NEW COMMAND

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 202, 27 August 1943, Page 5

NEW COMMAND

FOR SOUTH-EAST ASIA i LORD LOUIS MOUNTBATTEN APPOINTED 'By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) Recd. 7.30 p.m. London, Aug. 25. i It h-zs been decided to establish a separate South-east Asia < our. r 1 f r conducting operations base 1 on 1 Ir-iia and Ceylon against Japan. M will be an Allied command si bil.ir to that established in North Africa. T.j? Ning has approved the appointment of acting Vice-Admiral Lord Louis Mounthfitten as supreme Allied Commander in South-east Asia. I “Lord Mountbatten's appointment ; marks preparations for an early all--out offensive against Japan.” says the • Press Association’s military writer. I “The opening stages of th? offensive will require combined operations, in which Lord Mountbatten is fully experienced. General Sir Claude Auchinleck will probably retain static command of the forces in India but will establish an administrative liaison with Lord Louis. The operational duties of other commanders in relation to the supreme commander are so far not defined and it is not known to what extent Admiral Sir John | Somerville. Commander-in-Chief of the Far Eastern Fleet, and Lieut.General Stilwell will come under Lord Mount batten's control." Lord Louis Mountbatten, aged 43. is the third and youngest supreme Allied Commander appointed since the United States’ entry into the war. General Eisenhower is aged 53 and

General MacArthur 63. The Daily Mail says: “Big developments may be expected as a result of Lord Mountbatten’s appointment. The war against Japan will probably focus suddenly on the Bay of Bengal, with the Andaman Islands in the news. The sudden collapse of Hitler’s Europe might enable the Army and the Air Force to consider modest proposals for demobilisation, but every naval man will be needed to wage this war of sea power. The Arakan campaign demonstrated that something much bigger, more imaginative and more enterprising than that advance over mountains and through jungles, controlled from distant Delhi, is required. If we are to retake Burma, Malaya and Singapore, and bring succour to China, a land campaign must be the core of our attack, but there will also have to be a sea campaign on the largest possible scale and under a single command. The nature of the great campaign begins to take shape. India and Australia will be the bases from which the Japanese will be severed from their ill-gotten possessions while preparations are being made for a direct attack on the heart of Japan herself.” Brigadier-General Horace Sewall, military expert for the British Information Service, told the New York Times that the appointment of Lord Louis Mountbatten indicated that the assault on Burma would be a combined land, sea and air operation. He added that the Bay of Bengal must firstly be completely controlled, probably involving the reoccupation of the Andamans, after which the way would be opened for a descent on the Burma coast, from the south and west. The attack would probably be combined with extensive guerrilla warfare in the hills between Assam and Upper Burma. Probably intensive preparations for the winter campaign are now afoot.

WAR AGAINST JAPAN

MOUNTBATTEN’S TASK Rccd. 8 p.m. Rugby, Aug. 26. The first result of the Quebec Conference is the action taken in pursuance of decisions about waging the war against Japan and bringing effective aid to China. The South-east Asia Command is evidently an offensive command. Lord Louis Mountbatten made a great name for himself as a man under whose direction the technique of landing on a hostile coast was developed. Since 1941 he has been in charge of the organisation of combined operations, and in April, 1942, became Chief of the Combined Operations Command. The first major combined operation was the Dieppe raid, followed in November by the magnificently successful landing of the British and American forces in Northwest Africa. An even greater opportunity, however, lay before Lord Louis, By his part in the Sicilian landings he and his men had a vital part to play in effecting the first invasion of hostile territory across the sea. Once mofe complete success was achieved. Now Lord Louis is promoted to an independent command which promises abundant scope for his talents and experience. Most of the front against the Japanese comprised in the new Command is a water front.. Of the 1800 miles between South Ceylon and North Burma 1400 are accounted for by the eastern coasts of India and Ceylon. Eastern India faces Southern Burma across 500 or 600 miles of water, and Ceylon faces Northern Sumatra across 900, with the Andaman and Nicobar Islands running between. The coasts held by the Japanese from Sumatra Io Arakan extend over 1000 mi les.-8.0.W