JAPANESE WARNED

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXV, Issue 136, 10 May 1945, Page 5

JAPANESE WARNED

MIGHTY BLOWS COMING INVASION BEING PLANNED (N.Z. Press Association. —Copyright.) (Rec. 9.30 a.m.) LONDON, May 9. "Plans for, the invasion or* the Japanese homeland are now being drawn up," declared Admiral Nimitz at a Press conference.

The freeing of the tremendous Allied power employed in the overwhelming defeat of Germany would first be manifested in a very material stepping up of the tempo of the air war against Japan. The carrier forces also would increase their attacks. Admiral Nimitz said no place in Japan was safe from carrier assaults. Asked if he thought it likely that Japan would surrender before the Allies landed on the home islands, Admiral Nimitz replied: "The Japanese have displayed a lot of intuition and intelligence. If they can see the" writing on the wall they will see what has happened. However, we will plan the invasion and go ,ahead on the basis that an invasion will be necessary." He parried the question as to how his and General MacArthur's commands would be linked up, but he pointed out that the planning of the invasion under the direction of the Joint Chiefs-of-Staff was now under way. "Admiral Nimitz said there were not enough airfields available in the Pacific islands to support the great fleets of bombers from Europe and he indicated the expansion of American ground holdings in the near future to provide for this. He added that Japan would be hit with everything the Allies had. Admiral Nimitz flatly declared that there was'not enough of the Japanese fleet to oppose either the British or American Pacific

Elects in a major engagement

Nevertheless the Pacific war would continue to be a naval war until it ended. Naval war did not mean sea action alone. The navy's function must be to protect the sea supply lines as long as the Japanese had anv submarines, aeroplanes or surface ships that might attack them. He said the British Pacific Fleet had given invaluable assistance in the invasion of Okinawa, its principal task being to protect the southern flank from sea or air attack from Formosa. MIGRATION BEGINS. The War Department has announced that the mass movement of troops from Europe to the Pacific is about to begin. Transport planes and all available surface ships are being used to accelerate the movement. The Washington correspondent of the New York Herald-Tribune says the Government has unleashed a propaganda barrage to convince Japan that unconditional surrender does not mean extermination or enslavement. Eight to 10 transmitters on the Pacific coast and stations on Saipan and at Honolulu are relaying the propaganda to the Japanese. President Truman's invitation to the Japanese to throw off the grip of the military clique and surrender unconditionally is considered a big weapon in the new psvchological campaign opened by the Office of War Information. The President's statement was broadcast by Captain E. M. Zacharias, former naval attache in Tokio, who also addressed personally many. Japanese leaders with whom he had formerly associated. Ho said: "The future lies in your own hands. You can choose between wasteful, unclean death for many of your forces or peace with honour.

In a broadcast from Canberra

the Duke of Gloucester said vast air armadas would leave England for the Pacific area, and bombers and fighters in numbers that would shatter and confound them would

rain kayoc on the Japanese enemy

Part of the British Navy was now operating in the Pacific and the remainder would soon bo here. Their ■Teat armies would, as needs demanded, be transferred to this area. "Through our sacrifices Germany has been defeated, but we still have the Japanese, brutal, inhuman and fanatical, to hum hie in the dust. Therefore, let this time be one rather of thanksgiving, prayer and action than of jubilation. Let us thank God for His great mercies, for the triumph of right over wrong arid oppression, and let us go forward more determined than ever to win and win quickly the Pacific war."