The Grey River Argus SATURDAY, November 21, 1942. JAPAN’S NEW MOVE.

Grey River Argus, 21 November 1942, Page 4

The Grey River Argus SATURDAY, November 21, 1942. JAPAN’S NEW MOVE.

It may be taken as a good, rather than a bad omen that the

Japanese are now reported to be massing forces on the island of Timor, only 350 miles from the Australian mainland. Doubtless Australia must itself prepare to .meet the new th-rJat, and this preparation is said to be Mr. Curtin’s reason for proposing the extension of conscription in the case of the Militia to service out'side of the Continent itself. But 'the enemy, if he is attempting, on his right wing, to reach Australia, makes thereby a pretty, open confession that he now doubts his ability to do so on his left wing. Moreover, the idea of sending the Militiamen' across the water denotes a fairly confident anticipation that, he can. on the other side of New Guinea be placed on the defensive as certainly as he has been on this side. There is no longer any shred of reason for Tokio to pretend a complete reverse has not been sustained in the whole venture so far against Australia and against the sea communications of that country ■and this. The more that details transpire the more severe appears to have been, last week’s defeat of the Japanese Navy. Whilst they have pretended to have had only five warships sunk, the American claim that the number was eleven is now capped by a further report that the number actually may have been sixteen. Meantime, while Guadalcanal 1 has had no further attention from enemy warships or planes, Japanese naval losses have continued, with two ships this week sunk off Papuan coast, where the New Guinea Army of Japan is corn'ered around Buna. It is yet uncertain whether the enemy intends there to make a tight of it, or to make an exit, but the former course may be imperative on. account .of: the latter one being impossible. Japan, of course, has a very large army, three millions at least, and may not scruple to risk even more men on a new venture against Australia from the north-west, than she has yet lost in the venture from the. north-east. .If the Allies ■can',retain their present lines, and in the centre progress towards the North Solomons, Mr. Curtin says that the Japanese will have no option but that of retreating beyond the equator to the Caroline and .Marshall Islands. 'As the Governor of Fiji yesterday pointed out, -while the North African victories have radical]}' 'altered the*Allied outlook, there is a debt, owing to the Americans by these southern communities. The American Navy has undoubtedly lived up to the highest traditions of sea warfare in the manner in ) which it has/withstood an enemy 'who is more or less • fighting in ’ his own sphere whilst the opposi-

tion lias liad to crioss the largest of the oceans. Nevertheless the Timor development goes to confirm the wisdom of American and Australian warnings that the hardest, fighting may yet have to be undertaken. Tlie Japanese, while moving forces i south-westward, may later al tempt also a thrust south-eastward. There, is nevertheless a difference in the way in which their initiative is now regarded in comparison to even a month or two ago. Their measure has in a degree been already taken, and if I hey have yet _to. do their best or worst, Latest indi'eations are that they can not only he countered, bill defeated.