DEFEATING JAPAN
DUTCH LEADER'S FORECAST
LONDON, July 9,
The Commander-in-Chief of the Dutch fighting forces in the Far East, Vice-Admiral Helfrich, does not believe that the Japanese will give in until Japan itself is bombed into surrender.
Speaking at Cairo, he said he was of the opinion that the Pacific war would be a long, hard fight. The Japanese did not yield; they had to be wiped out; they fought to the end, until they were killed. When Attu Island was captured the total number of enemy prisoners taken was only four. Because the Japanese did not give in, they would have to be thrown off each island in turn.
He emphasised that the Japanese were well dug in on the islands they had captured, but said he did not think they had the oil wells and refineries going again; they had been smashed by the Dutch before the invaders came. He stressed the importance of attacking the enemy's sea lines, and particularly the main base of the Japanese in the South-west Pacific, Rabaul, in New Britain.
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Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 9, 10 July 1943, Page 5
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177DEFEATING JAPAN Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 9, 10 July 1943, Page 5
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