Evening star., 1942-02-08
Japs Sneak Attack
On Russia Launched
8 Years Ago Today
February Called Good
Month for New Stub
At Soviet Menace
BY WADE WERNER,
Wide World News.


This Is the ninth Sunday aftel
Pearl Harbor and also the 38th an.
niversary of an equally sensational
Japanese surprise attack-the raio
on Port Arthur which ushered ir
the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5
On February 8, 1904, after siz
months of Intellectual Russo-Jap-
arlese negotiations on Far Eastern
differences, Admiral Togo's main
battle fleet secretly approached
Port Arthur. The same night his
torpedo boats sneaked into the har-
bor and badly crippled the Russian
squadron lying at anchor there.
Two days later war was officially
declared. BY this time, Togo had
established a blockade of the
stronghold which never was broken
despite several Russian attempts to
come out and give battle.
The little brown men had
launched a suicidal" venture on
that wintry February night, for
they were attacking a great power
whose resources were immeasurably
greater than theirs.
Japan's Army Numbered 10000.
Although Japan had been pre-
pairing feverishly for several years,
her first-line army numbered
scarcely 270,000 men. Russia had a
peacetime army of nearly 1,000, 900
men and in addition to the sea
forces based on Port Arthur she
had a squadron at Vladivostok and
a powerful fleet in the Baltic.
The combined strength OF the
Russian garrisons of Port Arthur
and Vlodivostok. however, was only
$4,000 men and the Baltic fleet
was half a world away. Before
huge Russian reinforcements could
be delivered to the Far Eastern
area over the lengthy transit
berian railway the Cars troops in
Manchuria had been thoroughly
outclassed. When the mighty
Baltic fleet finally got to the Pa
cific in May, 1905, Admiral Togo
met and destroyed 1t in waters Of
his own choosing.
The war did not last long after
that. For Japan, Notwithstanding
her resounding victories on land
and sea and the assurance of a
military alliance with Great Brit
ain, was in no shape to conquer the
vast Russian Empire. And the
empire of the Czars was too busy
by this time putting down revolu-
tion at home to drive stubbornly
toward final victory on the basis
of her potentially much superior
resources.
The Vladivostok Threat.
So Japan emerged from the
struggle with immensely enhanced
prestige-a rejuvenated nation
henceforth to be reckoned with the
great military powers of the earth.
Her February surprise stab at Port
Arthur had mace good.
Now it is February again. Japan
confronts the world with her mill
tary prestige still further enhanced
by the destructive stab-in-the- back
at Pearl Harbor, by the capture Of
Manila, the easy conquest Of Thai
land and q victorious drive down
the Malay Peninsula.
But behind her stands enigmatic
Soviet Russia, with the submarine
f1otillas and bomber squadrons Of
pointed like pistol at
the most vulnerable areas Of En-
peror Hirohito's realm - scarcely
100 miles from Toxic itself.
And Russians have not forgotten
Port Arthur.
Until the menace of Vladivostok
Is eradicated, Japan's expanding
power In the Pacific is like balloon
which might be pricked at any mo-
ment by a dagger thrust similar to
her own historic stabs at Port Ar
thur and Pearl Harbor.
Japs' Attack Well Timed.
In view of this menace of Vladi-
vostok, Japan's thrust at Pearl Har-
Dor was well timed. Flying condi-
tions around Vladivostok are miser-
able during December, January and
February. BY striking early in De-
cember at the United States, she
allowed herself three months to
the danger of powerful
thrusts from America, British or
Dutch strongholds in the Pacific
before turning around to face the
nearer peril of Russia's air squad
rons poised only a few hundred
miles away.
Whether Japan counted princi-
pally on weather conditions to hold
off Russian attack before March,
Or principally on the desire of Mos
cow to avoid two-front war, the
fact Is there has been no hostile
move against Japan by Russia in
the two months which have elapsed
since Pearl Harbor.
DrNyNo -,