NOTES ON THE WAR

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 12, 14 July 1945, Page 6

NOTES ON THE WAR

FROM-THE WEST

ASSAULT ON JAPAN'S BASTIONS

The attack, reported today, by British and Indian naval and. air forces of the Sor»h-east Asia Command on the Nicobar arid Andaman Islands and' on Savang at the northern tip of Sumatra, continued over five days, may be taken as constituting a preliminary to an organised assault of Japan's most westerly bastions covering the approaches to the Dutch East Indies, Malaya, and the China Sea. . The Andaman Islands are the most northerly of a virtual chain of "stepping stones" in the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal, connecting the large island of Sumatra, for military purposes, with the south-westerly corner of Lower Burma, which consists .mainly of the delta of the Irrawaddy. The distance between the North Andaman and the nearest point of the mainland of Burma, Cape Negrais, is 120 miles. Five large islands grouped together in a north-south direction are called the Great Andaman, and some forty miles to the south of this group lies the Little Andaman. The total, area of the whole group is 2508 square miles, its length is 219 miles, and its greatest breadth 32 miles. The group is .therefore much larger than Okinawa and might be a tough nut to crack, if defended with similar obstinacy. This, however, is hardly likely, as the Andamans are already isolated to the north by the ..British in Burma. The Andamans were used before the Japanese occupation early in 1942 as a penal settlement of the Government of India, of which they are a possession, for life and ldng-term convicts. The total population in 1940 was 21,028 (14,924 males and 6104 females). , Nicobar-Outposts. The Nicobar Islands are situated 75' miles south of Little Andaman and consist of nineteen islands, seven un ; inhabited, with a total area of 630 square miles and a population ot 9841. There is a fine land-locked harbour between the islands of Camorta and Nankauri, known as Nankauri Harbour. The largest "island of the group, Great Nicobar, is furthest south, a distance of about 120 miles from the naval station of Savang, Sumatra. It will be clear from the> map that these two groups of islands, the Andamans and Nicobars, serve as watch-towers and air bases to cover reconnaissance ot any Allied operations in,, the Bay ot Bengal directed towards Japaneseheld Malaya and Sumatra. They are the outer door to the approaches to the archipelago of Indonesia and the South China Sea. ■ Barrier of Sumatra. Sumatra is even more important because it lies, like a wall to the west ot the Malay Peninsula, covering both the northern approach to Singapore via the Strait of Malacca and the southern via the Sunda Strait between Sumatra and Java. The area of Sumatra is 159,739 square miles, more than halt the size of Borneo, and the population is over 5,000,000. It contains the richest oil field in the East Indies at Palembang in the south-east corner, due south of Singapore, after the fall of which in February, 1942, the oil installations at Palembang i were destroyed before the enemy could reach the field. As Sumatra is 1100 miles long with a range of mountains running-from end to end, flanking the west coast,, its reconquest would be a ma]or 30b, it the Japanese are there in great strength. For the immediate purpose of the Allies it would be sufficient to seize or neutralise Savang and the adjacent area in the northern tip, the Achin province, for this would furnish the Allies (British, Indian, and Dutch) with the necessary base for opening the Strait of Malacca and the capture of Penang on the Malayan side and. a forcing of the road to Singapore by sea and land. How Much, How Long? The magnitude and duration of Allied operations for the recovery of Indonesia and that part of.the Southeast Asia mainland —Siam, Malaya, Indo-China—will be determined, first, by simultaneous or precedent operations by the American naval, air, and land forces, against the home islands of Japan, and parallel operations m China and Indonesia nearest to the Philippines base; and, second, by the attitude of the Japanese forces in all the areas of South-east Asia and Indonesia'they still occupy. If the Japanese are beaten in their home islands, whether with the help of Russia or not, they may still decide to fight on in the islands and on the mainland. How tough their resistance may be has been shown in Burma, Borneo, and Bougainville, as well as earlier in the Philippines, Iwo .Jima, Okinawa, m fact, everywhere they are found. This is a phenomenon not paralleled in the enemy resistance in Europe. There is, of course,, no doubt that the intervention of Russia on a full scale in the war against Japan would shorten operations greatly in the northern area, including Manchuria, Korea, Northern China, and the Kurile Islands. But it could hardly make much difference with the job the British and their associated nations, the Indians, the Dutch, and the Australians, possibly also the New Zealanders, have to do in their particular sector of South-east Asia, that is, if the Japs there refuse to surrender and instead fight on. It is possible that the last phase of the war1 against Japan will have to be fought out here and not in the north. ' .