RESULT OF VICTORY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 55, 6 March 1943, Page 5

RESULT OF VICTORY

MAJOR DECISIONS MUST BE MADE

(By Telegraph—Pres3 Association—Copyright.) (Special Australian Correspondent.) (Rec. 12.45 p.m.) SYDNEY, Mar. 6. Pictures of the Battle of the Bismarck Sea which were flown from New Guinea while the battle was still in progress show that the ships' derricks and landing gear had already been assembled in readiness for disembarkation. Experts are making a close examination of other air photographs to determine whether the largesized warships accompanying the convoy were cruisers or heavy destroyers.

The strength of the convoy was originally given as including three cruisers, but la<er reports mentioned only large destroyers. Some of Japan's large destroyers are so designed as to appear like light cruisers. Expressing the belief that the Pacific war is at a stage when momentous strategical decisions will have to be made, the "Sydney Morning Herald's" military correspondent today says: "The Battle of the Bismarck Sea throws into bold relief the part which air power must play in the war against Japan." He links the recent statements of Generals Mac Arthur.and Chennault advocating heavier use of Allied air strength as foreshadowing co-ordin-ated blows against the Japanese from Pacific and Chinese bases.

General Mac Arthur, in his communique, says: "The Japanese campaign, for'the time being at least, is completely dislocated." Australian observers in the United States point out that the victory will confirm and strengthen the official strategy of prosecuting the war in the Pacific on a defensive-offensive or holding basis and to concentrate major

attention on the European theatre. This is regarded as inevitable since the Bismarck Sea action seems largely to clinch the ability of the Allies in the Pacific to prevent the Japanese from expanding. American military analysts believe that enemy mistakes contributed in no small part to the crushing defeat, and consider that either ignorance or desperation on the part of the Japanese commanders caused the abandonment of first principles. "DEFENSIVE VICTORY." f More than any other battle, that "of the Bismarck Sea is reported to have captured the American imagination and to have convinced the United States of the supremacy of the Allied forces over those of Japan. But sober commentators stress that this was "a defensive victory," and that defence cannot win the war against Japan. The destruction of the 22 vessels brings the unofficial total of Japanese ships sunk since Pearl Harbour to 510.