INVASION OF JAPAN

Greymouth Evening Star, 10 May 1945, Page 6

INVASION OF JAPAN

PUNS PREPARED

ADMLNIMITZ’S STATEMENT

i GUAM, May 9. ' “Plans for the invasion of the Japanese homeland are now being drawn up,” declared Admiral C. W. Nimitz at a Press conference. He said tnat the freeing of the tremendous. Allied power employed in the overwhelming defeat of Germany would result in a very material stepping up of the tempo of the air war against Japan. Carrier forces also would increase their attacks. ; No place in Japan was safe from carrier assaults. Asked if he thought it likely that Japan would surrender before the Allies land on the home islands, Admiral Nimitz replied: “The Japanese have displayed a lot of ’intuition and intelligence. If they? can see the writing on the wall they will see what has happened. However, we will plan an invasion and go ahead on the basis that invasion will be necessary.” He parried a question as to how his and General MacArthur’s commands would be linked up, but pointed out that the invasion planning was under the direction of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and was now under way. Admiral Nimitz said there were not enough airfields available in the Pacific islands to support great fleets of bombers from Europe. He indicated the expansion of American ground holdings in the near future to provide for this, and added that Japan would be hit with everything the Allies had. Admiral Nimitz flatly declared that there was not. enough of the Japanese fleet left to oppose cither the. British or American Pacific Flects-in a major engagement. Nevertheless, the Pacific war would continue to be a naval war until it was ended. A naval war did not mean sea action alone. The Navy’s function must be to protect sea supply lifelines as long as the Japanese had any submarines, aeroplanes, or surface ships that might attack them. _ j He said the British Pacific Fleet had given invaluable assistance in the invasion of Okinawa, ■ its principal task being to protect the southern Hank from the sea and air attack from Formosa. OKINAWA OPERATIONS. WASHINGTON, May 8. Admiral Nimitz’s communique on Tuesday said: Our battleships ano. cruisers delivered heavy lire in support of the American forces, in southern Okinawa on Monday night. Several hundred rounds of illumination shells were fired, which effectively reduced the enemy’s attempts at the infiltration of our lines. Adverse weather limited our operations on Tuesday. There have been no substantial changes in our lines. Summaries show Marine fighters shot down 209 Japanese aircraft since they commenced operations from the captured fields on Okinawa. Carrier aircraft on Monday continued to neutralise the Sakishisa Islands. Several planes attacked concentrations of shipping around Korea, sinking 14,000 tons of shipping and damaging 350 0 tons. Other planes on Tuesday attacked shipping off Honshu, sinking three cargo snips, and a large fishing craft, and damaging nine others. They also chot down a flying boat. Other attacks were made on Truk and Marcus. A New York “Times’s” correspondent reports: Marines found two um•ermed armed women among the '"apanese killed in opposing Americans in their southward drive on Okinawa. . _ • Admiral Nimitz announced that 2b ■linor fleet units have thus far been sunk in the Okinawa campaign. He said the losses have not slowed up die Pacific campaign.

TARAKAN ADVANCE WASHINGTON, May 8. “Our Tarakan forces have enlarged their gains to northward and eastward of the city and have captured the enemy’s hurriedly-evacuated headquarters,” reports General MacArthur’s latest communique. ’ Strong patrols have cleared enemy forces from the vicinity of the airneld, and are operating in broken country to the northward. Our medium bombe r s and fighters throughout Tuesday bombed and strafed enemy gun positions and pill boxes, while others hit Ranau and Bintula runways, in western Borneo, and destroyed planes on the Labuan aerodrome. Air and naval patrols destroyed live small vessels. “On Mindanao, our forces continue to crowd the enemy into difficult hill country, largely cut off from bases of supply. Reduction of enemy pockets continue in both the north and ccntial sectors of Luzon Islands. “Our air assault on Formosa continues. Three hundred tons ol explosives fell on air bases, factoiies, lailways, and warehouses, starting fires and explosions. Our reconnais sauce planes swept Indo-China Lailways.” LONDON, May 9. A United Press correspondent says: Australians, led by tanks, with air support, to-day pushed within two miles of B.ioeata oilfield, which is three miles'north of Tarakan airfield. Australian and Dutch forces tightened pincers on the Narmesian oilfield. .ANOTHER ISLAND LANDING. WASHINGTON, May 9. General MacArthur announced that elements of.the Twenty-fourth Division have landed on Samal Island, in Davao Gulf and are rapidly clearing the Japanese from the island. PROPAGANDA BARRAGE

NEW YORK, May 8

The Washington correspondent of the New York “Herald Tribune” says: The Government has unleashed" a propaganda barrage to convince Japan that an unconditional surrender does not mean Japanese extermination or their enslavement. Eight to ten transmitters on the Pacific coast, and stations at Saipan and Honolulu have relayed propaganda to the Japanese. President Truman’s invitation to the Japanese to throw off the grip of the military clique and surrender unconditionally is a big weapon in a new psychological warfare campaign opened by the Office of War Information. The President’s statement was broadcast by Captain F. M. Zacharias, a former naval attache in Tokio, who also addressed personally many Japanese leaders with whom he formerly associated, He said: “The future lies in your own hands. You can choose between a wasteful, unclean death for many of your forces, or peace with honour.”

GEN. MARSHALL’S DISCLOSURES

WASHINGTON, May 8. General Marshall disclosed tonight that the United States sent its main strength to Europe after Pearl Harbour to prevent an imminent German-Japanese junction, which would have given the Axis a virtual stranglehold on the world. He said the Axis planned for their forces to meet in India, and then to destroy Britain, Russia and the United States one by one. The plans included an invasion of the United States. He explained: “Our strategy was to prevent such a junction at all costs and then push away, for which reason it was imperative to send our forces to Europe immediately, because Germany had Britain and Russia pn the ropes. If the

United States had concentrated first on Japan, Germany would have become almost impregnable.” General Marshall said: “Another reason for subordinating the Japanese war temporarily was that it was a two-year job to build up shipping strength for supply lines across the Pacific. The threat of the JapaneseGerman junction ended when the Germans were chased from North Africa in 1943, and the British smashed the Japanese at Ceylon.”

General Marshall made the disclosure at a private Press exhibition of the army film, “Two Down —One To Go.”

The War Department has announced that the mass movement of troops from Europe to the Pacific is about to begin. Transport planes and all available surface ships are being used to accelerate the movement.

JAPAN’S DETERMINATION

(Rec. 11.0 a.m.)

NEW YORK, May 9. According to the Tokio radio the Japanese Cabinet issued a statement expressing deep regret at the surrender of Germany, which shared a common objective with Japan—self-ex-istence and self-defence. It added: The sudden change in the war situation will not bring the slightest change to our war objective. Japan will devote a total effort towards the complete destruction of the unjust ambition of Britain and the United States.