Evening star., 1943-11-11

ns'sses 's s;sssss.s.ss ss ss 49,
such fantastic David Lawrence.
claims. The reasons are well un-
derstood by military people, but
perhaps not by the general public.
First, the Japanese object is to
confuse the American people and
cause distress and anxiety to the
families and friends of the many
boys who are aboard our ships in
the Pacific-which happens at the
moment to be a considerable part
OF our Navy.
Bolster Own Morale.
Second, the japanese are trying
not only to bolster up the morale
OF their own people, but to check
mate or discount wherever possible
in the Far East, and especially in
the occupied countries like China
and the Netherlands East Indies,
the favorable impressions created
by the news broadcasts of American
naval and air victories in the Pa
cif1c. The japanese propagandists
at Toxic know when the Americans
have won a naval battle or in
ficted severe damage by air and
they know about it even before our
NfT1 Jol Il Ill
make public announcement So the
opportunity is afforded Toxic to
send out broadcasts with extrava-
giant claims. The more severe the
defeat administered to the Japanese
the more likely are the broadcasts
to be sweeping in their claims.
Third, the Japanese airmen and
naval officers reporting on what
damage they have inflicted some
times eXaggerate their exploits and
sometimes report inaccurately be-
cause they do not actually know
what damage has been done. Aerial
photographs taken in the past of
some OF our own damaged ships
sometimes show a lot of smoke or
fire which looks as if it must have
meant the ultimate destruction of
the ship and yet surprisingly short
time was needed to make repairs
and put the ship in commission
again.
Fishing for Information.
Fourth, the japanese intelligence
system is fishing for information.
1t often seeks to know whether GER
tain ships are in given area
Thus the japanese last week didn't
know whether our naval aircraft
carriers were close to Rabaul or
whether all the attacks were COM
Ing from General MacArthur's air
bases in New Guinea. The fact is
we struck at Rabaul several times
from different directions. Subse-
quently it was announced that naval
carriers had participated in the op-
erations.
The japanese also wanted to know
whether any battleships were in the
vicinity and how many. They hoped
our naval authorities would answer
their inquiries, but to date nothing
at all has been said on the subject
and the japanese are still guessing
and fishing.
One method of trying to get in
formation is to spread a rumor about
a particular ship in the belief thai
the American naval base will begin
asking questions and start radio
communication with the ship in
question. There are mechanical de-
vices nowadays whereby the enemy
can detect the approximate location
OF a ship by evaluating the strength
OF its radio impulses while sending
message So it is important for
SHIPS IN certain circumstances to
keep their radio apparatus silent. 1t
is to force the opening of commune
cation to check rumOrS that enemy
claims are often spread, but the
trick is well known to our Navy and
the japanese cannot hope to profit
by any lapse in that respect.
Variation in Reports.
AS to all reports of air attacks,
these must occasionally be discount
ed because we have no means of
knowing how extensively an enemy
warship has been damaged. The
japanese were certainly deceived
about the repairs we made to certain
vessels reconstructed after Pearl
Harbor.
The variation in our own reports
as to damage done the japanese has
been slight compared to the varia-
ton which the japanese themselves
have revealed in their sweeping
claims. 1t is true that occasionally
when they hit destroyer, they call
it a cruiser and when they hit a
transport they call it battleship.
Perhaps it looks that way from the
air.
1t is to offset the possible i'll effect
Of the japanese claims that the Navy
Department in the past "a hours has
announced that all American vessels
actually sunk have been announced.
1t is apparent that American naval
forces have just won a brilliant vic
tory in the Southwest Pacific and in
due time the peoples of China, the
Philippines and Netherlands East
Indies will learn all about it.
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