The Timaru Herald. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1942. WAR COMES TO AUSTRALIA

Timaru Herald, Volume CLI, Issue 22203, 21 February 1942, Page 4

The Timaru Herald. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1942. WAR COMES TO AUSTRALIA

THE New Zealand reaction to the news of the bombing of Darwin has been a grim realisation that war is coming uncomfortably close to our own shores. Disturbing as the report -may be, it was only to be expected that this naval and air base —the only one on the whole of the northern coast of Australia —would receive attention from enemy bombers after Japanese forces had occupied the island of Amboina, only 580 miles from Australia’s northern base. At first sight it might appear that this bombing is the prelude to actual invasion. But, although ample evidence is available that there has been already too much minimising of the striking capacity of Japan, the invasion of Australia would be too hazardous an excursion for even this nation which has proved itself resolute and daring to the point of recklessness. Now that Singapore has been “liquidated,” the Japanese grand strategy is to isolate Australia. The Japanese High Command realises that Australia is the last and principal base in the South Pacific from which the Allied naval and air offensive must be launched against Japan from the south. For this reason alone it is of vital importance to Japan that she immobilise Australia before American aid can reach the Southern Continent. But Japan has already had experience of the difficulty of conquering a vast country, and, as in China and Russia, one of Australia’s best defences is her vast distances. In Australia there are long leagues of undefended coastline which must be giving the army leaders some concern, but should an enemy force land on parts of this coastline it would be confronted by great stretches of arid, desert-like land which would serve as a buffer between it and the populated, munitions-making portion of the south.

Japan's immediate strategy is more likely to be a series of successive occupations of the islands that Hank the eastern shores of Australia. These islands would not only serve as springboards for attacks on Australia, but, more important still, they would act as a barrier against America and so isolate Australia. The effective occupation of these islands is therefore a race between Japan and the Allied forces —and Japan is moving surprisingly swiftly. But even if Australia were isolated, and Japan attempted an invasion of this continent, they would find that, more important than vast distances and more important than vast armaments, would be the spirit of the Australian people. Here the invaders would find that, instead of dealing with a people riddled by fifth columnists and indifferently standing aside from a conflict by two warring foreigners, they were opposed by a united people prepared to take any measure to defend their homes. China has already shown Japan—and the world—-how a comparatively unarmed people united in resistance can bring even the most modem weapons of warfare to naught. But the Japanese are a desperate people playing for desperate stakes and are prepared to take desperate measures to attain their ends.