The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1941-12-20

they favor concentration OF all
our man power upon the produc-
ton Of supplies for Johr Bull over
a diversion of much Of il in the
European continents direction.
For whatever our navy can do
there's an unlimited demand. There
also are skies in which cur aviation
strength will ne invaluable Amer
lean grounding soldiers aid ism t
so strongly clamored for, so far as
EurOpe's concerned, except in one
spot, to be referred to a bit later,
North Africas a field in which an
a. Z. F. undoubtedly could be of
great assistance to the Britons.
They've been fairly successful
against the Axis fighters there. but
would be glad of a stable Yankee
army to wind the campaign def
nitely up, getting that detail Of the
conflict finally off their minds.
An expedition or two across the
Pacific, TO attend to Japan. may
yet be decided on. It's a land and
water area where men-o'-War. ma
rines and. especially. ayiators nat
urally Will preponderate in our
campaign. I've heard an actual
doughboys' invo ION Of Nippon
suggested as a desirability, but my
guess would be that bombardment
by planes would be more effective
and easier to pull Off. AS for the
Philippines and such of our out
posts as Hawaii, their worries will
be over as soon as we've destroyed
the Jap fleet. The Chinese, like the
British. are frantic for. military
supplies, but, heaven knows, they
have man power enough, though
i might profit from a certain Of
expert advice.
A. A. f. F. In Spain?
Europe's single country into
which an American expedition lay
yet be required, for the democra-
cies' protection, is Spain.
To the south Of Spain Is the
Strait Of Gibraltar. a few minutes
across, by plane, to the African
side. There there's a little dab of
Spanish territory. Then comes
French colonial soil, with the port
Of Dakar on its westerly bulge into
the Atlantic.
Now. Dakar's been sufficiently
talked about to require little addi-
tional comment. The nub is that
grabbed by Germany, it would
serve Herr Hitler as an excellent
base for operations against the
western hemisphere.
Consequently it's been repeated
ly emphasized that we ought to
occupy il. To do so would be a
naval stunt, but the navy couldn't
very we'll prevent the Nazis from
getting into it from the rear. land
ward door. To hold il, we'd need a
terrestrial eXpeditionary force.
How, though, would the Nazis
get there. 10 sneak in?
Why. TO their southwestward is
France, which they've conquered
and can walk over as they please.
Beyond France is Spain. and
SPANS dictator is FL Caudillo
Francisco Franco, who's 50 friend
~ toward the AXIS that he nearly
belongs TO it, and surely wouldn't
object 70 letting a Nazi army
cross his peninsula, on its way to
Gibraltar, across the strait and
down through northwestern Africa
to Dakar-o overland all the way,
except for that less than ninc-mile
hop at the western END of the Med
iterranean.
The simplest method OF cheek
mating this program. strategists
reason, would be for an anti-Axis
force TO establish itself in Spain,
blocking the southerly bound
Nazis at the frontier.
It's an assignment Britain hard
ly could handle, however, being so
busy already in other quarters.
Frances Problem
How about an A. +. F TO look
after Il? Dictator Franco would
kick, Of course, and might have 10
be licked. but cbout half Of Spain
is violently against him already.
and would help all it could 1t
shouldn't be difficult for compe-
tent A. E. F. to suppress him.
In short, North Africa and Spain
are an a. f. F.s outstanding pos
sibilities.
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