspondent in says that the Solomons attack is the first r.eal trial of the island-hopping method of fighting by the Allies in the Pacific. It should provide an answer to the question whether that method is the right" one1. . . . Admitting United States landings in the 'Solomons, the Tokio■ paper "Asahi Shjmbun" is reported to say that the attacks are part of a big American four-pronged offensive against Japan from, the Aleutians, from Australia, from China, and from aircraft-car-riers. The paper adds that an attack from China is the only feasible one at .present.';,; ...-'■■.■ ,'; "■ v. ,'