The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-04-24
ALLIES SAID NOW
ON VICTORY ROAD
Continued from Page One)

oSt4Ol mas oSNlI SNitSASa, 1,
said the campaign there may be
as having four stages:
"lA) The defensive, when we
were engaged almost exclusively
in protecting our shores and our
lines of communica alton from the
encroachments of the enemy.
"(B) The defensive offensive,
during which, although our opera
lions were chiefly defensive IN
character, we were able neverthe-
less to take certain offensive
measures.
"(C) The offensive defensive,
covering the period Immediately
following our seizure of the initia-
tive, but during which we still had
to use a large part of our forces to
defend our recent gains.
I'D" The offensive, which began
when our advance bases were no
longer seriously threatened and we
became able to attack the enemy
at places of our own choosing"
His report of the defensive
stage" was principally a recount
ing of battle against overwhelming
ODDS, with comparatively weak
United States forces-reduced by
the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor-
fighting delaying actions to curtail
the forward surge Of the japanese
war machine; of submarines and
torpedo boats waging war against
strong Japanese units.
Ultimately our strength began to
grow, he recounted, and the wholly
defensive stage reached an end
with the Battle of the Coral Sea-
a major naval engagement fought
entirely by carrier-based planes,
and the first in naval history in
which surface ships did not ex-
change a shot.
Swinging into what King term
ed the defensive offensive" stage,
the Pacific fleet at the Battle of
Midway administered to the Japa-
nese the first decisive defeat the
Nipponese had suffered at sea in
$50 years-since the Korean fleet
trounced the Japanese in 1892.
Landings in the Solomon Islands
on August 6, 1942-the opening of
the long battling for Guadalcanal
and Henderson Airfield - opened
the period described by King as
the offensive Defensive stage,
which continued through the At
ties of Savo Island, Santa Cruz,
Tassa Faronga, Kula Gulf and
closed just a year later with de-
feat in Vella Gulf of a japanese
task force seeking to convoy equip
ment and troops to Vella Lavella
in the Solomons.
Then came the slashing often
sive drives-the pushes that still
are continuing. showing the enemy
further and further back toward
his homeland-away from the Gen.
trail Solomons, Northern Solomons,
the Gilberts, the Marshalls. and on
Bougainville and New Guinea.
The Marshalls and the Gilberts
figured in the Pacific picture from
the start of the war. 1t was there
that first offensive operation was
staged, King recalled, in a raid in
February, 1912, by an American
carrier task force commanded by
Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr.
Success of that attack. he said,
prompted several other similar
assaults. upon Wake, japanese po-
sitions at Salamaua and Lac in
New Guinea, and upon Tokyo by
army bombers flying from the car
rier Hornet.
In that connection, King reveal
ed for the first time that in Feb
ruary of 1912, a carrier task force
moved out to raid Rabaul. New
Britain, one of the strongest Jap
anese bases in the South Pacific.
But enemy bombers spotted the
carrier-the Lexington and the
element of surprise having been
lost and fuel having been reduced
by high-speed maneuvering, the at
tack on Rabaul was not pressed
home"
Capture of the Gilbert islands,
accomplished last November, was
described by King as "a necessary
part of any serious thrust at the
Japanese Empire" He explained
their great strategic significance"
by their location within striking
distance of the Marshall and Caro-
line island groups.
Their worth already has been
proven-the Marshalls were taken
beginning January 80 in what King
called offensive operations on the
largest scale yet undertaken. The
Japanese have been cleared from
all but four positions in the eastern
Marshals, and there, cut off from
support, they have been described
as dying on the vine"
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