The Washington herald., 1921-11-25
JAPAN'S ARMS
VIEW BASED ON
MILITARY LOGIC
Prudent for United States
To Note Competitive
Needs, and Strategies.
BY GEN. HENRY j. REILLY.

editor Army and Navy JournaL)
Japan's ready agreement with, the
French point of view as to the
necessity for land armament is
based on a sound military point OF
view which gives a decided advan-
tage in that she has acted accord
ing to this point OF view while We
have not.
Throughout the discussions with
respect to the arms conference there
has been considerable use Of the
terms offensive and defensive war
fare, as il their was a distinct line
between the TWO. In general IL is
assumed that for a nation TO be on
the defensive means remaining
within its own borders until the
enemy's forces arrive and attack
Following this definition. the only
armament needed for defensive pur-
poses is that which would enable
this policy to be carried out. From
military point of view any such
policy is not a correctly defensive
one, because. il the enemy fails in
his attack. there is nothing To keep
him from renewing il at a future
date and because the fighting must
inevitably take place upon the ter
r:tory of the nation content with
any such method.
From a military point OF view.
the proper course to be pursued in
war is one which will lead 10 the
prompt and decisive defeat Of the
enemy, thus obtaining the objects
for which the war is fought and at
he same time for putting a quick
end to the suffering. waste of money
and destruction of property and
life inseparable in war. The only
means OF doing this is to possess
an armament sufficiently superior to
that of any possible enemy to insure
that should he become the aggresor
the means exist to promptly invade
his territory. defeat his forces, in
sure the property destroyed be-
ready for peace on the desired
terms. Where two nations are only
separated by land frontier. as is
the case with Germany and France.
an army alone can accomplish this
object
Army nnd Navy Needed.
Where two nations are separated
by the sea. both navy and an
army are necessary - the navy to
gain control of the sea, thus insur-
ing the ability TO land the army in
the enemy territory, and the army
to defeat that of the enemy. Either
an army or a navy alone is not
sufficient. In the Spanish American
War. while our feet could keep the
Spanish feet bottled up in SantI.
go harbor, it could not get it ou,
nor destroy il until our army. BY
defeating the Spanish army, forced
the Spanish fleet to sea.
In the Russo-Japanese war the
japanese fleet was not able to de.
| stroy the Russian fleet based OF
| Port Arthur until the japanese
! troops, by their attacks on this port
| compelled the Russian feet to nut
to sea. In the recent war II was
the collapse of the German army
before those of the allied and as.
sociated powers which compelled
the German fleet to surrender Or
the other hand. our troops could
not have landed in Cuba: the Jap.
anese troops could not have landed
in Korea and the Liao-Tung penin-
sula, and the British and American
troops could not have landed in
France had II not been for Ameri-
/ can and Japanese-American naval
| power, respectively. The interde-
pendence of land and sea armaments
and the necessity for the possession
Of both, IL really decisive results
are to be obtained, has always been
well understood by the trained SOL
dier and sailor. Great Britain,
which, in the eyes of the public,
has always been looked upon as
a naval power pure and simple, has
well understood this principle and
has carried il into execution by
forming alliances with powers hav-
ing large armies-thus bringing the
full power of land and sea arma- =
ment against her enemies
Importance to u. :.
In the discussion before the
arms conference, the Japanese EN-
pire must be considered both un-
der the heading of naval and land
ornaments because well UNDER
standing the interdependence of
both, she is well armed both on
land and sea.
This is of the greatest import
ance to the United States in con-
sidering the situations which arise
should we be so unfortunate as TO