SINGAPORE GATE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 January 1942, Page 5

SINGAPORE GATE

MUST BE HELD AT ALL COSTS RELIANCE ON CHURCHILL & WAVELL. BRITISH AND AMERICAN COMMENT. (By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright) LONDON, January 5. “We can rely on Mr Churchill to withstand vigorously any suggestion that the resistance to Japanese will take second place in the Allies’ strategy,” says Mr Ward Price, of the “Daily Mail.” “Singapore must be held at any cost; it is the sluicegate which prevents the Japanese naval and aerial strength from flooding over the Indian Ocean.” “The Japanese, if they passed Singapore, would threaten the British communications with India, Australia and New Zealand, the British American supply lines to Russia via the Persian Gulf, and the British communications to the Near East via the Cape of Good Hope, “Whatever strength is required for the defence of Singapore must be diverted from other theatres. To lose Singapore would be to give up half the globe to the enemy.” The Washington correspondent of the “New York Times” says that General Wavell’s appointment implies a governmental decision to concentrate the Allied forces in the Far East and Pacific for the defence of Singapore and the Netherlands East Indies and “for the delaying action in the Philippines.” He adds that Major-General Brett’s appointment as deputy to General Wavell indicates the American intention to supply considerable air power, while Admiral Hart’s subordination under General Wavell clarifies the impression that the Washington officials who have urged “purely defensive .tactics in the Pacific” have lost authority. This strategy, the correspondent says, evolved from the meetings between President Roosevelt and Mr Churchill over the past days, but military considerations prevented its earlier disclosure. It was agreed that the world-wide war against the Axis would be seriously imperilled if Singapore were not defended and the Japanese, and perhaps even the Germans, entered the Indian Ocean, and also that the fall of Singapore or its partial Japanese control would dangerously, isolate Australia and New Zealand with their resources and their fighting men. It was Mr Churchill who eventually persuaded some American militarists that it is imperative to prevent Japan from consolidating, even tempoiaiily, her Pacific positions, and at certain keypoints. The “New York Times” further says that it is known the British have “some of their own problems in Singapore. For example, high ranking R.A.F. and navy officers were “not on speaking terms.” It adds that General Wavell’s appointment will eliminate whatever inter-service jealousies have existed.