START OF OFFENSIVE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 125, 23 November 1943, Page 5

START OF OFFENSIVE

STIFF FIGHT ON TARAWA

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.)

NEW YORK, November 21. Messages from Honolulu report that marines and army troops, covered by forces of all types, established beachheads against moderate resistance on Makin Island, and against strong resistance on Tarawa Island, while Liberator bombers made diversionary attacks on the Marshall Islands.

The Pearl Harbour correspondent of the Associated Press says that the landings constitute the first major United States offensive blow' since the war started in the Central Pacific. He adds: "Landings on such atolls are win, die, or retreat operations. The fact that the Japanese on Tarawa have been able to hold out in strength for over 24 hours indicates that very bitter fighting is in progress, while the statement, that the Americans met with only moderate opposition on Makin, indicates that they may soon be in complete control." Powerful units of the Pacific Fleet covered both landings, and fighting is continuing. The move is regarded as the first blow in the long-awaited Central Pacific offensive, which is seen by some commentators as one arm of a three-pronged drive against the Japanese. The second prong is being thrust from General Mac Arthur's South-west Pacific area, while the third is anticipated to be thrust from Lord Mountbatten's South-east Asia Command. TERRIFIC BOMBARDMENT. American marines went ashore in; landing barges at dawn on Saturday after the enemy positions had been shelled by American warships and heavily bombed by land-based Liberators as well as by carrier-borne aircraft. Both the atolls were subjected to a terrific night-long hammering before the invasion., Liberator bombers also carried out neutralising raids on the nearby Marshall group while the actual landings were in progress. The American land forces are under the command .of Lieu tenant-General Robert Richardson, while the whole operation is under the direction of Admiral Nimitz.

A correspondent of the United Press says that one of the greatest Ameri-

can armadas that has ever been assembled is cruising in the Central Pacific, and if the Japanese send out thenfleet to resist the American move a major naval battle may develop. The military editor of the "New York Times," Mr. Hanson Baldwin, does not think, howeevr, that the loss of either the Gilberts or Marshalls would entice the Japanese fleet into action. He believes the Allies will have to get much nearer to the Japanese homeland before the enemy would risk such a dangerous throw. Mr. Baldwin says that the offensive against the Gilberts and Marshalls has obvious advantages. The communication lines from the American west coast and Hawaii are far shorter than to the- South-west Pacific. There are no malarial jungles, and the islands are so small that they can be taken in brief time. Truk, vital Japanees base to the west, would be endangered if the Allied drive "captured the Marshalls. ' USED AS PLANE BASES. j Makin Island, where the enemy re- j sistance is only moderate, is the most northerly of the Gilberts. Both Makin and Tarawa lie north-east of the Solo-, mons and are 1600 miles from Rabaul. Makin is the site of a seaplane base and radio station, while Tarawa; to the south, has a large air base. * The loss of Tarawa by the Japanese would almost inevitably lead to the loss of the whole Gilbert group, and would expose the southern flank of the Marshall Islands, wnere the enemy has an important base at Jaluit. Makin was the scene of the first American commando landing of the Pacific war when Major James Roosevelt helped to lead an attack on the island by Lieutenant-Colonel Carlson's Second Marine Corps Raider Battalion, which put its defences out of action for many months. ' The Gilbert Islands were seized by the Japanese soon after Pearl Harbour, and they have been several times attacked by task forces of the United States-Navy. , A It has not been disclosed from what base the Allied invasion force was dispatched, but the Ellice Islands, which American marines occupied on September 4, are only 700 miles south-east of Tarawa.

-The landings followed a week of bombings by Liberators and carrierbased planes against the • Japanese strongpoints in the Gilberts and Marshalls and on Nauru.