SOLOMONS BATTLE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 86, Issue 223, 22 September 1942, Page 5

SOLOMONS BATTLE

CHANGE FOR THE BETTER U.S. TROOPS REINFORCED ON GUADALCANAR (Special Australian Correspondent—N.Z.P.A.) (Recd. 10.20 p.m.) Sydney, Sept. 21. The Battle for the Solomons has taken a turn for the better with the United States Navy Department announcement that supplies and reinforcements had reached the marines on Guada’canar Island and that Flying Fortresses had beaten off Japanese battleships, but a warning is given that th? Japanese fleet has probably now reformed—it was attacked on September 14—and is waiting to strike again. American war correspondents watching the Solomons battle have, reported that the Japanese had in this zone four battleships and three carriers. with strong cruiser and destroyer support. Three battleships have been reported hit to date, but none has been claimed to be put out of action. Other Japanese naval losses have been too small to affect the strength of the enemy’s fleet. “The assumption is widespread that the Japanese intend making strenuous efforts to recanture the Solomons.” writes the New York Times’ Washington correspondent. “Therefore it 1s reasonable to assume that the United States Navy authorities are aware of the importance of having adequate forces with which to meet a powerful attack.” The see-saw Battle of the Solomons has so far failed to produce anv really decisive action, apparently because neither side has an overwhelming superiority. The value of land-based air power against naval strength has again been demonstrated in the latest action, but the Japanese, who managed to land strong parties of jungle troops on Guadalcanar, are unlikely to leave the rebuff unanswered. They are expected to resume strong ground efforts to capture the Kukum aerodrome. However, the arrival of United States marines reinforcements has lessened, though not removed, the danger.

Hanson Baldwin. In a despatch to the New York Times from “somewhere in the Pacific,” says: “Forces in this ocean are delicately balanced, which is a great improvement since Pearl Harbour, when America was clearly inferior. “The New Guinea situation,” he says “is not good, but is balanced by American gains in the Solomons.” Believing that hopes of a 1942 second front in Europe have disappeared, Baldwin says American intentions are tending to focus increasingly on the Pacific. This is welcomed in Australia, where it has always been felt that “the Pacific war is no sideshow but as great a task for the United Nations as Europe.” Making this comment, the Sydney Sun to-day adds: “It is a good omen that leading men in the United States are trying to bring home to their people the true proportions of this great war in the Pacific. Once that lesson has been learned a beginning will have been made in changing from the defensive to the offensive. That alone, with full power and over months and years, will defeat Japan.”