NEWS OF THE WEEK
OF the latest war news—the naval battle in the Pacific, the liberation of the 'first few miles of Norwegian soil and the final clearance of Transylvania—the first is incomparably the most important. Its full significance can indeed not yet be estimated, for only incomplete reports of the series of engagements between American and Australian squadrons and what appears to be prac- tically the whole strength of the Japanese battle fleet have so far been received. But about the general trend of the battle there can be no question. General MacArthur may have exaggerated—or he may not—when he affirmed on Wednesday that the Japanese fleet had suffered the most crushing defeat of the wai. If it is true, and that is likely enough, a result so satisfactory is due in large measure to the wise decision of the United States Navy Depart- ment to build aircraft-carriers on an extensive scale. For though there may have been some ship-to-ship engagements in the Philippines it is c!ear that most of the damage on both sides (including the loss of the American aircraft-carrier ' Princeton ') was the result of air-attack. Thus the experience of Coral Bay is repeated. If the outcome of the Philippines battle is in fact any- thing like what the first reports suggest, it means that American naval supremacy in the Pacific is now decisively established. It was presumed Wore, but presumption is not enough. With command of the sea the Americans can with confidence plan land- ings on the China coast and the initiation of land operations there, or deliver joint naval and air attacks on the mainland of Japan itself. It has been explained that the successful and strategically vital landings in the Philippine island of Leyte were possible because the Americans in the Pacific were months ahead of their time-table. This week's events in that region may double the lead.
