AHEAD OF SCHEDULE
OFFENSIVE IN PACIFIC (P.A.) WELLINGTON, June 2. When they launched their Pacific offensive the Americans had to act quickly in order to save Australia and New Zealand, said Admiral Halsey, at a press conference at the American Legation to-day. Like most wars, the conflict had begun on a shoestring, and there was lack of shipping and equipment at the beginning, leading to the shedding of a lot of blood. In consequence, they were still short of equipment—no military man ever had enough.
The campaign, he added, had demonstrated that the Japanese “ buildup ” as a super-man was a myth. The Japanese would fight to annihilation, but they were “nothing but rats.” His difficulty in determining what the Japanese would do had been that he was unable to think like a rat.
Admiral Halsey declined to say whether the Japanese fleet was going to emerge and seek battle, stating that he gave up looking at the crystal ball two years ago. The best way to defeat the Japanese was to annihilate them. The offensive was now ahead of schedule. In the battles off Guadalcanar the battleships were worth their weight in gold. The bigger they were the better they were.
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Otago Daily Times, Issue 25552, 3 June 1944, Page 6
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201AHEAD OF SCHEDULE Otago Daily Times, Issue 25552, 3 June 1944, Page 6
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