The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1941-07-23
THIS CHANGING HEMISPHERE

only 100 miles away; the nearest Ger.
man bases to Iceland are 500 miles.
Had there really been danger Of att
tack, the British troops, already fam.
liar with Iceland's defense problems,
would obviously have been kept there.
Finally as matters now stand, the
British will stay there anyway.
Obviously, the occupation of Iceland
is one more shortcut around the con-
voy issue. By keeping open the sea
route to Iceland, the U. S. navy will,
in effect, be conveying British ship
ping as far as Iceland-if it is not
doing so already. Possibly the pa
trolls will go all the way to Scotland
for the sake of protecting Iceland.
By his own logic of defense" the
president must now begin to think In
terms of strategic bases that threaten
Iceland. Probably munitions will be
sent in U. S. merchantmen to Reyk-
javik for transshipment to England.
The president tried to take the
curse off the occupation of Iceland
and link it with hemisphere defense
by announcing at the same time that
U. S. forces had been sent ito the
bases. in Trinidad and in British
Guiana, in the south, in order to fore
stall any pincers movement under
taken by Germany against the West
ern Hemisphere" 1T is essential"
he added, that Germany should not
be able successfully to employ such
tactics through sudden seizure of stra-
tegic points in the South Atlantic and
in the North Atlantic" There will
be little objection to the manning of
the new Atlantic bases, which are
clearly in the Western Hemisphere;
but his reference to strategic points"
in the Atlantic rather than ON the
American continents have led many
to the belief that the president was
laying the ground for future occupa-
ton of the Azores, the Cape Verdes
or Dakar-by seizure if negotiation
with vichy, Portugal and Spain proves
impossible.
Alaska
The possibility of nazi invasion
via Alaska on the other side of the
hemisphere, is bluntly an
swered by Hanson w. Baldwin in his
recent book, United We Stand"
writes:
There has been much talk of the
of Alaska to INVASION
{ is true that we cannot guard all
Alaska's coast line against a landing;
lot all the kings horses and all the
nng's men could do that But we
'ould wish for no more ludicrous and
atal error on the part of the enemy
han landing in Alaska. The in
lospitable, rugged, and difficult coun-
ry and the terrible cold would make
he Russian difficulties in Finland
nd the Italian troubles in the noun
aims of Greece and Albania seem
Ike child's play. Air bases could not
10 quickly or easily established there
" an enemy; if they were, they could
10 far more easily reduced by our
'wn forces. And if any enemy at
empted an overland campaign, strik-
ng toward Seattle, he would leave
ehind him trail bleached in bones,
nd, In the words of one officer, the
oldiers who started would not reach
cattle. Their grandchildren might
each 1t, but they would not be an
rmy"
The final appraisal of the occupa-
on of Iceland must take account of
Their recent events. "a Gen. Mar
halls request for 100000 men, for
smoval of the 12-month limitation on
lie training of draftees and the pro-
lbition on their being sent out of the
Jestern Hemisphere. (2) The con-
Iction of Generals Wavell and Au-
linleck that an A. E. F. will be
eeded. 90 The base under way in
Gland. "a The smoke about Anglo
merican naval cooperation. These
lings indicate that the funny phrase
hemisphere defense" will soon fol-
W short of war" down the drain.