Evening star., 1942-03-30
Shuttle Plane Raids
Studied as One Way
To Bomb Japan
Attack Would Be Aimed
From Boses in Alaska
And Chino, or Russia
Nv Wide World News.

~ Wide World News.
If Gen. MacArthur's plans for an
eventual offensive include an attack
on the Japanese homeland, Allied
bombers might blast the islands
with shuttle" flights, perhaps be-
tween Alaska (or RUSSIA and
China
Unofficial speculation on such a
strategy centers on bomber arrnadaS,
following one another on tWo-way
air lanes, passing over the Japa-
nese islands in opposite directions
and reloading at the end OF the
line for return attacks.
This would permit maximum crew
and bomb capacity on each cross
ing.
Advocates belong, of course, to
that school which holds that Japan
must be bombed to defeat. Once
her home bases are destroyed. they
argue, Nipponese striking power will
vanish for lack of supplies.
Seven Reasons Advanced.
Among reasons offered by shuttle
bombing theorists, although some
may seem wishful thinking, are:
/. The Allies must strike hard to
put Japan on the defensive.
z. Japan seems vulnerable from
the air and apparently not from the
sea.
3. The Japanese interceptor- fighter
Air force is spread over q dozen
enemy lands and is much less for
midable at home.
f. Air bases, planes, pilots, ground
crews and supplies are believed to
be multiplying In Alaska and China.
S. They are separated by only
400 miles at the most Dutch Har-
Dor to Changsha.
6. Russia may fight Japan. cut
ting the shuttle distance by 1000
miles ALASKA to Kamchatka). and
7. China and Russia are natural
air threats to Japan.
Gen. George C. Marshall. Army
chief OF staff, may have touched
of some of this talk when he said
before Gen. MacArthur's transfer to
Australia "the time has now come
when we must proceed with the
business Of carrying the war to the
enemy =" President Roose-
velt's streamlining of Army and
Navy high commands for fast. Of
fensive action with emphasis on air
power seemed to some another step
in the same direction.
Problem Analysed.
Supposing that the strategists
should choose to attack Nippon, the
problem would be where and how to
strike.
One answer suggests vast Allied
conveys to Australia, hoping to ex-
hauSt Japan in her attempt to
conquer an island continent nearly
as big as the United States.
Another suggests that since China
and Russia have the manpower and
position for sustained attack,
Britain and the United States equip
them at all odds while conducting
raids on exposed Japanese fanks.
Well, in recent days Ernest Gruen-
ing, Governor of Alaska, has been
here discussing Alaska's war role
with officials, and 1t. Gen. Joseph
w. Stilwell was sent to China amid
stories that he and Gen. Chang
Kai-Shek would set up United
States China air bases.
There are good bases in Alaska,
with famous Dutch Harbor within
2,7O0 miles of the Japanese capital
Changsha, the one major air
threat which three all-out Japa-
nese assaults have failed to take
from the Chinese, is $500 miles
from Toxic
Russia Might Offer Bases.
And there you have the talked-of
Shuttle" Dutch Harbor to Changsha
or vice versa, a total Of 4,200 miles
Or it might be number of other
combinations possible for monster
bombers.
There always is the possibility,
too, that Russia may come In on
the deal. She could materially re-
duce all shuttle distances by per-
mitting use of bases at Vladivostok
and on Kamchatka, within 750 miles
of Northern Japan
Meantime, China offers the only
ready bases for either shuttle bomb
ing or flghter-escorted bombing
whenever she gets the planes.
Changsha Is only 900 miles from
Japanese war plants in the Fukuoka-
Nagasaki area. And Chungking is
925 miles from Formosa. the huge
Southern JapaneSe island hriStling