FIRST MAJOR BLOW

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21385, 21 April 1944, Page 3

FIRST MAJOR BLOW

ENEMY IN INDIES ALLIES CLEARING WAY? INVASION OF MALAYA (11 a.m.) RUGBY, April 20. By'attacking Sumatra, Admiral Lord Louis Moimtbatten, Allied Commander fin Chief in South-east Asia, has struck his first major blow against the Japanese, in the Dutch East Indies. It was only last Thursday that the transfer of his • headquarters from New Delhi to .Kandy, Ceylon, was announced. North-west of Sabang lie the Nicobar and Andaman Islands, which were raided by aircraft from Indian bases a fewi .days ago, but .Sabang is the western outpost of the .rich Dutch possessions which the Japanese overran after the attack on Pearl Harbour.

One thousand miles east of Ceylon, Sabang is 680 miles west of Singapore across the Malacca Strait —“the gateway to' the East,” and was a coaling station of some importance in peacetime. . Iho Nga is on the mainland of Sumatra, some 20' miles south of Sabang and a few miles west of the important town of Kuta Raja, the terminus of the railway which skirts the north-west coast of Sumatra. Crippling Enemy Bases The attack against Sumatra indicates that Admiral Somefville intends to cripple the bases from which the Japanese could launch a naval offensive westwards, says the Associated Press correspondent in Ceylon. The raid is interpreted here as the forerunner of other amphibious operations. The Evening News’ naval correspondent points out that Admiral Somerville’s attack on Sumatra is the first naval..raid against Japanese-occupied .territory in this part of the world. Coming within a day or two of the announcement, that .Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten’s headquarters have been moved to Ceylon the attack has - great significance. The re-taking of Sumatra would be a vital factor in our - regaining Singapore - and the MaySla Peninsula. Until the Japanese are driven cut of Sumatra no operatioa for the recapture of Malaya could hope to succeed and Sabang is the obvious jumping-off ground as a base for" amphibious operations against Sumatra. Reuter’s correspondent comments that the tactics of the attack follow cldsely those used by Admiral W. F. Halsey and Admiral Nimitz in the Centlral Pacific against the outer ring Of Span's defences. Fie points out that ■ the German Overseas News Agency’s correspondent in Tokio recently estimated the strength of the British fleet in the Indian Ocean as seven or eight battleships, five air-craft-carriers, eight heavy and eight light: cruisers, and a number of destroyer flotillas.