Evening star., 1942-08-26
Jupun Strikes Back

Jopon Strikes Back
There can be no better proof Of the
value of the Southern Solomon Is
lands captured by our Navy and Ma
rine forces some three weeks ago than
the great counterattack launched by
Isthe japanese in order to retake them.
Everything indicates that the opera
ton is on a major scale. The Navy
communique announcing the battle
states that the attacking force came
from the northeastward. This indi-
Gates that it was sent from the main
Japanese Pacific bases in the man
dated Caroline and Marshall Islands
which Japan acquired a quarter
century ago as spoils of the First
World War and has been secretly
fortifying for many years. Further
more, the presence of at least one
battleship and two of Japan's re-
naming. aircraft carriers shows that
the Japanese high command is ready
to take grave risks with its battle
fleet in order to attain the objective
1t has set before it.
Happily, this counterstroke was
foreseen by our Navy, which was not
caught unprepared. Also, our hold
on the captured islands obviously has
been thorough, since our land
based Flying Fortresses, seem to
be operating from the repaired air
fields on Guadalcanal Island, while
our surface craft and Navy planes
have good harborage at Tulagi Is
land, just to the northward. Thus
far, each successive move in the
japanese operation is reported to
have been effectively countered The
preliminary attack against Guadal-
canal Island by swarms OF Japanese
late Sunday afternoon was blocked by
American fighter planes. The bonn
bardment of shore installations by
Japanese light craft that same night
was repulsed. Finally, our bombers
and fighters discovered the main
fleet accompanied by troop trans
ports, and have already inflicted
| heavy punishment, hits having been
| registered upon one battleship, two
aircraft carriers, several cruisers and
a transport. That Is severe nick in
the Japanese strength, inflicted be-
| fore the surface fleets had as yet
| made direct contact, except perhaps
for light advance units. Judging by
the text of the Navy communique, the
| main conflict is now on; for it begins
| by saying that our naval and air
forces "are engaged in large-scale
| battle at sea-" and ends with the
grim sentence: "The action con-
| tinues."
The Importance of this battle on
the general strategic picture in the
South Pacific is too obvious to need
much explanation. An American
victory will not only clinch our hold
| on the Southern Solomons, but
will also so diminish Japanese naval
strength that further American Of
fensives upon the Northern Solomons,
New Britain, New Guinea, and per-
haps the inundated islands may be-
come feasible in the very near future.
On the other hand, a naval reverse
for our forces presumably would
| endanger our recent gains in the
Solomons and might also open our
communications with Australia to
harassing attacks.
This is about all that legitimately
can be deduced from the informa
ton now available. OF course, it Is
conceivable that the main battle
fleets ultimately might be drawn into
this conflict In that case, the mas
terry OF the Pacific could be at stake.
But that perhaps is venturing too far
into the realm Of speculation.