U.S.A. AND THE WAR

Greymouth Evening Star, 22 July 1942, Page 5

U.S.A. AND THE WAR

PEARL HARBOUR DISCLOSURES

CAUSES OF JAP. SUCCESS

NEW YORK, July 20. Further remarkable evidence has been made available regarding a lack of alertness on the occasion of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour on December 7 last. The evidence is published in a concluding instalment of an article entitled, “How War Came,” by Messrs Davis and Lindley, in “The Ladies’ Home Journal” from official documents. It includ'es a story, not hitherto published, of an intercepted radio message to an approaching Japanese aircraft carrier fleet which boldly informed the fleet that there were no harbour nets, and no barrage balloons at Pearl Harbour, and that it was wide open. This message actually was sent to Washington before- the Pearl Harbour attack, but the officials there did not decode it until it was too late. The autnors of the article endeavour to show that, whoever was at fault in the lack of alertness, it was not Senator Hull (Secretary of State) who correctly sensed belligerent intentions on the part of the Japanese, and warned all concerned several times. The article also reveals certain reinforcements for the Philippines were just a few days too late and they therefore were diverted to Australia.

It is also shown that 60 per cent, of the aeroplanes in the Philippines were destroyed on the ground in the first Japanese raids. Therefore, the Battle of the Philippines was lost in the first few days. The Japanese picked off American planes like sitting pigeons. In the last week before Pearl Harbour, says the article, all eyes at Washington were fixed on Siam. The Japanese moves towards Siam were genuine enough. ' Yet they served the purposes of a great ruse tnat diverted the gaze of Americans, including responsible officers in botn services, from the danger to Hawaii and the Philippines. Thus the first bombers over Pearl Harbour caught more than the naval and military off their guard. They caught the whole of the United States asleep. The authors ask: “Why were the Japanese able to surprise America?” The authors express the opinion, at the risk of seeming smug, that Pearl Harbour was a moral victory, furnishing a sound basis far an eventual victory. They point out that United States civilisation standards were not! capable of striking a potential enemy; by stealth without a declaration, and of raining unannounced death on women and children witnout a warning. They say “The standards of our civilisation do not allow of that kind of behaviour.” The concluding article reveals how the hitherto inscrutable M. Stalin laid his cards on the table for Mr Harry Hopkins. M. Stalin, it says, unlocked an inner chamber of Soviet defence secrets and paraded them before Mr Hopkins, who was astonished at the sight of endless tables, charts, and reports of the Russians’ armed and industrial might. M. Stalin revealed where his forces were disposed, giving information for which battalions of S.S. men had gladly died. M. Stalin told Mr Hopkins: “Ah this you may see. You may go anywhere, to any Front or any factory, and verify the truth for yourself.” Mr Hopkins brought from Moscow an impression that M. Stalin was tough, single-minded, granitic, and straightforward. Both Mi’ Roosevelt and Mr Churchill were delighted with Mr Hopkins’s report, but the generals were at first very sceptical. Later they came round, and accepted M. Stalin’s view that the Germans could not take Moscow in 1941.

NAVAL OFFICER’S COURAGE BOSTON, July 20. Lieutenant Robert Kelly, of New York, has been awarded the Navy Cross for extraordinary courage in combat. He was the commander of a patrol ■ torpedo boat which sank a Japanese cruiser in the Philippine area on the night of April 9. According to the citation, on the morning following the sinking, while his vessel was in Cebu Harbour with three guns disabled and a hole six feet across blown through it. Lieutenant Kelly manoeuvred it, saving it from further hits by four attacking enemy dive-bombers, keeping up fire against the enemy until his crew ol six men were killed or wounded. Lieutenant Kelly beached the boat under continual strafing, and directed the removal of the wounded to a place of safety. , 2 , Lieutenant Kelly is still in hospital as a result of this action.

MINISTRY OF STRATEGY WASHINGTON. July 21. Mr William Phillips, former U.S. Ambassador to Italy, has been appointed Chief of the United States Office of Strategic Services in Britain. Mr Phillips arrived in London on Saturday. He will be attached to the U.S. Embassy, with the rank of Minister. His work will be of a military nature, but he will not hold military rank. His duties will be to collect and analyse strategic information required by the United States joint Chiefs of Staffs. Mr Phillips will establish contact with the British Psychological Warfare Organisation, and also will contact the exiled Governments in London, which are connected with leaders of rebel elements in occupied countries. AERIAL TRANSPORT WASHINGTON, July 20. The Army has announced that United States civil air lines will be extended throughout the world to carry men, material and mail to all theatres of war where Americans are involved. Brigadier-General Harold George, commander of the Air Transport Command, said the air lines would be used to the limit of their capacities. When the saturation point was reached where commercial personnel were exhausted, the Army would take over.

The announcement apparently means that aeroplanes will be used to the- fullest extent as lines of communications with bases at the fighting fronts, thus decreasing the effectiveness of enemy submarines warfare.

WAR REVENUE BILL

WASHINGTON, July 20

The House of Representatives passed and sent to the Senate the War Revenue Bill, estimated to yield 6,500,000,000 dolllars. In a lively session the House rejected the Ways and Means Committee’s proposal that the normal and surtax rate be reduced to 40. per cent., maintaining the rate at 45 per cent. The House approved of a 90 per cent, ■excess profits tax rate, which is a 2| per cent, increase on the committee’s recommendation. PRICE CONTROL OFFICE. WASHINGTON, July 21. The House of Representatives has revised the appropriation of 120 million dollars to the Office of Price Administration. The-appropriation will be forty-one million dollars less than the figure approved by the Budget Bureau. The Office of Price Administration appropriation has occasioned considerable criticism of portions of Mr. Leon Henderson’s policies, and of the independent appointments made.

SHIP CONTRACT CANCELLED (Rccd. 10.55 a.ni.) WASHINGTON, July 21. The House Merchant Marine Committee appointed a special committee of inquiry into the circumstances of the Maritime Commission’s cancellation of the contract of the Higgins Shipping Corporation, to build 200 ships. The Maritime Commission explained' that the cancellation was because of insufficient steel being available. Mr A. J. Higgins, head of the firm, protested, and expressed the opinion that some other reason prompted the cancellation. He said yesterday tnat his yard would probably build giant flying boats, instead of ships, but he declined to elaborate the statement. I SLANDERERS IMPRISONED

LOS ANGELES, July 20. Robert Noble and Ellis Jones, leaders of the Friends of Progress organisation, have been sentenced to imprisonment for five and four years respectively for sedition. The pair alleged that General MacArthur deserted the troops in Bataan Peninsula. They also urged the impeachment of President Roosevelt.