VEILED IN SILENCE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 31, 6 February 1943, Page 5

VEILED IN SILENCE

OFFICIAL QUARTERS

(By Telegraph—Press A-ssociation— Copyright.) NEW YORK, February 4. Navy Department high officials have readily conceded that any of the sharp encounters now proceeding throughout the Solomons area may become the focus of a battle whose impact on the Pacific war could be tremendous. The Navy Department is apparently in possession of the full facts, but is maintaining an unbreakable reticence, refusing to give Tokio details of losses or victories or indications as to future moves. _ _, _. t_-. Officers point out that while a battle is constantly looming, it might fizzle out through the Japanese withdrawing. It is not denied that some surface and air clashes have been violent. Japanese persistence is clearly recognised, and even if the present actions close without a decisive battle, it is felt that the enemy will continue an unceasing drive to recapture the Solomons and partially erase the loss of face suffered in the great sea battle in November. Admiral Yates Stirling, naval analyst for the United Press, thinks the American public should prepare for possible bad news. "The fact that the navy is withholding all information of Solomons engagements is ominous," he says. "The only news which could be of great value to the Japanese would be news of American losses. We are outnumbered in the present battle area, particularly in air-craft-carriers. If the Japanese choose to risk them they possess a clear preponderance of capital ships. If the navy follows precedent the results will not be announced till the Japanese have left the' area. Losses are not stated till they are replaced."