PACIFIC PROGRESS

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 24826, 24 February 1944, Page 5

PACIFIC PROGRESS

SERVICE CO-OPEBATION NO AMERICAN NAVAL LOSS (Reed. 5.5.', p.m.) WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 President .Roosevelt to-day praised what he termed the amazing cooperation of the armed services in the Marshalls and Truk operations, which were accomplished without the loss of a single ship.

The President told a press conference tbat the Japanese had lost probably 1000 barges in the past year, and with them a large number of officers and men. "As we go further intc Japanese territory," he said, "the enemy must develop new plans of transportation of supply."

In giving a warning against overoptimism arising from the Truk attack, the Secretary of the Navy, Colonel W. F. Knox, said we are still operating on intermediate defences, and have not yet entered the inner defences of the Japanese Empire. We have .still to beat a large, fanatically bravo and wellequipped army. Pointing out that Admiral Nimitz favours attack against the China coast, C'olonel Knox remarked: "We are learning in Italy that beachheads are no joke. They may prove pretty costly in China."

TO JO DETERMINED ATTAINMENT OF OBJECTIVES (Heed. 11.30 p.m.) NEW YORK. Feb. 23 The Tokyo official radio quoted the Prime Minister, To jo, as saying that the war developments did not permit of optimism. He pledged his wholehearted service to win the objectives and set the Emperor's mind at rest. To jo expressed determination to leave no cause for anxiety on the part of the people from the standpoint of military operations. . Vice-Admiral Ogasawara, president of the Japan Society, said the publication of the Truk communique showed the Japanese Government's limitless confidence in the people. The Tokyo radio said the admission that the Japanese losses at Truk -were greater than those of the enemy created a deeper impression on the people than any other announcement since the start of the war.

ANXIETY IN JAPAN WAR CHIEFS IN DISGRACE (Special Correspondent) LONDON, Feb. 22 "The changes made by Tojo provide a remarkable comment on Japan's anxiety about the way the war is going, nnd will have been made partly to placate critics in high places and partly to impress the general public with the seriousness of the present situation," says the Manchester Guardian, in a loading article. "We shall note that those selected for disgrace so far have not been the commanders at the front, whose failures have been many, but those responsible for the strategic direction. It is the grand planning of the war, the disposing of strength throughout the Empire and the organisation of military intelligence that has been singled out for attack.

"Tojo, by making himself Chief of Army Staff," the paper adds, "has identified himself irrevocably with whatever success or defeat the future may bring. His gesture is not unlike that of Hitler, when he dismissed his generals. Such devices are resorted to only when public confidence has been severely shaken a,s_ it is now in Japan." The Daily Telegraph comments that Japan's militarists have dealt themselves a new hand, "but the more they change it the more it is the same i hing." "The latest changes," the Daily Telegraph adds, "have a new significance. Tojo and his fire-eaters who dictate Japan's policy are now convinced that nothing will save them but complete totalisation."

Referring to Tojo's 'previous! announcement Hint Japan intended to fight until t Ik* British Ftnpire and the United _ States were forced to their knees, it adds: ''The simultaneous dismissal ol tin? chiefs who planned the strategy and directed Ihe operations is an abject. confession of failure, combined with a futile attempt to cover the tollv of thi» militarist schemes by exhibiting scapegoats,"

MR. NASII IN ENGLAND ADDRESS TO LABOUR PARTY O-ippchil C'orrospomlon!) Hiocrl. f>.3r, p.m.) LONDON, Fob. <2'2 I lie New Zealand Minister to Was-h----ingion, the lion. W. Xash, who has had a further meeting •with Mr. Churchill, so far has no comment to make for publication on his visit to London. He had another full week, meeting several ..Ministers, and also the chiefs of the three services. To-day .Mr. Nash listened to Mr. Churchill's speech in the House of Commons. Mr. Xash is addressing the Labour 1 arty at the House of Commons on February L'.'i and will address the Overseas League in (he evening. Among the subjects Mr, Nash is discussing are Britain's export prices compared with those in New Zealand, there is a feeling that Britain's prices ■ire too high and that there ought; to be some adjustment. QUADRUPLETS BORN Um!. U.f«) p.m.) NRW YORK, Fob. <_>: i A message from Decatur. Alabama. <tates that Mrs. Spencer Hutto, 2.1-vear-old wife of a paratrooper, has liven birth to quadruplets, three girls uid a boy. The boy died, but the girls are doing satisfactorily.