WAR IN PACIFIC

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25083, 22 December 1944, Page 6

WAR IN PACIFIC

PHILIPPINES ACTIONS COMMENTS BY LORD KEYES (P.'A.) WELLINGTON. Thursday Inability to understand the tactics of attempted naval interference by the Japanese with the American landings on Levte was frankly expressed bv Admiral of the Fleet Lord Keycs today. The use of three separate forces on throe separate lines of attack when six oldtvpe battleships among the vessels ot tho United States licet, in action could alone have dealt with any one of the forces was inexplicable. Lore] Keycs was speaking with first-hand experience, lor lie disclosed that lie was present for the first three days of the operations on the flagship of Admiral Connelly, who commanded one of the American naval task forces. "I was immensely impressed with the work of the United States Navy in operation, especially when one realises that nine-tenths of personnel are shore wallahs," he said, "iliey have a a\u.y of teaching each man one job and lie knows absolutely how to carry out that job properly. Personnel lor landing craft can be taught in ten days, using the methods 1 saw in operation on the Pacific coast before 1 left the United States. Defence Against Air Attack "1 was especially impressed with their 'naval air.' It held off the Japanese shore-based planes. It should be emphasised that the American warships ofl tho Philippines were subjected to exactly the same kind of attack by land-based aircraft with 12-inch torpedoes as those which resulted in the loss of the Prince <>t Wales and Repulse. The difference was that the American warships had adequate air cover and their anti-aircraft armament was complete, The blast of fire with which warships are now able to meet aircraft attack is terrific and the aircraft are just wiped from the sky. "As far as I can ascertain, not one of the American battleships in action suffered the slightest damage by air attack and they shot down scores of Japanese planes. Vast numbers of air-craft-carriers could not operate without the battleship. The battleship must be there to protect the aircraft-carrier, and as long as the Japanese have a battle squadron so must wo have a battle fleet with which to oppose it. Strange Japanese Strategy "I£ seems impossible to justify the present strategy of the Japanese. They are obviously keeping their main fleet out of battle. 1 don't think they meant to meet Admiral Halsey. I heir fleet was covering the transfer of shore-based planes from the Japanese mainland southward, and 1 don't- think they knew Admiral Halsey with his big fleet of carriers was there. Their reconnaissance probably only saw 'tablet op' auxiliaries which were used for air cover of landings. "Americans have told me the Japanese lie to each other and mislead each other, and reconnaissance pilots must undoubtedly have reported the American force as much weaker than it really was. The Japanese airmen invariably overcall. They probably saw only the six old battleships and 'tabletops.' " Singapore Naval Base Speaking of the strategy which lay behind the creation of the naval base -it Singapore. Lord Keves said that both he and Loi;d Beatty had favoured it as an advanced base lor operations against the Japanese in th Pacific. "Both of us in the vear.s he and 1 were associated —he as First Sea Lord and 1 as Com-mander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean and later when I was First Sea Lord felt that the only enemy we had to consider in those years was Japan, said Lord Keycs. "It was to be advanced base for my fleet—the Mediterranean Fleet. It was not intended just to protect the Indian Ocean. "But neither of us ever considered it would he subject to attack from the land, nor did the War Office. The conditions which made that possible were never dreamt of. We built it up to be fully defensible from sea attack, with loin guns. But to think it fell to attack bv an enemy crossing the water behind the island in sampans 1 If we had had, perhaps, 'lO torpedo-boats it could have withstood a long siege." The recent, stroke in landing on Mindoro was a most daring one, said the admiral. It seemed him in keeping with What one American leader had said to him: "We aim to go where the Japanese ain't." The American remarked: "I think the Japanese are in much greater strength on Luzon ana Mindanao. I think they have big armies there, a-id any attack, on those islandwill be much harder." DELICATE OPERATION NERVES JOINED WITH HAIR LONDON, Dec. 19 Four soldiers whose lives were saved literally by a hair's breadth are patients in a military hospital in France. When the men were admitted it was found in each case that nerves in the head had been severed by shrapnel or bullets. The only way to save their lives was to sew the nerves, but the surgeon could not operate because sufficiently fine needles and thread wore unavailable. Lieutenant William Such, a member of the staff, whose peacetime hobby was to repair miniature watches, was able to make a needle. And when silk was pronounced too thick a thread and even hairs taken from the heads of the nursing sisters also proved unsuitable, lie remembered that he had a lock of his wife's hair in his pocket. "So, today," he wrote to her, "there are four men walking about with your hair in their heads, and there it will remain for the rest of their lives."