Wairarapa Times-Age FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1942. A JAPANESE THRUST.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 September 1942, Page 2

Wairarapa Times-Age FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1942. A JAPANESE THRUST.

UNDOUBTEDLY serious in itself, though within limits that ' have yet to be defined, the latest war development in New Guinea would be still, more serious if it were typical and indicative of the general trend of the war in the Pacific. There is in fact a great deal to set in contrast with the reported course of events in New Guinea, where the Japanese have forced the ftap in the Owen Stanley range, regarded hitherto as the main barrier against any attempt on their part to advance on Port Moresby from the north. The penetration of this barrier cannot but be a matter, however, for anxious concern. It is so obviously desirable that the enemy should not only be prevented from advancing on Port Moresby but should be expelled, from all his footholds in New Guinea, that it must seem surprising that the defence lines on and in advance of the Owen Stanley range were not manned in greater strength than they appear to have been. No. doubt, however, the operations in. New Guinea must bo considered in relation to those in other parts of the South-West and South Pacific, and indeed over a very much wider area, and naturally and properly hardly anything has been disclosed of the strategic plans to which the Allies are working. In the existing state of information it cannot but be felt that the powerful and purposeful thrust the Japanese are now making towards Port Moresby follows strangely upon the heavy setback they suffered recently at Milne Bay, at the south-eastern extremity of New Guinea, upon their much greater defeat in the Solomons and upon their defeats with heavy losses of warships and auxiliary vessels in the Coral Sea and Midway Island battles. The present enemy enterprise appears to be rather oddly out of keeping, too, with the considerable measure of air ascendancy the Allies have established of late, not only in the area of the island groups beyond Australia, but in other Pacific regions, notably China. Gaining a secure foothold in Port Moresby, the Japanese no doubt would be in a position to intensify their air attacks on the Commonwealth or even to attempt an invasion of its mainland territory. Apart from any assumption as to the increasing strength and striking power of the Allies, the recent course of events might be supposed to imply an ability on the part of the latter to deal drastically with any attempt to attack the Commonwealth or its immediate outposts. It may be that an unpleasant surprise is in store for the Japanese forces which are now making somewhat astonishing progress towards Port Moresby, but it has to be admitted that information at present is hazy as to the actual position and outlook in many sections of the complex struggle in progress in the Pacific. With the situation in New Guinea awaiting elucidation, however, there are some developments which definitely bear witness to the increasing strain under which Japan is labouring. Having broken into the Solomons and firmly maintained their grip on sea and air bases in that group, the Allies are directly threatening vital Japanese strongholds at Rabaul, in New Britain and in other islands further north. At the same time, the progress of events in China is encouraging in itself and as it bears on the total outlook in the Pacific war. Chinese armies, assisted notably by American air forces, have largely driven the Japanese out of the eastern Chinese provinces of Chekiang and Kiangsi. The Japanese have thus lost control, not only over aerodromes from which their home territory can be bombed, but over a railway running through the Chinese coastal zone. In her recent operations in eastern China, Japan was intent on. establishing unbroken railway communication from Shanghai to Singapore and Rangoon. < Supplying her southern occupying armies by this route, she would have lessened considerably the demands now macle upon her depleted shipping resources. Now, however, a considerable part of the railway is again in Chinese hands. Demands upon Japan’s limited shipping tonnage are as great as ever, and it is likely that these demands will nowhere be more onerous than in the development of the southern campaigns, including that which meantime is taking rather menacing shape in New Guinea.