Evening star., 1943-08-08
Mundu as Milestone


our Pacific war against Japan Note
worthy by the fall of Munda on New
Georgia Island, it also marks the
first anniversary of our landing on
Guadalcanal and the start of an
American and Australian offensive
in the South Pacific that has con-
tinued steadily ever since.
This larger aspect was fittingly
stressed by two leading spokesmen
of our armed forces. At headquar-
ters in Hawaii, Admiral Nimitz, COM
mander in chief of the Pacific Fleet,
stated that our landing on Guadal-
canal marked the turning of the tide
of Japanese conquest. A year later
the entire perimeter Of Japans far
flung empire is open to an attack
at the right time. This has been
demonstrated by recent strikes at
Paramushiru. at Wake and at Sura-
baya. While the enemy must stand
ready everywhere for assault from
the surface and from the air, our
submarines are destroying his ship
ping" In similar vein, speaking
from the combat area, General Van
dergrift, who led the Guadalcanal
expedition, stressed the heartening
differences between that hurried and
costly enterprise and the smooth
working coordination which en-
compassed the fall of Munda This
time" he pointed out. "our offense
had more airplanes, more ships and
more men. That Is the most en-
couraging part of the picture-we
have the personnel, the materials
and the tools with which to work"
An amusing contrast to these ap-
praisals of the past year is afforded
by Tokio's reaction to the same
theme. japanese propaganda has
consistently maintained that the
naval battle off Guadalcanal which
coincided with the landing of our
marines was great japanese victory
in which their navy crushed the
combined fleets Of the United States
and Britain with one blow" So the
TOXIC radio celebrated the anniver-
sary of that victory" going on, to
tell its listeners that "our forces are
crushing enemy advances every
time he moves" The fall of Munda
was passed over in discreet silence
It would not have fitted well into
the roseate picture painted for a
docile and news-perverted radio
audience.
The capture of Munda is naturally
an important step in our climb up
the island ladder of the Solomons
toward the main Japanese base at
Rabaul on New Britain Island The
japanese still hold one strong point
on New Georgia at Bairoko Harbor,
together with a position on nearby
Kolombangara Island Just across the
Kula Gulf They will doubtless be
reduced in the near future, which
will open the way for further ad-
vances in the Solomons. Yet present
accomplishment and future pros
poets should not make US lose our
sense Of perspective. A year Of eX-
tremely tough fighting in the Solo
mons and on New Guinea has
advanced us only part way toward
Rabaul, which itself is only the first
main link in the long chain of Japa-
neSe defenses which stretches from
the South Pacific to Japan. The
same is true Of the similar chain
from the Aleutians through the
Kuriles in the North Pacific. There,
only Attu has been taken, and kiska
still holds out. In both theaters of
war the terrain and climatic condi-
tions are the worst possible, while
the Japanese garrisons fight literally
to the death. At Munda, the latest
instance, some 1000 Japanese dead
have been counted, with no mention
of prisoners. This means a war Of
determination, necessarily slow and
costly. Much greater land, air and
naval forces will have to be assigned
to the struggle against Japan before
the grim tempo of that war can be
notably stepped up.
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