JAPANESE FLEET

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 24875, 22 April 1944, Page 7

JAPANESE FLEET

IiEITSAL TO FIGHT KEEPING TO LAND SHELTER Oirnl. 7..'!<> p.in.) LONDON, April '2l Challenged by a powerful Allied ileet to join battle off the Dutch i East Indies, the Japanese Navy has given proof that it is not prepared to fight outside its protecting belt of islands in the Indian Ocean, says the Daily Mail's naval correspondent. Admiral Sir James Somerville's task force, which struck the surprise blow against Sumatra, headed into an area over which the enemy must keep daily air reconnaissance. If they had been prepared to give battle, there is no reason why they should not have been able to get to the scene before the Allied bombers and fighters took off to pound the airfields and docks of Sabang. Japanese Policy Explained The reason why the Japanese refused to fight in the Indian Ocean is clear, says the correspondent. Within the shelter of the protecting islands of the Andamans, Nicobars and the Netherlands East Indie 3 their fleet can operate with land-based air cover. This avoids the handicap of facing Allied fleets which have overwhelming superiority in aircraft-carriers. This principle has been scrupulously observed by the Japanese in all their Pacific fighting. It seems that in the Indian Ocean also they will wait for us to attack inside the island barrier before putting to sea to meet us. Tightening the Pincers The Sabang attack is interpreted in naval circles as tightening the pincers against Japan's extended outposts, says the Washington correspondent of the New York Times. It is pointed out that the attack gives striking evidence of Allied naval preponderance in the Far East. It is significant that British warships. which have previously been preoccupied in the Atlantic, are now able to be the spearhead of such nn important attack. A British spokesman in Washington described the attack as a challenge to the Japanese licet, part of which is believed to be at Singapore, the approach to which is covered by Sabang. The New York Times says there have been unconfirmed suggestions that the British are extremely interested in reconquering Singapore and Burma, whereas the Americans are more concerned with striking along the direct route to Japan. However, both British and American naval sources in Washington to-day unreservedly repudiated any hint of official differences, and added that the South-east Asia campaign was following the lines laid down at the Quebec Conference. DESERTION TO ALLIES GERMANS IN TURKEY SECRETARY OF EMBASSY LONDON, April '2O Allied circles in Istanbul confirmed the report that Fraulein Nella Kapp, secretary to the German Embassy m Ankara.' who disappeared a few days ago, left Turkey early this week for the Middle East after receiving an Allied pass, says Renter's correspondent in Istanbul." Fraulein Kapp. who is aged 24, is a daughter of the German ConsulGeneral in Budapest. It was reported on Wednesday that Fraulein Kapp had given up her post in Ankara and had left for an unknown destination. The Germans were making every effort to find her. With her had gone all the secrets of the German underground organisations in Turkey, as well as many enemy plans for moves in the Balkans. The same message said the Germans also were worried because of four German airmen interned at Ankara who were to be repatriated two refused to go. It wr<.4 now known that they went over to the Allies. They had reached Turkey from the Crimea and had already left for Syria. ATLANTIC NAVAL BASES AMERICANS VOICE VIEWS WASHINGTON, April 20 The Naval Affairs Sub-committee of the House of Representatives, returning from a tour of the South Atlantic naval bases, recommended immediate action to acquire permanent possession of the western hemisphere bases which were leased from Britain for 99 years in exchange for 50 destroyers. The subcommittee reported that the Navy had spent IMO .000.000 dollars developing bases in Newfoundland, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Trinidad. Antigua and British Guiana. The report stated: ' 'We feel if would he a mistake to abandon them." The sub-committee also recommended assisting Brazil to build up a navy by assigning to it surplus American Navy vessels after the war.