THE SOLOMONS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 6 October 1942, Page 2

THE SOLOMONS

GREAT NAVAL BATTLE SAYS BERLIN NO KNOWLEDGE IN LONDON IMPROVED SITUATION IN PACIFIC (Rec. 1.40 p.m.) Sydney, This Day. Berlin radio states that a great naval battle is being fought off the Solomons, but the report is regarded here with scepticism. The 8.8. C. says London denies knowledge of any large scale Pacific naval action. The United States Navy Department has declined to comment on this report or on a statement by the Japanese Navy spokesman, Admiral Hiraide, that operations in the Solomons have cost the United States “several aircraft-carriers, ten transports and ten other naval craft.” Admiral Hiraide’s statement is regarded here as one intended for morale boosting and home consumption. One of the most promising changes in the Pacific situation is that since her disastrous losses at Midway Japan has not shown any willingness to meet the Americans in large-scale naval action. In the South-West Pacific she is now carrying this to a point where it is interfering with her land strategy, declares the Sydney “Morning Herald” military correspondent to-day. “Japan can hardly hope to achieve any further gains and perhaps cannot even maintain her earlier conquests unless she is prepared to accept the hazard of a naval battle,” he adds. Commenting on the Improved Pacific situation the correspondent says that while it would be erroneous to link together scattered local offensives around the Pacific basin and regard them as the beginning of a gigantic concerted convergence on Japan, it is nevertheless encouraging that the Japanese should find themselves challenged at so many points of their perimeter. The recent trend of Allied operations bears strong witness to the belief that it is aggressive action. AMERICANS FIRMLY ESTABLISHED “The Americans in the Solomons are now so firmly established that nothing short of a full-sized expeditionary force would have any real chance of turning the tables against them.” declares the “Herald” writer. “Similarly in New Guinea recent events confirm the view that the main danger to Port Moresby lies in an attack from the sea rather than from the forcing of the ranges. Whether or not the thrust across the Owen Stanley Range was originally intended to link up with a seaborne attack, it has been shown that no considerable pressure j could be exerted from the Kokoda j region. Thus whether the Japanese want to press down through the Solomons towards New Caledonia or whether they wish to take Port Moresby they would have to risk large naval encounters—and their unwillingness to do this is the measure of their limitations.”—P.A. special Australian correspondent.