Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS by edward C wayne jap deams dreams r of easy conquest fade As U S aid to australia grows presidents victory plan depends on successful offensive in pacific EDITORS NOTE when opinions are arc espres expressed aa ed in these columns they are those of at the news analyst and not nece necessarily rily of this newspaper released by western newspaper union i VICTORY for navy forces almost coincident with the arrival of general macarthur in australia the first great word of an offensive against the japanese had been received and the U S had hailed a great naval victory in new guinea first reports had been of the sinking of 23 japanese vessels a dozen of them vessels of war and though few details were announced it was obvious that it had been a battle of the air rather than of the sea important in the first dispatches had been the word that they were island based forces of the united states and australia and this had been comforting in the extreme for until this point america had not known that there were any island bases left to us in the pacific theater with the exception of hawaii it had been learned of course that the japanese after taking wake island had later abandoned it but few believed that our own navy had moved back in there aside from speculation about where the base was a fact the japs would like dearly to know the victory itself was important in the battle of java sea we had lost one heavy cruiser ourselves and our allies had lost four in this battle the japs had lost two heavy cruisers one light cruiser and other ships of war of lesser les ser import the rest of the ships sent to the bottom or put out of action were freighters some of them being used as troop transports OFFENSIVE Aus aussien sies viewpoint almost coincident with the arrival of general macarthur his chief of staff maj gen sutherland and the rest of his party official australia began to talk and think in terms of an offensive against the japs on a scale hitherto not dreamed of As to the japanese themselves after having previously reported weeks ago macarthurs Mac Arthurs flight from the battlefront to corregidor and other untrue stories about the commander they were considerably taken aback by the news that the commander was in australia they did just what president roosevelt had predicted and de wye I 1 sv it P I 1 I 1 X A I 1 I 1 PRIME MINISTER JOHN CURTIN american aid is doubly welcome dared that general macarthur had run away from the phili philippines paines and then went on to say that american resistance in australia would be short lived the resistance in bata bataan an had stood as a monument to japanese falsehoods an and d false hopes of easy conquest and some believed that macarthurs Mac Arthurs assignment to australia might give the japanese pause in going through with the invasion at any rate prime finist minister er curtin had said it is most gratifying that the american troops are now here in force their numbers are most substantial stan bial we are the base from which to strike at the enemy american aid is doubly welcome because britain could not carry the burden of the pacific while engaged in a life and death struggle with germany and italy our nation must demonstrate to history that it has the moral and physical stature to stand up and trade punches with the enemy not for six weeks or months but year after year it if necessary giving odds but fighting the enemy to a standstill MAC ARTHUR and his job the sending of macarthur from bataan where the man in the street had regarded him as a sort of dead hero certain certainly li a hero but condemned apparently to either death or a japanese prison to australia where he could start with a clean page in the defense of that continent ha had d been greeted with wild enthusiasm feromone from fr omone one side of the nation to the other paeans of praise had re sounded not only in the press but upon the streets and the general view was wa s that the whole move had been made mad e cleverly because while general macarthur had given his bataan job into the hands of general wainwright he was still technically in command as the philippines were placed under tinder his jurisdiction no less was the delight felt by the australians who had demanded macarthur to lead them the american public regarded it as significant ant that the move had been ordered in late february but had not been carried out until mid march thus showing that macarthur was not rushing after personal honors or safety and that he would gen douglas maj alai gen macarthur sutherland not leave his command until he had been given time to arrange things to suit him macarthur was accompanied by his chief of staff maj gen richard K sutherland and by erig brig gen harold H george of the air air corps considerable editorial praise had been heaped on mrs macarthur when it was learned that she and her son had not chosen the comparative safety of manila and internment but had chosen to go to the battlefront with the general and then to take the long and perilous plane journey to australia with him As to the generals job in australia it was the toughest of the whole war that was conceded on all sides for he was taking on his shoulders the command in an area where all had been defeat thus far the japs were figured to attempt the australia blitz despite the fact that they had learned that american troops in force were on the continent and that more were on the way the australian occupation was so vital to the japanese however that they were apparently ready to risk the showdown battle that would surely ensue there was little question but that austra australia lia was poorly prepared for prime minister john curtin had been stressing that since the beginning but with co considerable american aid it was hoped that the defense could be carried out successfully strategically however macar thurs job was even bigger than defending australia Australi aJ for if president Roosevel ts victory plan were to be carrie carried d out it was up to him not only to defend australia successfully but to be in at the death of the japanese hopes in the pacific and to carry on from australia as a hop off spot the successful offensive that would at least so america hoped knock the nipponese out of the war macarthur on his arrival had found more than just american troops on the ground he had found an air force which was carrying out his own ideas on bataan striking often and fiercely at the enemy before he arrived on the scene there were few who believed macarthur even by a miracle of strategy could prevent japanese landings on australia even as he was unable to prevent them on the philippines philippines but many hoped that he could co uld and would find some method of striking such forces such terrific blows as to drive them i into to the sea and prevent their organization za into any sort of a successful land army RUSSIANS clamp down the russians having carried out their continued offensive during the coldest of the winter had clamped down on several important points including 1 harkov and and claimed that german troops were trapped in the latter area the germans also the reds had asserted were steadily giving ground in the kharlov region dubbed the pittsburgh of russia there also had bad been con considerable considers sidera ba favorable military activity in the district of sk which for a time rumor had it had been hit lers personal headquarters in the meantime the russians had taken over the suburbs of kharlov and had started what they described as the fiercest sort of house to house fighting in each of these encounters the russians had been able to mass well trained troops in superior numbers over the germans and in the russa sector they had asserted that the germans were refusing to yield and were gradually being exterminated even in the southwest where hitler was supposed to have ordered a counteroffensive counter offensive the russian machine was still moving ahead moscow had reported SUICIDE confirmed A roundabout method of confirming the suicide of general homma in the philippines by the hara kiri method was discovered by carlos barry a chilean newspaper man stationed in tokyo he sent a dispatch to the newspaper el cheleno in which he said the suicide of general masaharu homma for failure to destroy the american and filipino defense forces had been confirmed he did not say that tokyo confirmed it but added the confirmation came through the fact that his successor general genera Torno tomoyuki yuki was announced officially this under the rules of the samurai can have only one meaning homma would not have been permitted to live through this disgrace he must according to the code retire to his room and retire himself with a sword LOTTERY number three selective service heads aided and abetted by draft boards board from coast to coast swung into ato the task of classifying and calling up men drawn in the third draft lottery the word had gone out that not all would be drawn for military service but that many might be drafted into defense indest industry ry in the nine millions of men between the 2044 20 44 age limits were many of the older men more settled the heads of businesses and owners of property and their reaction to the draft had been just as enthusiastic as had that of the younger men in the previous groups in this lottery as in those previous there had been some small errors two numbers having turned up missing and 2069 and one being duplicated 2885 I 1 miscellany i washington in order to improve the war spirit of the people generally president roosevelt had said that he be would like to see more military parades it is time to wave the flag the president said moscow the russian press p ress dismissed with one paragraph the news that general macarthur had been bee made supreme commander in 1 n australia |