QUICK FALL OF MUNDA

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 11, 13 July 1943, Page 5

QUICK FALL OF MUNDA

DOUBTED BY AUSTRALIANS

(Special P.A. Correspondent.) Rec. 12.40 p.m. SYDNEY, July 13. A deterioration in the quality of the Japanese pilots fighting in the central Solomons is reported by Allied flyers in the area. Japanese army airmen are now appearing where only navy pilots previously had been employed. However, the enemy machines include some of the latest types, among them the new model Zero fighters.

A dispatch from an American war correspondent in the Solomons suggests that the Japanese air base at Munda may capitulate within a week, but this view has not been supported by Australian correspondents. Estimates of the strength of the Japanese ground forces in New Georgia vary between 5000 and 10,000. & The defending troops are scattered in small groups and are. difficult to contact.

"Enemy patrols, survey parties, and emplacements were scattered at all points of the compass around us, making it a difficult task to rout them out and prevent them from withdrawing into the bush," wrote one correspondent accompanying a force of attacking American marines. "Other obstacles are provided by a myriad of small islands, uncharted reefs, and thousands of inlets where enemy barges may'hide all day, moving only at night. The enemy spent considerable time surveying such waterways before the war. While it is expected that New Georgia will be cleaned up; far quicker than Guadalcanal, it is always possible the Japanese will attempt heavy reinforcement, eventually withdrawing.into the bush. This will necessitate long mopping-up operations." RELIEF PREVENTED. So far, it appears, the Japanese efforts to bring any large*scale reinforcements into New Georgia have been repulsed, though small numbers may have leaked through. "The appearance of Japanese cruiser and de-, stroyer forces in New Georgia waters indicates that the enemy is prepared to renew the tactics which in the first Solomons campaign cost them 46 ships sunk, as well as thousands of lives— and didn't save Guadalcanal," says an Australian war correspondent in the area. "These tactics lead to savage naval night engagements, reverting to the days of Trafalgar, when ships stood close in and fired at almost pointblank range. This kind of naval warfars is like two blindfolded men alone in a darkened room, each armed with a knife. It is risky for both, and the chances are the first blow will decide the victor. And the Japanese naval gunnery [despite the results of the Battle of Kula Gulf] is good, even if the Japanese artillery is bad.

"Every time we fight an action of this kind we risk our ships. The United States navy, however, has long felt it has the edge on To jo's fleet, and every action fought increases that confidence."