New Bases on New Georgia

The New Georgia group of islands (see map, p. 28) appeared last week to be the Japs' newest hope as a spot from which either to reinforce Guadalcanal or to delay an eventual U.S. attack on Rabaul. For either purpose, the group is ideally suited --a halfway station between Bougainville and Guadalcanal.

One reason for the failure of all Jap attempts to reinforce Guadalcanal strongly has been the lack of an intermediary airfield between the Bougainville group and Guadal, from which the Japs could send land-based fighters to protect convoys moving down "The Slot." At Munda, in the New Georgias, the Japs have desperately been trying to build such a field in the face of repeated U.S. air attacks.

The Japs also need an intermediate anchorage where small vessels--the craft of infiltration by sea--can pause before a night sneak to Guadal. Last week U.S. planes hunted down a new Jap hideaway in the New Georgia group. Wickham Anchorage lies hidden behind a long, narrow, palmy, hook-shaped island. It is only 120 miles from the main Jap positions on Guadal. Though the approaches are tricky, good-sized vessels can hide there. Last week a group of Jap cargo ships did. U.S. dive-bombers found them and in two attacks sank four. They also found quite a few landing barges by which the Japs sneak-land and sank five. At week's end SBDs sank two destroyers off the New Georgia group -- which may have been headed for either Munda or Wickham.

Defensively the New Georgia group is not much yet. The Navy showed its scorn by sending great, vulnerable PBYs, which are ordinarily reserved for reconnaissance, to attack Munda Field. But if the Japs succeed in building up their strength, the New Georgia group may prove a thorn in the flank of any U.S. attack farther up the line. The Japs might even put in enough strength to oblige the U.S. forces to take it first. And if U.S. forces cannot skip a few islands now & then, the road to Tokyo will be long indeed.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.