NOTES ON THE WAR NEWS.

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 108, 3 November 1942, Page 4

NOTES ON THE WAR NEWS.

SOLOMONS BATTLES

WEARING DOWN THE ENEMY

The news from the Solomons ' shows a great improvement, all the more gratifying after the gloomy impression of impending trouble caused by recent discussions. It is clear that the Japanese made a fresh attempt, on a big scale, to increase their attack on Guadalcanal, and that in the battle that developed far out at sea the Japanese took a heavy beating. The enemy escort included battleships, which were among the ships damaged in the action. A feature of these sea and air engagements, which are utterly unlike anything in previous naval history, is the indefiniteness of the reports available a? to losses. In a straight fight between warships there is usually full identification of the enemy vessels and reasonable certainty as to what hashappened to them; but in such battles as are now being fought identification may be difficult or impossible, and aircraft cannot hang about for hours to see if a damaged ship is done for. Naval Balance-sheet. Consequently the figures of comparative losses in the Pacific are of no great value, especially as they are admittedly incomplete and moreover ate confused by the subdivision of the command. The figures do show, however, that the balance-sheet is very far out of balance, and that the naval inferiority which has been attributed to the United States in this region has been more than offset by the power and skill of the air forces, and the relative deterioration in the efficiency of the Japanese air arm. Hopeful Position. A cautious attitude towards the outcome of the Solomons campaign is still observed by commentators, but there is room for an optimistic view. Such actions as the big battle, supplemented by odd ships and groups of ships sunk or damaged by torpedoes and bombs, are^ rapidly cutting into Japan's maritime strength. The reports give strong evidence of the importance of the airfield on Guadalcanal, for the American aircraft based there had a big share in the defeat of the Japanese armada, and»infiicted remarkably heavy losses c^ the Japanese aircraft—loo shot down, plus 50 "probables." The Alaska Highway. Throughout most of the year a "little war" has been in progress in the unhospitable region of the Aleutian Islands, which stand like stepping stones between Alaska and Kamchatka. In spite of appearances on the map, the shortest line from the United States to Japan passes through the Aleutians. That does not make the line a practicable route, and the strategic problem has to be solved in another direction. This war is no respecter of geography or climate, and even glaciated Alaska has prospects of being fully in it. It is in fact only through Alaska that Americans can reach within striking distance of Asia by land. To facilitate this, and form a great northern highway to Russia, a strategic road of great importance has just been completed from British Columbia to the heart of Alaska. Running from Fort St. John, in the Peace River region of British Columbia, through Fort Nelson and Whitehorse to the Alaskan boundary, and thence to Fairbank?, in mid-Alaska, the 1671-mile road has been made ready for traffic by the United, States Army Corps of Engineers in less than eight months. The route has been described as carefully chosen to meet military needs. Its inland course seems as little vulnerable to attack as any route can be in these dnys of three-dimensional warfare and is less liable to be blocked by snow than a road nearer the British Columbia coast would have been. It traverses less difficult oasses through the Rockies, and links the chain of airDOrts constructed by the' Canadian Government in their nlmnst roadless northern territories with the American aerodromes in Alaska. The", road is to be maintained by the Americans during the war; later, it will become a scenic and commercial route of great imDortanne in the Canadian highway system.

The officer in charge of the project is Bripsdier-General William Morris Hoee, United States Engineers, who built the main road on Batan and won the Distinguished" Service Cro^ for driving a bridse Perots the Meuse under fire durins? the Great War. Between early spring and autumn his men have wrenched and hacked a Highway across an almost uncharted wilderness of river, forest, mountain, and boe; in one of the bissjest and toughest jobs American army engineers have undertaken since tbev built the Panama Canal. About 12 000 men were ensaeed on thp work, which was completed a fortnight ahead of schedule.