AMERICANS ARRIVE

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4536, 13 February 1942, Page 5

AMERICANS ARRIVE

VANGUARD IN WELLINGTON PROTECTION OF PACIFIC ROUTES REINFORCEMENTS FOR ISLAND STATIONS It is officially announced that the vanguard of a United States naval force has arrived at Wellington, New Zealand, after landing American reinforcements at stations along the 4000-mile route from Hawaii. New Zealand, with Australia, is in ViceAdmiral Leary’s Anzac command and the way is now clear for the transport of men and supplies from American bases to the battlefronts of the South-west Pacific. In a description of the voyage to New Zealand with the American naval force, a United'States war correspondent, referred to the gradual strengthening of the Allied lines of communication in the Pacific. He said he left Pearl Harbour in an aircraft-carrier which . subsequently took part in the raid on the Marshall Islands. Before the attack he was transferred to another unit in midPacific. “We spent many days among tropical islands along the route from Hawaii to New Zealand while great ships —formerly well-known as luxury liners—landed American reinforcements. The Japanese did nothing to interfere with the naval craft covering the movement of these reinforcements. “As an eye-witness of these operations, I feel completely confident that whenever the initial enemy thrust can be stopped, the final result will be only a matter of time.” The Japanese were only fooling themselves, said the correspondent, if they believed that the attack on Pearl Harbour had paralysed the American Fleet. The long lines of communication in the Pacific had been nailed down hard with reinforcements. The Japanese were only beginning to feel the weight of American attacks. American forces had already w T on the battle of access to the vast Pacific. The correspondent, describing the landing of American troops at Wellington from a destroyer, told how the American blue-jackets found it difficult to spend money ashore because the hotels and restaurants all gave free meals and the people invited them to their homes.