MR. CURTIN'S APPEAL

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 2, 4 January 1943, Page 5

MR. CURTIN'S APPEAL

AMERICAN REACTION

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.) (Special Australian Correspondent.) SYDNEY, January 3. Warnings given by the Prime Minister, Mr. J. Curtin, of the • dangers of delaying an accelerated offensive against Japan are finding support from many quarters" in the United States and hayje also provoked wide discussion on the best way to defeat Japan. Overseas war correspondents in this theatre have -reinforced Mr. Curtin's views, emphasising the mounting

problems which may confront the United Nations if the Japanese are given time to entrench themselves strongly in outpost positions. It is reported from Washington that Mr. Curtin has also made official representations for the strengthening of the Allied forces in. the Pacific. "STEP-CHILD WAR." 4 Describing the Pacific war as the "step-child of the United Nations," the "New York Post" assesses Mr. Curtin's statement as an appeal to the American^ people over the heads of their military leaders to get more war ma!terial x to the South-west Pacific. | "Some day the real importance of the Pacific war is going to be appreciated in Washington," declares the 1 American broadcasting commentator, W. Henry, who recently toured the South-west Pacific war zone. "Let us hope that day will not be too long put off. I can testify personally to the force of Mr. Curtin's views. This is a feeling ..shared by everyone who goes to the Pacific zone." Mr. Curtin's virtual plea for limited I assistance enabling the tipping in the Allied.favour of the "delicately poised" situation in this theatre, has embarked many commentators on a discussion of strategies for the defeat of Japan. "Up to now we have only nibbled at the fringes of the new Japanese empire," declares the "New York Daily News." "Even after months of trying we have not pushed the Japanese off Guadalcanal and Papua. "Victory over Japan appears impossible until we can either blockade Japan into starvation or smash the main enemy fleet at sea and mount an offensive against Japan from Hawaii, plus an air offensive from Siberia or China." v NEW ROUTE NEEDED. The widely syndicated American columnist Gilbert Cant, writes: "It is clear that to go from Australia is not the way to Tolcio. China must be reinforced, specially in the air, if we are to beat Japan in measurable time." "Delay in China and the Pacific is regarded as less an invitation to disaster than delay in Europe and North Africa";" says the "New York Herald Tribune," quoting a report just issued by President Roosevelt's Board of Economic Warfare, which reads: "Unlike Germany and Japan, we have not reached peak production. "Japan has neither the shipping nor the capacity to use fully her raw materials and conquered manpower in south-east Asia. Increased attacks on Japanese merchant shipping by air and sea must be made, so that we can weaken Japan's chance in 1943 to make full use of her looted raw materials." Admiral Halsey's prophecy of complete victory for the Allies in 1943 is regarded among war commentators in Australia as significant rather of the tremendous rise in Allied fortunes than as placing a strict time limit ion the war. The widely held view here is epitomised by the "Chicago Sun" correspondent, Edward Angly, t who wrote in his latest dispatch: "People have to make up their minds that the Pacific war will be long, costly, and bloody. It is only a 'few weeks ago that we began, to stop losing to the vJapanese."