TEST OF STRATEGY

Evening Star, Volume 24914, Issue 24914, 12 July 1943, Page 4

TEST OF STRATEGY

THE 'ISLAND BY ISLAND" CAMPAIGN ('Rec. 11.30 a.m.) ' ; NEW YORK, July 11. Qualified observers in Washington are supremely confident that the Allies will attain their immediate objectives in the Pacific offensive, says the Washington correspondent of the ' New York Times y —but a bigger question remains unanswered. The question is,: Are General Mae Arthur's forces sufficiently powerful to continue fighting after the fall of the present objectives until tlie more important bases to the north "nnd north-west are faken? Jf General Mae Arthur's forces, are not strong enough to continue their victorious push' without pausing for recovery, reinforcement and consolidation of the liewl.v-won poriitioris, a delay similar to that following the of Guadalcanal may follow. American strategists envisage the following schedule for the Allied ndvauee:—Miinda. Bougainville. Buka. Rabaul, with the clean-tip of New Guinea possibly accompanying the latter phase. Then comes the big strategic problem—whether we strike boldly northwards towards the -ma.in_ Japanese naval base at Truk. courting a naval engagement q-ith the Japanese fleet, and then to Toklo, or whether we pause to reclaim the Philippines and East Indies. The Washington correspondent of the 'Wall Street Journal ' states that General Mao Arthur commands the re-i 'spect of White House as a strategist.

The new Pacific drive is a test" of the "island by island" campaign. If New Guinea and Rabaul topple within four to six months, the theory _ will have been proved. Otherwise Allied strategy will be limited to direct punches against Japan from China. This means retaking Burma first.