SOLOMONS SEA AND AIR BATTLE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20864, 17 August 1942, Page 5

SOLOMONS SEA AND AIR BATTLE

JAPANESE HELD OFF BID BY CONVOY FiCHT FOR" 'DROMES FIGHT MAY BE DECISIVE (By Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright.) (Special Australian Correspondent.) • (2.40 p.m.) SYDNEY, Aug. 15. Heavy equipment, including guns, ammunition and supplies, are being rushed ashore from American transports for the United States Marines fighting in the Solomons: , While the Marines are steadily consolidating their positions under strong air cover, a large-scale sea and air battle is being fought in the area. American commentators say the sea battle is developing rapidly and its importance is overshadowing the land fighting! Allied air and naval forces are holding off the Japanese fleet which is trying to smash a passage for enemy reinforcements. The San Francisco radio reports that Allied planes on Friday repulsed a strong enemy effort to bring up reinforcements. The 8.8. C. says that United States Marines have now occupied the most riseful of the new Japanese-built aerodromes on Guadalcanar. American reports say that ' the Marines are fighting off strong enemy attacks to re-possess the aerodrome. Observers in the United States believe that the present sea action may prove decisive if it shatters the major part of the Japanese fleet. They point out that the American navy has long sought an opportunity to engage the Japanese at close quarters. The Jaoanese are believed to have been forced to accept the challenge because of the urgent necessity to maintain their positions in the Solomons. A Major Disaster Mr. Walter Logan, the United Press correspondent in Washington, says that the loss of Tulagi.harbour, one of the largest and best in the world, would be a major disaster for the Japanese. Tulagi would provide the Allies with an excellent complement to Pearl Harbour. One of the principal advantages would be its use as a submarine base. Some Australian observers believe that the Japanese may toe compelled, in order to defend her Solomons interests, to strike a counter-blow. The Sydney Morning Herald’s war correspondent suggests that this may toe made on the north-eastern front of Australia. . “The present lull on the northern front is, not symptomatic of the war position as revealed in the events of the past few weeks,” he writes. “It does not square with the Japanese eagerness to invest northern Papua with picked troops, to assemble more ships at Rabaul, and to press forward ■with the occupation of the Solomons until they were challenged by the Allied forces a week ago. The iuU seems unreal when it is recalled that the Japanese have crept closer to Australia by going into three small groups of islands between Timor and New Guinea as late as July 31. From the seeming paradox of activity on one hand and inactivity at more advanced enemy stations on the other, it may be deduced that Japan is preparing some action which will probably not long be delayed.”