BRIGHTER NEWS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20862, 14 August 1942, Page 5

BRIGHTER NEWS

TULAGIJBATTLE FIERCE RESISTANCE AMERICAN NAVAL AID (By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Special Australian Correspondent.) (2.40 p.m.) SYDNEY. Aug. 13. The news from the Solomons is believed here to be more encouraging than for the past few days. The atmosphere at General MacArthur’s South-west Pacific Headquarters has been one of expectant AVa-itilig. l ■■" However, the battle is said to show -no signs of ending, and there is no indication of the position becoming stabilised. ' - . The American forces are moving inland in the Tulagi area and are now locked in fierce hand-to-hand fighting with the Japanese troops. The San Francisco radio reports that the Japanese are said to have launched a heavy -counter-attack. The Washington correspondent of the Australian Broadcasting Commission says that American paratroops are being employed to harass the Japanese positions in the Solomons.

Battleships and aircraft-,carriers are understood to be involved in the [battle as well as cruisers, I ' destroyers, Submarines and troop transports. American reports indicate that our naval units are still off the coast. This Indicates that Allied air superiority is ibeing maintained • since it would be [impossible for ships to operate close [inshore for long periods ■ without air [control. ■ ■ Judgment Reserved War correspondents at General MacArthur’s Headquarters say that judgment on the Solomons operation must be reserved until it is sure that the gains we have made have been consolidated beyond the possibility of repulse. The only facts definitely known from the official communiques are that the Allies have established bridgeheads in' the Tulagi area and that each side has sustained losses. The Allied land gains have not been specified, but a hopeful note is'beginning to appear in the communiques. The military view is that a reasonable cost does not count if the objective is gained, but in long-range-strategy it as inevitable that the results must be assessed in relation to the losses. The basis for this assessment is not ship for ship, plane for plane or man for man but the capacity of tjje opposing forces to withstand and recover from +l"in<sP locjcpc The American Associated Press correspondent at Honolulu describes the' attack- as the “beginning of a continuous Campaign which, owing to its amphibious nature, will-’appear- to -be a sequence of-piecemeal and separate operations.” He quotes a military observer as agreeing that the United Nations’ offensive, in the south-west Pacific will be “long and bitter ” The Sydney Morning Heralds war correspondent says: ■:“,We , pari .do,v.no more at this stage than set up a few isolated bases. The effort will have been justified.”' :