FUTURE MOVES BY JAPAN

Southland Times, Issue 24861, 29 September 1942, Page 5

FUTURE MOVES BY JAPAN

Possible Attempt To Take_N.Z. (Special Correspondent, N.Z.P.A.) (Rec. 7 pjn.) SYDNEY, September 28. While many Australian war commentators continue to express the belief that the Japanese occupation of Port Moresby would be the prelude to immediate invasion attempts against the mainland, the same view is not held by most American correspondents in the South Pacific.

Martin Agronsky, The New York Daily Mirror correspondent, who has just returned to America from Australia, lists Port Moresby, New Caledonia and New Zealand as the order of conquest in Japan’s 'South Pacific strategy. “Although General MacArthur forestalled a Japanese invasion of Australia,” says Mr Agronsky, "the enemy believes he can accomplish the same purpose by sitting astride the United States-Australia supply line. Japan has not lost the initiative in this theatre, warns Mr Agronsky. He says that fast cargo vessels capable of speeds up to 25' knots have been the secret of Japan’s success. These vessels, which had long been prepared to do war transport work, enabled Japan to move large numbers of men to press home quickly the advantages gained by the first invaders.

Discussing the recent successes of the Allied air forces in the South Pacific, Mr Agronsky declares them to have been due to the “superior quality of our flyers and tactics, but we cannot match Japan’s Zero fighter. Our flyers are still waiting for higher altitude ships to put them on the same level as the Zeros.” ALLIES BETTER PREPARED

Although the next six months will be crucial ones in this theatre, with Japan endeavouring as her first move to dislodge the American occupants of the Lower Solomons (protecting the South Pacific supply line and menacing both Japan’s naval system concentrated on Truk and her hold on the other islands) American commentators here feel that the United Nations are now better prepared to withstand and counter the enemy’s aggressive thrusts than at any previous time in the Pacific war.

The “thin margin of sea power” in this theatre has been declared by Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet, to lie with the United Nations. Before an invasion of New o Zealand would be possible Japan would have to .annihilate the American fleet—which with the passage of time becomes a fear increasingly remote. Even enemy full-scale moves against nearer objectives, Port Moresby or New Caledonia, must involve a major naval clash, which the enemy seems anxious to postpone—although such a battle is regarded here as inevitable. With the improved flow of reinforcements, it is now grossly pessimistic to believe that the South Pacific air supremacy—won despite the admitted superior features of the Japanese Zero—can be wrested from the Allies unless Japan is prepared to throw in aircraft without regard for losses. The renewed Japanese efforts in this theatre —which are admitted by Tokyo to be intended to check the increasing aggressiveness of the United Nations—at present are grave dangers to Australia and New Zealand but they also present opportunities for coming to grips with the enemy under favourable terms. NO FURT DETERIORATION Moderate Australian opinion is a reflection of this view. It is epitomized by The Sydney Morning Herald’s correspondent, who writes: “It is too soon to say. that the tide has turned, but last week’s developments, both in the Solomons and New Guinea, have certainly led to no further deterioration in the Allied position. There can be no wider strategical security until the Japanese movement south is put into reverse and until the base at Rabaul is reduced. For the present each phase in the battle for the islands must be viewed as an element in the much wider struggle, with the most dangerous days still ahead.” IMPORTANCE OF AUSTRALIA CRITICISM OF ALLIED GRAND STRATEGY (Rec. 11.55 p.m.) NEW YORK, Sept. 28. “The Allies are treating the SouthWest Pacific front as a secondary importance until Hitler is cleaned up,” says The New York Daily News in an editorial. “The persistence of the Japanese effort to take Port Moresby suggests that they regard the front as anything but unimportant. It looks as though General MacArthur and his generals have their hands full. Some of our most respected experts had decided that the Japanese were sure to attack Siberia or India next, but is it not possible that the Japanese are planning to strike at Australia. Success would give them a pearl of great price. Port Moresby provides an ideal jumping off place for such an attack. It is not at all certain that the Japanese could take Australia with all the power they could bring against it. General MacArthur and the Australians would certainly fight them gallantly if they tried, but the question keeps recurring: Have the Allies’ chiefs of strategy been entirely well advised about the SouthWest Pacific, so secondary a front? Might not it have been wise to garrison Australia heavily and stock it heavily with tanks, planes and guns enough to keep Australia white?”