Knox: Gilberts push aims at Japan
Pacific victory will also shorten supply line to Southwest Pacific
Washington (UP) –
Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox said today that the U.S. invasion of the Gilbert Islands marks the beginning of a new drive aimed directly at Japan across the Central Pacific.
He told a news conference that the drive had two immediate strategic objectives. To drive the Japs out of the mandated islands and to shorten by hundreds of miles American supply lines to the Southwest Pacific.
He said:
This operation directed by Adm. Chester W. Nimitz, commander of the Pacific Area, is the beginning of a new campaign from the Central Pacific on a much more direct route toward Japan.
Jap fleet still hides
Up to the present time, no elements of the Jap surface fleet has appeared to oppose the Gilbert landings, he said, and added:
The threat has not as yet pulled the Japanese out of their shelter.
Mr. Knox believed that the nearest place to the Gilberts where the Jap fleet is gathered in any strength is Truk, the powerful enemy naval stronghold in the mid-Pacific.
Mr. Knox’s statement that one of the immediate aims is to drive the Japs out of the mandated islands indicated clearly that the next step of the forces under Adm. Nimitz will apparently be to drive into the nearby Marshall Islands and into the Carolines, site of Truk.
Explains gain
Clearing the path for a more direct supply line to the Southwest Pacific, Mr. Knox pointed out, would be equivalent to increasing the number of ships used to transport materials and troops. The shorter route would provide quicker turnarounds for supply ships and be an advantage in the matter of logistics, he said.
He said:
The fact that we are undertaking this campaign is a very clear demonstration of our overwhelming strength in sea and airpower.