SOLOMONS VICTORY

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 November 1942, Page 5

SOLOMONS VICTORY

NEW YORK, November 17. Referring to the Solomons naval victory as “one of the great battles in our history,” Mr. Roosevelt said in a broadcast address that the spearhead of the American intercepting force was commanded by Rear-Admiral Daniel J. Callaghan, aboard the leading ship? the cruiser San Francisco. “The San Francisco sailed right into the enemy fleet, and right through the whole enemy fleet, her guns blazing,” said Mr. Roosevelt. “She engaged three enemy vessels, sinking one. She engaged at point-blank range an enemy battleship heavily superior in size and fire-power. She silenced the battleship’s big guns and so disabled her that she could be sunk by torpedoes from our destroyers and aircraft. The San Francisco was hit many times. “Rear-Admiral Callaghan, who was my close personal friend, and many of his gallant officers and men gave their lives, but the San Francisco was brought safely back to port. She will fight again. The commander of the task force of which the San Francisco was a part has recommended that she be the first of our Navy’s vessels to be decorated for outstanding service. Let us thank God for such men as these. May our nation continue to be worthy of them throughout this war and for ever.” Asked at his Press conference lor comment on the Solomons battle, Mr. Roosevelt’s only comment was: “It was a major victory.” Obviously grieved, Mr. Roosevelt added, “Admiral Callaghan did a glorious thing, taking a 10,000-ton cruiser against a 25,000-ton Japanese battleship at point-blank range.”

AERIAL MOPPING-UP. November 18. United States naval authorities are confidently predicting further Japanese losses in the Solomons as a result of cleaning-up operations by American aeroplanes and surface units, which have been bent on finishing off crippled vessels of the fleeing enemy fleet. The results of Saturday night’s action between the opposing surface forces are still unknown. Bombers of General MacArthur s command continue to attack the enemy’s bases for his Solomons operations. Flying Fortresses over Rabaul harbour early on Tuesday morning scored two direct hits on a large merchant vessel, which was set on fire. Catalina flying-boats again attacked Kahili aerodrome at Bum, in the northern Solomons, destroying three enemy aeroplanes on the ground and causing fires and explosions. Rabaul and Buin were the assembly positions for the Japanese fleet concentration which was shattered off Guadalcanal. NAVY’S NEW~CONFIDENCE WASHINGTON, November 18. “The Solomons action should not be considered a decisive, conclusive victory, assuring our domination of the Pacific,” said a spokesman for the Navy. “However, it has apparently removed the critical threat hanging over our land forces in New Guinea and the Solomons. A running battle occurred when victories by our ground and air forces in the battle areas in the South-western Pacific forced the Japanese to attempt a counter-attack in force to relieve their soldiers. The American command, therefore, was able to lay plans to meet the enemy some distance from his bases, instead of undertaking an expedition into the heart of Japanese waters.” The Washington correspondent of the “New York Times” says: “The Solomons victory has created new confidence among Navy men, whose outward confidence had been qualified by doubts of the manner in which they would meet the formidable Japanese odds. Those doubts no longer exist. Military authorities point out that the victory clears the atmosphere for General MacArthur to proceed to the destruction of the Japanese at Buna, thereby cleaning out the worst remaining enemy nest in New Guinea.”

A message from Guadalcanal reports that General Van del’ Grift, the Commander of the American land forces in the Solomons, states it is cleai - that the Japanese have suffered a devastating defeat. General Van der Grift said: “The battered helmets of our fighting forces on Guadalcanal are lifted in tribute to Rear-Admirals Callaghan, Scott, Lee, and Kinkaid, who drove back the enemy’s first hostile stroke making later success possible.” ANOTHER ADMIRAL KILLED. WASHINGTON, November 17. The United States Navy announces the death in the furious close-range night battle in the Solomons last Friday of Rear-Admiral Norman Scott and Captain Cassin Young. Captain Young, who won the Congressional Medal of Honour for heroism at Pearl Harbour, commanded RearAdmiral Callaghan’s flagship. RearAdmiral Scott, who commanded a naval unit, is the fourth American Admiral to be killed in the war. JAPANESE VERSION. NEW YORK, November 17. The Tokio radio says that Japanese Imperial Headquarters has announced that the Japanese losses in the Solomons battle between November 12 and 44 were one battleship lost and one damaged, one cruiser and three destroyers lost, and seven transports damaged. The Tokio radio also claims that the United States battleships North Carolina and Idaho fled after receiving terrific damage at the hands of the Japanese Navy in the Solomons on November 14. Japanese Imperial Headquarters, it says, will issue a communique to-morrow showing that the Japanese naval victory was so overwhelming that United States attempts at a counter-offensive in the South Pacific will be a thing of the past. The Associated Press of America says that the Tokio broadcast is an obvious prelude to an announcemeiit seeking to offset the Washington communique. NEWS FOR PUBLIC MR. ROOSEVELT’S ATTITUDE NEW YORK, November 17. Addressing the New York “HeraldTribune” forum, Mr. Roosevelt said: “In war time the Government obviously cannot always give people the news, because of the danger of helping those who are trying to destroy us. On the other hand those persons who do not possess the facts inevitably speak from guesswork on doubtful information. “We must not lend ears to the clamour of politics or to criticism from those actuated by political motives,” said Mr. Roosevelt. “I have made a constant effort to keep politics out of the fighting of this war, but I confess that my foot slipped once. About 10 days before the elections one of our aircraft-carirers was torpedoed in the South-west Pacific, Unable to make port, she was destroyed by our forces. We in Washington did not know whether the enemy was aware of the sinking. At that time a great issue was being raised in Conegress and in public vehicles of information concerning the suppression of news from the fighting fronts.

MR. ROOSEVELT’S . TRIBUTE DEAD ADMIRAL'S HEROISM

There was a division of opinion among responsible authorities. Here came my mistake. I yielded to the j clamour, realising that if the news were given out two or three weeks I later it would be publicly charged, Il suppressed the news until after the’ election. Shortly afterward protests came from the admirals in command of the South-west Pacific and Hawaii on the ground that the Japanese probably had no information of the sinking, and that handing them the information on a silver platter—although we had not revealed the name of the carrier—gave them a military advantage they would not otherwise have had. “This confession illustrates the fact that in war time the conduct of the war comes absolutely first. The people know that none of their inalienable rights are taken away through failure to disclose for a reasonable length of time facts that Hitlei, Mussolini, and Tojo would give their eyeteeth to learn. Loose talk delays victory. Loose talk is the damp that gets in our powder. We prefer to keep our powder dry. “Our battle lines stretch from Kiska to Murmansk, from Tunisia to Guadalcanal. The lines will grow,' longer as our forces advance. We have had an uphill fight. It will continue uphill all the way. There can be no coasting to victory. During the last fortnight we have had a great deal of good news. It would seem > that the turning point of the war has at last been reached, but this is no time for exultation. There is no time for anything but fighting and working to win.” U.S.A. TROOPS’ OFFENSIVE. (N.Z.P.A. Special Australian Correspondent). (Rec. 12.25) SYDNEY, Nov. 19. American land forces at Guadalcanal are expected to launch an early offensive to clear all the Japanese troops from the island. At Pearl .Harbour, Admiral Nimitz has stated that the United States Navy’s domination of the Guadalcanal area permits a full-scale offensive by American troops. United States naval circles are stated to regard the newest victory over the Japanese fleet as even more important than the Midway action. They declare that it will have the most far-reaching effects on strategy in the South-west Pacific, and they believe some little time must elapse before the Japanese are abje to regroup for another attack in the SoloPearl Harbour reports say that the retreating Japanese warships are still being pursued. British observers also stress the great promise given by the Solomons battle. The Japanese form of make haste war brought big results against unprepared enemies, says the London “Daily Express” editorially: “It will have different testing against fully armed allies. The more we learn of the American victory the more impressive it becomes. The American two-ocean navy was not due until 1944, according to timetable, but it is now in action. It is fighting in a seven seas war along with the British Navy.” NEW GUINEA PROGRESS JAP AERIAL LOSSES. (N.Z.P.A. Special Australian Correspondent). SYDNEY, November 18. The Japanese have attempted to bring air support to aid their harassed land forces in New Guinea. Their gesture has proved expensive, costing them 15 bombers and fighters—l 4 on the ground in a surprise Allied raid on Lae, and one which attempted to intercept the raid. The raid on the Lae aerodrome was sharp retaliation for a coastal attack made by 18 Japanese aircraft in the Buna sector on Monday, when two of our trawlers were sunk. Attacks were also directed against Allied ground troops. Meanwhile, both the Australian and the American ground forces continue to advance towards Buna without opposition. The Allied forces are stated to be moving towards their objective by jungle trails, as well as by roads levelled and regraded by Japanese engineers. An effective air supply line from Port Moresby is maintaining a flow of vital stores and equipment. The Japanese forces, under Lieu-tenant-General Tomatore Horii, are reported to be seriously disorganised. Lieutenant-General Horii, a former infantry commander of the Japanese 55th Division, was transferred to the command of the Nankai detachment, which which he occupied Rabaul in January. He organised both the enemy’s successful drives against Port Moresby. It is now revealed that he took a regiment (equivalent to a British brigade, about 2600 men) across the Owen Stanley ranges in his second abortive thrust. It is evident that the majority of this force lost their lives. Malaria and other tropical diseases are assisting to increase the toll of those killed in action. No large-scale contact has yet been made with Lieutenant-General Horii’s remaining forces, although the Australians are believed to have caught up with and disposed of a few stragglers. The Allied air forces continue to attack the retreating Japanese without respite. Our marked air superiority should give considerable added value to the occupation of Buna, which has areas suitable for aerodrome construction. Apart from Buna’s value as an operational base against Lae, -Salamaua, and Rabaul. Allied occupation of the area will enable us to obtain more accurate information for air operations.