BIG EVENTS LIKELY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 3, 3 July 1943, Page 5

BIG EVENTS LIKELY

JAP NAVY MAY COM^ OUT

Washington, July 1. ■ The present operations in the Pacific are preliminary to even bigger actions. Tokio cannot avoid much longer another open test of sea power if it hopes to stem the co-ordinated American drive, says the Associated Press correspondent. The best Washington opinion is that the Japanese are so fully committed to maintenance of their defences in the South Pacific that they must be Willing to risk a large part of their (already battered fleet, hundreds of planes, and many thousands of men. The "New York Times" correspondent here confirms the general impression that Bougainville Island —an important stepping»stone to Rabaul—is likely to be the next Allied objective in the Solomons. He adds: "It is asfeumed that Rabaul will later be the target of a combined army and navy action under General MacArthiir, whose planes have been pounding this ke_y, base." The Secretary of War, Mr. H. L. Stimson, at a Press conference, said that the Allied drive was making saitsfaGtory progress. Strong Japanese resistance waa expected. He disclosed that the offensive was blanned ih Washington during the conferences with Generals Harmon, Kettny, and Sutherland several weeks ago.