British Mission To Speed War Against Japs.

Northern Advocate, 21 August 1943, Page 3

British Mission To Speed War Against Japs.

WASHINGTON, August 19. A special British military, aero and naval mission has arrived to plan maximum British co-operation with the United States in future operations against Japan. The mission will visit the Pacific battlefronts for first-hand surveys. The British information service has announced that the mission was formed after Mr. Churchill's speech on June 30, promising full British co-operation in the war against Japan when Germany is defeated. The mission is headed by MajorGeneral J. S. Lethbridge, Royal Engineers, and includes Brigadier H. Bartlett, Rear-Admiral F. H. W. Goolden, Surgeon-Captain 11. W. Fitzroy Williams, Air-Commodore L. L. Maclean, Canadian Air Force, and Group Captain W. R. Clements, most of whom have served in the Far East. The announcement added that the mission indicates that the British Government does not consider it premature to formulate plans for future operations against Japan in concert with the United States and other members of the British Commonwealth when their full combined forces can be brought to bear against the common enemy in the Pacific. In talks with American officers and visits to military and naval establishments throughout America, the mission will study all problems of tactics, wea-pons,-supply, transport, communications and medical services related to the Pacific war. Through these studies and later visits to battlefronts, the mission hopes to "lay a logical foundation for a British contribution to future campaigns against the Japanese." The United Press says that the mission's arrival in the midst of the Quebec conference is highly significant, carrying a hint of a full-scale blow against Japan in the not too distant future.