THE SOLOMONS AREA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25239, 31 May 1943, Page 3

THE SOLOMONS AREA

EARLIER LACK OF SUPPLIES (N.Z.P.A. Special Aust. Correspondent) SYDNEY, May 29. Only inspired improvisation prevented the collapse of the Allied defensive effort in the Southern Pacific during the Japanese drive against New Guinea and the Solomons late last year. The Allied supply lines were strained close to breaking point. This was revealed by Captain Gerald Shattuck, staff supply officer under Rear-admiral Calvin Cobb, when he was interviewed by an Australian war correspondent with the United States Pacific fleet. . A fleet of tunny fishing boats recruited from American west coast ports did magnificent work in supplying the forward positions. Their refrigeration space was used to run small quantities of fresh food to the hard-pressed troops. Later they were used as patrol boats. At one time the fuel .supplies were so low that there> was a danger that the United States fleet would have to be withdrawn from the Solomons area. 1 In giving these facts to the correspond- $ ents, Captain Shattuck said that since last September the supplies reaching the South Pacific area were more than quadrupled, and if was now possible for supply experts to think in terms of the offensive. The day of desperate Improvisation wai over. Captain Shattuck warmly praised New Zealand's co-operation in meeting the supply problem, and said that all the fresh food now used by the American forces in the South Pacific area was supplied by the Dominion. Special Government vegetable farms had been established to provide fresh vegetables for the fleet and the innumerable garrisons on remote Pacific' islands. One real supply problem was created by the fact that the Japanese fighting men could live on half the food required by the Americans. But Captain Shattuck discounted suggestions that the Americans should lower their standards of living in the operational areas. The effect on morale and stamina of maintaining the full white man’s standard of living, he claimed, more than compensated for the additional burden on supply.