Quiet Spell in South Pacific Operations

Manawatu Times, Volume 68, Issue 56, 8 March 1943, Page 5

Quiet Spell in South Pacific Operations

Warning Against Complacency (By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Special Australian Correspondent.) Received Simday, 8.15 p.m. SYDNEY, Mar. 7. With the complete obliteration of the last traces of the Japanese Bismarck Sea convoy there has been a slackening of Allied air activity in the SouthWest Pacific area. Three enemy planes were shot down when our Havoc attack planes and Beaufighters with a top cover of Kittyhawks again raided the Lae (New Guinea) aerodrome. Japanese air interception was described as weak. Over Goodenough Island in the Dentrecasteaux Group a single enemy bomber was shot down by our fighters. Other Allied air attacks were made on Saturday on Japanese aerodromes at Alexishfen (New Guinea) and Cape Gloucester (New Britain), while the Guadgasal Saddle near Mubo was heavily strafed. There are no further reports of land fighting in this area. A Washington message quotes an American Air Force general as saying that with no more than seven per cent, of the United States monthly plane output he would guarantee to blast a way right to Tokio. In Australia Federal Ministers emphasise that the victory in the Bismarck Sea does not necessarily mean security in the Southern Pacific. 4 4 Our worry tc-day is that people are too inclined to complacency," declared the Minister of Shipping and Supply (Mr. Beasley), who said that the safer Australians felt the more reluctant they were to stand up to their responsibilities.

Warning that the enemy would make new attacks, Mr. Beasley added: ‘‘lf the war ended to-morrow with the Japanese still in possession of the occupied islands, peace would be merely a respite with an inevitable new war in 20 years or sooner.'*