LONG AND EXPENSIVE

Evening Star, Issue 25004, 25 October 1943, Page 2

LONG AND EXPENSIVE

WAR IN THE PACIFIC ENEMY " SCARCELY" SCRATCHED " iN.Z.P.A. Special Aust. Correspondent) (Rec. noon.) -SYDNEY, Oct. 25. The war iii tho Pacific would be long and expensive, decalred Rear-admiral D. E. Barbey, commander of the empMbious force of the Seventh Fleet of the United States navy. He com*manded tho naval task force which participated in the recent attacks on Lao and Finschhnfen. Rear-Admiral Barbey said the Allies had scarcely scratched the enemy yet in comparison with what remained to be done. As we moved closer the Japanese would fight back harder. " Inevitably to push tho enemy back involves to some extent a programme of what has been wrongly called ' island hopping,' " ho added. "We can expect to by-pass a number of points, but in view of the nature of the enemy's conquests we will have to tackle separated points in an almost regular procession. The prospect wo faeo is one of recapturing a number of strongholds separated by stretches of ocean. However, we do not intend to sit tight in tho South-west Pacific.. We are working in close co-operation with Admiral Halsey in the South Pacific, and we are going to keep moving. We have started to roll back the Japanese 'but we have a long way to go."