EXPECTED MOVE

New Zealand Herald, Volume 80, Issue 24748, 23 November 1943, Page 3

EXPECTED MOVE

NI.MUZ'S PEOMTSE

BUILDING UP OF FORCES (Special Australian Correspondent) (Reed. 6.45 p.m.) SYDNEY, Nov. :22 The American landings on Makin and Tarawa Islands, announced by Admiral Nimitz to-day, had been anticipated by military commentators in Australia. Signs of this newest offensive move against the ■Japanese were seen in the last fortnight's heavy and persistent air attacks on enemy strongpoints in the Gilbert and the Marshall groups.

The Americans have for some time been building up forces for a forward move in the Central Pacific, and Admiral Nimitz's recent statement, promising to "blast the Japanese from their island strongholds in a most direct manner" was widely accepted as implying that direct assaults upon and the occupation of strongpoints in the Gilbert and. possibly, the Marshall groups were intended. Screen to Great Truk Base Reviewing the latest operations in the Central Pacific, together with General Mac Arthur's offensive actions in the New Britain and Bougainville area, the Sydney Morning Herald says that all these Japanese outposts assist to screen the enemy's great base of Truk, in the Carolines. Japan must, therefore, fight hard in defence of her outer shield, since the penalty for failure would be a dangerous American advance toward this centre of her power. "The present manifestations of American aggressiveness," adds the "Herald, "are hard to reconcile with complaints that an insufficient proportion of United States war output is hfing allocated to the Pacific. ]t matters less that any specific Pacific Command area should be supplied according to its desires than that the greatest available Allied strength should be directed against the Japanese at the points selected by sound over-all strategy."

Enemy Strength in New Guinea

The Sydney Daily Telegraph to-day also comments editorially on the Pacific war, with particular reference to the present fighting in New Guinea. Emphasising that the Japanese in New Guinea are still strong, well-equipped and tenacious, the paper says: "Conflicting reports have given a muddled picture of the current Satelberg campaign. Statements a month ago that the Japanese forces at Satelberg were 'weak in numbers and of little significance' are now being followed by reports of bitter, difficult fighting. "Lighthearted confidence does the morale of our troops no good. Nor does the silly writing down of the Japanese help us in America. The Americans naturally decide that General MacArthur is doing well enough with the equipment he has and that there is no urgent need to send more men and arms. Any attempt to obscure the truth about Japanese strength in this area does General Mac Arthur and his fighting mep a grave disservice." TOKYO RADIO ADMISSION (Reed. 11.10 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 22 The Tokyo radio has admitted that J powerful United States forces, including l aircraft-carriers and battleships, began j the attack with bombing and shelling j on Friday and that the landings fol- j lowed on Saturday. , . : AMERICA AT WORK MUNITIONS, PLANES, SHIPS I WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 j The United States munitions output! for October shows the highest monthly i increase since April, according to a j report issued bv Mr. Donald Nelson. : chief of the War Production Board. | Merchant shipping deliveries totalled j 1,660,000 dead-weight tons, bringing i the 1943 total to 15,332,000 tons. Plane production showed a 10 per j cent increase over September, reaching! a new record of 8362 planes, against j 7598 for September. Ninety-eight Liberty ships were com-: pleted, eight fewer than in Septem- I her. but five above schedule. Tanker : production jumped to 35, 13 more than in September. Ammunition production continued to rise and was up 11 per cent. According to plan, combat vehicles dropped off. showing a decrease of 11 per'cent from September, wit h tanks showing the greatest decrease. In contrast to recent slow months, however, automotive vehicles and tractor programmes showed a good increase. WARFARE IN lIIJNAN JAPANESE CLOSING IN (Reed. 9.50 p.m.) CHUNGKING, Nov. 21 Japanese troops with strong bomber support are closing in from three sides on Changte, in Hunan Province, the main Chinese position in Central China, says the United Press. Changte could be a jumping-ofF place for an attack on Changsha, capita] of Hunan, 110 miles to the south-east. . The Chinese have smashed the Japanese drive near Shimen, about SO miles south of Ichang (the Yangtse port in Hupeh Province) and are now mopping up. The Chinese are also reported to have scored successes at Ichang, Kingmen and Tangyang.