NEW THREAT TO JAPAN

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXII, Issue 263, 6 October 1942, Page 5

NEW THREAT TO JAPAN

NEW YORK, Oct. 4.

“The military occupation of the Andreanov Islands marks the beginning of active preparations to expel the Japanese invaders from the Aleutians,” states the New York Times editorially. “The threat that the Japanese might march island by island to the Continent may be dismissed. The enemy is now under a sharp warning to defend himself against an American offensive. “The occupation of the Andreanovs alters the strategic situation in the North Pacific almost as greatly as our conquests in the Solomons altered the situation in the South-West Pacific. We are now moving on to Japan from two directions and the northern flank is the shortest. The Aleutians offer a military highway to Japan. “It is only 1640 miles from Dutch Harbour to Paramusliiru, the great Japanese naval base at the northern end of the Kurile Islands, and we have now advanced within 125 miles of Kiska, which is a half-way point. Our experience in the Solomons warns us that the reduction of Kiska will be neither easy nor quick. The news that we are already operating airfields in the Andreanovs explains the increased tempo of the recent attacks on Kiska, but aerial attacks will not dislodge the enemy. They will soften him and disorganise liis defence against the final amphibious assault. The Andreanovs are the bridgehead of that assault.”