GENERAL MacARTHUR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25069, 10 November 1942, Page 3

GENERAL MacARTHUR

SCOPE OF COMMAND EXPANSION PROBABLE (N.Z.P.A. Special Aust. Correspondent.) (Rec. 8.30 p.m.) SYDNEY, Nov. 9. The scope of General MflcArthur’s South-west Pacific command will probably be expanded, states the American magazine News-week. The Solomons battle has widely impressed the need for greater Allied strength in this theatre.

Urging that the United States High Command should give General MacArthur the wherewithal to launch an offensive, the New York journal American says: “If we win in the Pacific we will win everywhere. The war there is not a side show. General MacArthur must not be abandoned to another Bataan, but given full opportunity to employ his talents as a master strategist.” Five reasons why General MacArthur has not already filled the offensive role expected of him since he left Bataan are listed by News-week as follows: —First, the decision of President Roosevelt and Mr Churchill to give first attention to knocking out the Nazis; secondly, the navy’s insistence that maintaining the supply route to Australia and New Zealand was the navy’s job; thirdly, the decision to invade the Solomons instead of or before attempting to' clear Eastern New Guinea; fourthly, the feeling aroused in the army by the proposal that General MacArthur should be made commander-in-chief of all American forces: and, fifthly, the MacArthur Presidential boom.

News-week says General MacArthur understood that he went to Australia “ under orders to organise an American offensive against Japan,” but when he wished to implement his plans there was no approving echo from Washington.