BERKELEY,
CALIFORNIA, FRIDAY EVENING, JANUARY 12,
1945
BERKELEY,
CALIFORNIA, FRIDAY EVENING, JANUARY 12,
1945
Swarms of 3rd Fleet
Carrier Planes
Nip Naval Stronghold
By MAC
R. JOHNSON
A. P.
War Correspondent
PEARL HARBOR, Jan. 12.—
The Third Fleet hurled hundreds of
carrier planes against, Japanese "forces off the coast of French Indo-China
today, and there were inflictions that the biggest naval engagement since the
battle of the Philippines last October was imminent or under way.
Admiral Chester W. Nimitz
disclosed in a 22-word communique
last night that Admiral William
F. Halsey's rampaging' third fleet
sailed nearly
800 miles west of embattled Luzon
in the deepest American penetration
yet of the South China Sea to
challenge the enemy again in his own strongholds.
"Carrier aircraft of the
Pacific Fleet are now attacking the enemy off the coast of French Indo China
between Saigon and Camranh Bay," the communique said. It was one of the
briefest of 230 communiques issued by his headquarters
since the start of the Pacific War.
GOOD
HARBOR
Use of the phrase "off the
coast" clearly indicated that Japanese ships were under attack , but whether
part of- the Japanese fleet had been brought to bay or a reinforcement convoy
bound for the Philippines had been intercepted awaited further news from the scene.
However, Camranh Bay is
considered the fourth best natural harbor in the world with protected anchorages
for a large number of capital ships, cruisers and destroyers, while Saigon, 60
miles to the southwest, before the war was French Indo-China's first seaport and
a naval base.
Naval observers speculated that
Japanese fleet units may have sought refuge for repairs or regrouping at
Camranh Bay or Saigon after their disastrous defeat
in the second battle of the
Philippines last Oct. 22-27, when 24 Japanese
warships were sunk, 13 probably sunk
and 21 damaged.
Japan was known to have several battleships
and aircraft carriers, as well as numerous cruisers and destroyers, in fighting
condition and it long has been thought that an American landing on Luzon would
force the reluctant Japanese
fleet into action again.
War Today-
Drive
on Japan
May Hit Climax
By End of Year
By
LOUIS F. KEEMLE
U. P. War
Editor
Not only the Luzon invasion, but events toward the China coast and on the
Asiatic mainland show that the Allies are stepping up the war against Japan to
a tempo which might bring it close to a climax before the year ends.
The final battles and invasion of
the Japanese home islands can scarcely be expected until many months after
Germany has been defeated and the main Allied effort now concentrated on Europe
turned in full blast to the east.
Nevertheless it seems
increasingly probable that Allied forces from the Pacific will be in China
before the year is out. that would mark the beginning of the decisive battle to
crush Japan's powerful land army, her remaining bulwark of strength
now that her sea and air forces have
been reduced to hopeless inferiority.
DEPENDS
ON LUZON
The Allied time table depends largely
on how long it takes Gen. Douglas MacArthur to smash the Japanese on Luzon. The
Japanese there have been caught at a tactical disadvantage by the diversion of a
large part of their forces to the region south of Manila, due to MacArthur's
threat, real or feinted, from Mindoro and Marinduque.
The campaign may be over with surprising
speed if the enemy is unable to cover Manila quickly enough.
The Allied command meanwhile evidently is proceeding on the strategic
assumption that Luzon shortly
will be reconquered, which means that a sea and air bridge to the China coast
will have been established and the vital Japanese supply line to and from the south
severed.
DOUBLE
IMPACT
The cutting of that sea route
will have a double impact. In the first place, it will cripple Japan's ability
to supply and reinforce her positions in southeastern Asia, the Malay
Peninsula, and the East Indies.
Secondly, it will seriously interrupt
or almost dry up the flow to Japan of the food, oil, rubber and other essential
material needed from t h e stolen empire to the south.
The Japanese are making frantic
preparations to meet the developing
situation
by trying to improve their position in China and the potential land route
through French Indo-China and Thailand
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