The Timaru Herald TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 1943. PACIFIC STRATEGY

Timaru Herald, Volume CLIII, Issue 22471, 5 January 1943, Page 2

The Timaru Herald TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 1943. PACIFIC STRATEGY

Jill. Prime Minister of Australia, Mr J. Curtin, has again become publicly critical of the general attitude of the I nited Nations to the Paeilie war, and it has been made (dear in the past that he is not alone in this criticism. The New Zealand Government, although not so vocal on the question, no doubt shares the Xustralian view, but is more inclined to i>e patient, acknowledging no doubt through the exercise of this virtue that the total war commitments of the United Nations are varied and heavy. Nevertheless, it is the duty of the leader of any Allied nation to draw attention to possible imperfections in strategy, lor out of the pooling of ideas the final grand strategic plan of the I idled Nations will emerge. Mr Curtin revealed in his statement that Australia “for months had been pressing unsuccessfully for a major Allied offensive against Japan. Then he added: “There is no doubt Japan is consolidating her gains. Japan’s strength must not be allowed to grow. As it grows it becomes an added rampart for the Axis as a whole. The war in the Pacific is at a crucial stage.” There is an obvious danger that Japan, if not kept under constant offensive rakiug,. will lie able to tighten het hold 6h the outposts she has gained in the Pacific, but as a possible discount to Mr Curtin’s fears, it can be said that the general Pacific position is much more satisfactory now than it was three months ago. The Japanese are being methodically attacked, although not on a large scale, and it is also plain that the Allied forces in this area are no longer fighting a holding war. They have completely foiled the more recent Japanese attempts to bring reinforcements to Guadalcanal and elsewhere, and even though there are reports now that a large enemy armada is massing at Rabaul it is most improbable that any new enterprise will fare better than the recent ones which were magnificently circumvented. One necessary preliminary to a successful offensive is to have at least an approximate idea of the strength of the enemy, and the present Allied strategy in the Pacific can be construed as a tentative investigation of the resources available to the enemy. It would, of course, be a mistake to sav that the Allied forces have been engaged in nothing more than exploratory expeditions. The first task of the Allies in the Pacific was to assure that Japan's threatened sweep southward should be stopped. II has been stopped, and the decisive action in this phase of the war was the American offensive in the Solomons. That was one turning point in the Pacific war, and more are yet to come before the way to victory against Japan becomes clear. That the Japanese attached special importance to the bases at the extreme end of their southward push is shown by the determination of their defence in New Guinea and Papua, and by the strong though unavailing attempts they made to bring reinforcements to Guadalcanal. It is reasonably certain that they cannot come further south now, and the fact that they are so held means a great deal to the nations of the Pacific.

However, it is clear that Japan will not be defeated by a holding war in the Pacific and it is at this point that Mr Curtin's criticism is most pertinent. His demand for a larger Pacific offensive has been fairly widely supported by a section of the American press. Mr Curtin's voice therefore, is not lonely. The only-possible answer to his statement was that of the Associated Press of America which said: “The blunt I ruth in the Pacific is that the ‘Hitler first’ decision has been taken, and implemented by tremendous action. There is no receding from that course, even if disappointment among the Pacific Allies that the offensive against Japan is not yet in sight nags them into verbal protests or ungracious gestures.” It would l.e more reassuring for the peoples of the Pacific if a full-scale attack were launched against the Japanese and (hey were swept out of ail the territory conquered by them in the past year, but the United Nations are lighting resourceful and powerful enemies in a global war. In a conflict of these dimensions the maximum strength cannot be focussed at all points simultaneously. There must be a temporary holding war in some areas. In the meantime llie Pacific appears to be one of the areas in which this strategy is being followed, not because it is considered best, but for the good reason tnat quarts cannot be extracted from pint pot-.