MOVE FORESHADOWED

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

MOVE FORESHADOWED

PRELIMINARY BOMBING

(Special P.A. Correspondent.) SYDNEY, November 22. The American occupation of the islands of Makin and Tarawa, announced by Admiral C. W. Nimitz today, had been anticipated by military commentators in Australia. Signs of this newest offensive move against c the Japanese were seen in the past fortnight's heavy and persistent air attacks on enemy strongpoints both in the Gilbert and Marshall groups. The Americans for some time have been building up forces for a forward move in the Central Pacific, and Admiral Nimitz's recent statement promising to "blast the Japanese from their island strongholds in a most direct manner" Was widely accepted as implying that direct assaults upon and occupation of strongpoints in the Gilbert group and possibly the Marshall Islands were intended. Reviewing the latest operations in the Central Pacific, together with General Mac Arthur's offensive actions in the New Britain and Bougainville area, the "Sydney Morning Herald" in an editorial today points out that all these Japanese outposts assist to screen the enemy's great base of Truk, in the Carolines. ; Japan must therefore fight hard in defence of her outer shield, since the penalty of failure would be a dangerous American advance towards this centre of her power. CONFLICTING OPINIONS. "The present manifestations of American aggressiveness," adds the. paper, "are hard to reconcile with the complaints that an insufficient proportion of the United States war output is being allocated to the Pacific. It matters less that any specific Pacific command area should be supplied according to its desires than that the greatest available Allied strength should be directed against the Japanese at the points selected by sound over-all strategy." , ' ■ The "Sydney Daily Telegraph" today also comments in an editorial on the war in the Pacific, with particular reference to the present fighting in New Guinea. Emphasising that the I Japanese in New Guinea are still [strong, well-equipped, and tenacious, the paper says that conflicting reports

have given a muddled picture of the current Satelberg campaign.

Statements a month ago. that the Japanese forces at Satelberg were "weak in numbers and of little significance" are now being followed by reports of bitter and difficult fighting. "Light-hearted confidence does the morale of our troops no good," says the paper, "nor does the silly .writingdown of the Japanese help us in America The Americans naturally decide that General Mac Arthur is doing well enough with the equipment he has, and that there* is no urgent need to spend'more men and arms. "Any attempt to obscure the truth about the Japanese strength in this area does General Mac Arthur and his fighting men a grave disservice."