The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-03-31
General Macarthur Puzzled By Command
 CContinued from Page n

against the country's northern bases within two or three weeks, will be studied by the Allied leaders and meetings of the Australian war cabinet and war council this week. A complete reorganization of the various commands of Australia's own land forces under Gen. Sir Thomas Blamey, commander-th- chief of the United Nations land forces, will be discussed.
 All Very Cordial
 The discussions among MacAr- thur, Blamey and Lieut., Gen. George II. Bratt, deputy supreme commander of the United Nations under Macarthur, we've said to be proceeding in the most cordial manner"
 Blamey will have command of the Unite States land forces in Aus tralla as well as the Australian forces in matter of ground opera tions. Brett will have command Of the Allied air forces and Royal Aus tralian air force squadrons will be led by 0 young Australian who holds 0 distinguished record for overseas service.
 Brett will serve under MacArthw as deputy commander-in-chief for all the Allied forces in the entire Australian war sphere, except that Blamey will act directly through Macarthur in matters relating to the Allied land forces on the Aus tralian continent.
 Australia Agreeable
 Melbourne, March 3l-(UP)--' Australia's war cabinet, warned that the nation must twin this war or de" today approved a reorgani- zation of the armed forces involving the appointment of nine new gen. erals,
 The reorganization followed Q pledge by Prime Minister John Cur tin that neither the Australian gov ernment nor parliament would in- terlere with Gen, Douglas MacAr- thurs supreme direction of the war In the southwest Pacific,
 The reorganization provided for the appointment Of seven new ma for generals and two lieut-generals,
 Gen. Sir Thomas Blamey, new Australian commander of the Allied ground forces under Macarthur, sounded the keynote of the reshuf- fled command in a statement that the Australian forces will adopt the offensive spirit iu Australia"
 The Australian people, he said must be ready to stand up against anything that comes, including the possibility of Japanese invasion
 "Whether the invasion comes or not we must be prepared" he said In an interview.
 This year will determine whether Australia Is to live or die as na- ton. There is no question that we have got to win this war or die.
 "Certainly 1t won't be worth while living If we don't defeat the JapS.
 Curtin made his pledge of full support for MacArthur's decisions at a civic reception for Blamey.
 Military matters are for military men and neither the government nor parliament will override their decisions" he said,
 Our Bombers At Work
 General MacArthur's headquar9 ters, Australia, March 3l--(UP)- Col Eugene l.. Eubank, who conl- manded American bomber forces in the Philippines and Java cam paigns, estimated today that his planes had destroyed or seriously damaged l6 Japanese warships and 46 transports up to March l.
 Further, he said. the American bombers headed by flying fortresses had positively destroyed 30 Japan" csc fighter planes in addition to Q countless number destroye d aground,
 This estimate of devastation to enemy sea and air forces took no account of the stirring victories of the American and Australian air forces this month which permitted Australian Air Minister Arthur S. Drakeford to assert that the allied air forces had wrested air superb ority from the Japanese In the New Guinea and New Britain invasion areas.
 The cost of the victory of the American bombers in the Philippines and Netherlands East Indies cam paign, Eubank said, had been ex' tremely low in both personnel and equipment.
 "Our fortresses will carry plenty of lead and still come home," he said. Throughout the entire Philip pines and NET campaigns we lost only two bombers through piloting errors such as take-ofIS and land- ings."
 Air Minister Drakeford had said yesterday that American and Aus tralian air forces had sunk or crip- pied since March 10 more than lC per cent of the total cruiser strength with which Japan entered the war
 Col. Eubank, whose home is at Port Arthur, Tex, and whose family lives at Albuquerque, N. Mex, said Amer ican planes in the Philippines and NET campaigns had ranged wide over enemy held territory, thickly infested with Japanese fighter planes.
 Operate Day, Night
 During the 45 days we operated from NET bases we carried out some mission every day but one," he said We often operated day and night with as many as six missions ol more day.
 "The last day before the with drawals from Java we flew on 1( missions, sank five Japanese ships and hit four others.
 We were preparing for further raids when we were ordered to de- stroy our airdromes and withdraw.
 "Our bomber crews worked mag nificently under the greatest hard ships. They even serviced and load ed their bombers themselves after long, exhausting raids.
 "Our fortresses withstood storms of anti-aircraft and machine gun