Against Japan

Pacific War Now Moving Sharply Against Japan

IT is exactly three years since the Japanese attacked all the coun tries of the Western Pacific, and invaded New Guinea—three years since we wrote here: “The Pacific faces grim months of endurance and sacrifice.”

The crisis is long past; and now, for the first time, we feel that we can say that our cunning, treacherous, sub-human enemy is within measur able distance of defeat.

In the “PIM” of January, 1942, we said; “For the present, and probably until May and June, we in the Central and South Pacific must just ‘take it,’ while we await the development of American and British strength. If we are not overwhelmed in these early months, it is a mathematical certainty that Japan, later on, will be overwhelmed by our naval and air forces. Every mile she thrusts east wards and southwards makes her more vulnerable.” That was written before the Japanese had invaded New Guinea, or crossed the Equator. It was a good forecast. We “took it”; most of 1942 had gone before we be gan to seriously oppose the Jap; we were not overwhelmed; and now the Jap is collapsing under the ever growing weight of our air and sea supremacy.

If the Jap had had real war-like genius, he would have occupied Aus tralia and invaded America early in 1942, while he had command of the sea, and marked superiority in the air, and had available enough ships

to transport overseas his numerically superior armies. We should have been paralysed before we could get moving. Instead, he fussed and fumbled among the Western Pacific archipelagoes, and gave us a chance —that we did not deserve —to recover from the shock of his surprise attack, and re-organise for offensive war fare.

If Japan ever had a chance of winning the Pacific war, that was when she lost it—in the early months of 1942. Since then, her de feat has been simply a matter of mathematical calculation.

EVENTS, now, are moving very rapidly in our favour. Every day furnishes new proof that the Jap has been caught completely off balance, and that his final defeat is not going to be as difficult as many have be lieved. He extended his “conquests,” and therefore his lines of communi cation, over thousands of miles of ocean; and then he lost control oyer the air, and over the sea. Realising his danger, he tried desperately to turn it into a continental war, in which he could use his military superiority; but the Americans, with brilliant planning, kept it and deve loped it as an amphibious war, in which the Jap, being quite unable to transport or deploy his armies, was literally at the mercy of our air and sea strength.

There have been many signs, in recent months, that this is the strategical conception to which Ad

miral Nimitz and General MacArthur are adhering; but it needed the American invasion of Luzon, chief island of the Philippines, to disclose the true picture, and expose the weakness of Japan. When MacArthur drove into the Philippines, at Leyte, the Japs made their biggest effort— they sent in their navy. Admiral Nimitz, in a series of naval engage ments, defeated the Japanese very heavily; and from that moment the heart seemed to go out of the Japa nese defences in the Philippines.

They sent several divisions against the Americans in Leyte; and the Americans killed over 100,000 of them, and scattered the rest. They sent huge convoys of reinforcements: Allied aircraft destroyed a large pro portion of them. They sent in fleets of bombers and fighters—and these also were destroyed.

Super-fortresses based on Sai pan are attacking Japanese cities almost every day. Other American planes, based now in the Philippines, are bombing every Japa nese ship that floats upon the South China Sea—which is between the Philippines and the China coast, and is the only corridor through which Japanese ships can maintain com munications with the huge Jap estab lishments in Borneo, Malaya, Burma, Siam and the Netherlands Indies.

British armies, with Americans and Chinese, are rapidly re-occupying Burma. British forces are coming south-eastwards along the coast of Burma. British carrier-based aircraft are attacking Jap bases in the northern part of the Netherlands Indies. It is only a question of time before the British west of Malaya will

join hands with the Americans in the Philippines, and thus isolate huge Japanese forces in Malaya, Borneo and the Netherlands Indies.

Meanwhile, a powerful British fleet, having come from Britain and rounded Australia, is moving up in support of the American fleets, and MacArthur’s hard-hitting expeditions on Luzon.

JAPAN is supposed to have five million soldiers under arms. But where are they, and of what use are they?

Most of them, of course, are in Japan, in Formosa, in Manchuria, in China and in South-east Asia, where they have no enemies to fight. A section of them is scrambling fool ishly eastwards through the jungles of Burma, having abandoned the grandiose plan of invading India.

Another section is garrisoning the in numerable islands of Indonesia; their fate is to be by-passed and isolated.

Another section is in the Philip pines, eager to fight, but unable to get island to island, or even from district to district, because of American air and sea supremacy.

And still another section is encamped - miserably in the by-passed islands of Northern Solomons, Bismarck Archi pelago, New Guinea, Marshalls and Carolines, hopelessly cut off from Japan, fatalistically awaiting the day when Australia’s slouch-hatted divi sions will search them out and hunt them down.

IT is argued that the Americans, with British support, will move on from the Philippines to Formosa and the China coast, to prepare there for the final assault upon Japan; and it is reported that Japan is making elaborate preparations to fight us in China, under conditions which might give her some advantage from her enormous military power.

But it is just as reasonable to sup pose that, since the Japanese are so clearly at a fumbling disadvantage in amphibious warfare, it will be the purpose of the Allies to keep the war amphibious, right up to the point of invading and attacking Japan itself.

There are islands all the way from the Philippines to Japan—Formosa, and the Ryuku chain; and even the narrow-gutted peninsula of Korea, so close to Japan, might be regarded as an island.

Discussion of what the Allies will do, after the Philippines campaign is so much speculation. The point that interests us, at the moment, is the poor showing that the Japs are mak ing in the Philippines. It indicates many things—the chief of which is that, if they cannot offer a stronger defence at this stage, the formal Pacific war may be over sooner than many people now think possible. |>UT it is unlikely that the success ful invasion and occupation of Japan would mean a quick end to war like operations in the Pacific. One cannot even guess how many Japanese were spread through South-east Asia ?n d IQ49 Sl nr.2 nd TvJ he rr< P^CiflC Terr itorieS m 1942, under Mr. Tojo’s lunatic plan;

but they certainly number hundreds of thousands. There never has been anything to suggest that these people, finding their country defeated and themselves hopelessly isolated, will accept the inevitable, and surrender.

It would be wise to assume that it will be necessary to hunt down and root out every one of them, like the sub-human creatures they are. That will be a long, hard, bitter task—but it will have to be done.

It is necessary to stress these things, in order that our people of the Pacific Territories should not buoy themselves up with false hopes of an early return to civil government, and civilian occupations. The few places south of the Equator which have been freed from the invaders hardly count in the Allies’ plans for restoring civil government and life in the Pacific.

THIS list shows all the Pacific Terri tories invaded by the Japanese, and the present position of each. It does not include the Asiatic countries invaded, such as China, Indo-China, Hongkong, Siam, Malaya and Burma, The list goes from east to west:

Gilbert And Ellice Islands—

British Colony.—Japanese driven out by Americans at end of 1943, and islands restored to British civil administration.

British Solomon Islands.—Japa

nese driven out by Americans in 1943.

Now partly under British administrative officers, and partly under military rule.

No indication of when civil government will be restored.

OCEAN ISLAND (British) and NAURU (British - Australian Mandate),—Both apparently still under occupation of Japs, who have been by-passed and isolated.

NORTHERN SOLOMONS: Bougainville and Buka - Australian Mandate.—By passed by Americans, who handed Em press Augusta beach-head over to Aus tralians in November, and Australians now trying to eject 16,000 Japanese.

Bismarck Archipelago: New

Britain and New Ireland - Australian Mandate. —Americans cleared western half of New Britain, and handed over to Australians in November. Australians in December made a new landing at Jacquinot Bay, 75 miles south-west of Rabaul. Estimated 60,000 Japs in these two islands to be liquidated.

Mainland Of New Guinea: Papua,

Mandated Territory of Australian New Guinea, and Dutch New Guinea.—Papua completely cleared of enemy by Austra lians and Americans in 1943, but civil administration not restored. Morobe, Huon Peninsula, and Madang areas of Mandated New Guinea cleared of invaders by Australians and Americans in 1944; military administration remains. Wewak and Aitape areas (western end of Man dated Territory) contain some 40,000 Japs, who are being slowly cleared up by Australian forces. Dutch New Guinea still holds many thousands of by-passed Japs; and it is assumed that the Territory is still under American and Australian occupation.

ADMIRALTY ISLANDS (part of Man dated Territory) .—Partly cleared of Japs by Americans, who subsequently handed over to Australians.

MARSHALL ISLANDS—Japanese Man dated Territory.—Some islands occupied by Americans early in 1944; others still occupied by by-passed Japs.

CAROLINE ISLANDS—Japanese Man dated Territory.—Some islands occupied by Americans in 1944, but majority of

bases still occupied by by-pa§sed Japs, who are isolated and neutralised.

MARIANA ISLANDS—Japanese Man date—Completely occupied by Americans in 1944, and turned into an active base of operation against Japan.

GUAM—American Territory.—Recap tured from invaders in 1944 by Americans.

PHILIPPINES—S e m i - Independent Commonwealth.—Now being attacked in strength by Americans, who plan to drive out Jap invaders, use the group as a base of operations against Japan, and restore the Filipino administration.

BORNEO—Dutch and British Terri tories.—lnvaded in 1942, and still in Japanese occupation. ' I n^o ETI i E %^ DS INDlES.—lnvaded in 1J42 and still in Japanese occupation. rFHOSE who examine that list will A see that, out of the 15 Territories named, only four (Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Solomons, Papua and Guam) have been completely freed from the invaders, and only one has had civil

administration restored. There seems no reason why two others, Papua and the Solomons, should not be restored to civilian government and occu pation; but in these matters we are completely at the mercy of the mili tary authorities.

It would be unwise to expect any general return to civil government and civil rights until the Pacific war is much more advanced. All that can be said now is that events in the Pacific are moving much more rapidly and more decisively against Japan than has been the case since December 7, 1941.