The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1942-11-14
HE CAMPAIGN IN SOUTH PACIFIC


Australians have recaptured Kokoda, you
are in a position to understand much of the
mysteries connected with the fierce cam
paign now raging in the South Pacific.
To get the picture right you must re-
member that the japanese, after landing at
Buna on July %, advanced toward Kokoda
by Sept. 7th, and then launched an expedi-
ton across the Owen Stanley mountain
ranges toward Port Moresby, on the south
ern side of the island.
It had been freely assumed that these
mountains constituted an almost sure de-
Tense of the United Nations base but the
.Japs made the trip and advanced to the
gates of Fort Moresby, only to be repulsed
by the Australians on Sept. 25th.
Since that time the Japanese have
been steadily retreating under pressure
and now the vanquished Nipponese are re-
firing to the port of Buna, where they orig
inally landed for their ambitious attempt
to drive the United Nations out of New
Guinea.
What explains the collapse of the Jap
anese expedition During the New Guinea
campaign the fighting on Guadalcanal was
fierce and the sea area around the Solo
mons was the scene of bitter engagements
between contending naval forces: The Two
Islands are part of the same area and the
campaign to determine the control of the
South Pacific included hostilities ON both.
If possession of Henderson Field, OH
Guadalcanal, offers a continuous threat to
possession of the northern part of New Gul-
nea offers greater threat. Why should
the Japanese make such strong effort 10
recapture Guadalcanal and let the expedi-
ton on New Guinea fall to pieces under
steady hammering of the Australian sol
diers?
There is only one answer that makes
sense, as we see it, and that is of such sig
nificance that we hesitate to believe it. Ger
tainly, the Japanese have the men TO over
run New Guinea and Guadalcanal if they
can land them on the islands but, and this
is the point, they have not been able TO re-
inforce the New Guinea contingent, and
there is doubt as to the number of soldiers
landed on Guadalcanal.
Why haven't the Japs sent in reinforce
ments? The only answer that we can think
of is that the Japs are short of shipping.
Under continuous and terrific bombing,
Japanese shipping has sustained heavy
losses. Warships and merchant ships have
IN hor oh nntC hon
out of action for while, and others have
been sunk.
Either this is the situation or the Jap
anese have, for strategic reasons, given up
the attempt to seize New Guinea. This
hardly seems possible, in view of the fight
ing in the Solomons, but the fact is that the
Australians are apparently on the verge of
scoring a great victory in the re-conquest
of New Guinea, which will serve advanced
air bases for more raids upon Japanese
bases.
1t is hard to believe that the Japanese
are already short of shipping or that The
Japanese fleet has been whitfield down TO
an extent that it is unable to protect cargo
vessels en- route to New Guinea. Neverthe-
less these are the conclusions that one must
draw from the recapture of Kokoda until
clearer facts become apparent "a
If this startling surmise is correct, and
the Japs are running short of. cargo vessels
or warships, the downfall of the Japanese
is much closer than anyone imagined. Ger
tainly, without cargo vessels, the newly
conquered islands will not help the Japan
csc and without an adequate fleet, their re-
capture will be much easier than ex-
pected.