The Waikato Times. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1942 “BALANCE OF POWER" IN PACIFIC

Waikato Times, Volume 131, Issue 21836, 17 September 1942, Page 2

The Waikato Times. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1942 “BALANCE OF POWER" IN PACIFIC

The opinion that the United States holds the balance of military and naval striking power in the Pacific has been given by RearAdmiral Blandy on his return to Pearl Harbour after a tour of inspection covering 26,000 miles. Such a declaration is not likely to have been made without a thorough examination of all the facts and all the information available regarding the strength of the enemy. Rear-Admiral Blandy believes the Japanese can be held from further aggression, but not by a policy purely of defence. He advocates offensive action wherever possible, and the peoples of the United Nations are with him in that. It is satisfactory to know that supplies and equipment are reaching the fighting fronts and are performing well. “Balance of power” may be interpreted as superiority in numbers and equipment, but any such calculation should not exclude the ability or the lack of ability of the leaders to make the best use of the resources available. History is full of instances of armies and navies which on paper were “invincible” but which w r ere completely shattered by an apparently inferior force because of better generalship and the superior fighting qualities of the units. In this instance there is reason to believe that the Allied forces in the Pacific are, all things considered, superior to the Japanese. It is true that the Japanese have gained a reputation for unusual ability in jungle fighting, but that is only one facet of an extremely diversified undertaking. Moreover, the Allied forces are adaptable and do not lack initiative where changed tactics are called for. It must be remembered that the Japanese gained almost all of their victories when the Allies were notoriously unprepared. Indeed, the wonder was that with such a flying start the enemy did not progress even farther while he retained the advantage. Assuming that the United Nations can now bring equal or superior force to bear, strategy will play an overwhelmingly important part in the Pacific war. This is particularly so at sea, where the opposing forces have thousands of miles in which to manoeuvre and correspondingly great opportunities for the exercise of ingenuity. The belligerent who has the initiative has an advantage which only overwhelming weight or superior generalship can neutralise. In the Pacific the initiative is slowly swinging toward the United Nations.