Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1942-12-31
(Second OF T,Do Articles.)
BY B. M. McQUAID,

Meanwhile from the eXpandln(
American bases in the Aleutians
the Jap fishing grounds in the Ses
of Okhotsk and along Kamchatka
another soft spot of Japan economy
could be brought under the guns.
Deprived of rice and ore from thu
mainland, tin, rubber and othel
vast, uncatalogued riches of the In.
dies and the Philippines, and with
their northern fishing grounds seri.
ously menaced, it is doubtful if Jap.
ans most persuasive war lords coule
maintain the fervor of their sub.
jectS and the desired pitch of fight.
ing fanaticism. Destructive air at.
tacks on homeland industries ane
naval bases would hardly allay
popular discomfort.
A significant harbinger of the
doom to come is the devastation
wrought in the last year by Ameri.
can submarines, many of them op.
Grating in areas included by nava
strategists in their designation, "the
soft belly of Japan" Nothing done
either by surface forces or aircraft
has hurt the Japs as much as the
operation of our subs, which have
sunk more than 100000 tons OF
Jap shipping in the last II months
Obstacles Plentiful.
Obstacles to such a campaign are
plain and plentiful. AS mentioned
in my previous dispatch, realists
among our Pacif: fighters think
that long war will be necessary
to reopen Burma, subjugate parts
of Thailand and Indo-China and
push through to the Chinese with
really big-scale quantities of men
and machines.
Too, these reinforcements must
be transported vast distances, both
on the Pacific and via the Atlantic
and Indian Oceans. Obviously the
success of our North African cam
paign, involving as it does the con-
troll of the Mediterranean and the
reopening of the Suez to unimpeded
traffic, is intimately bound up with
Pacific soft belly" strategy.
But the alternative is the old
stale strategy of island by island
reconquest of the multitude of
strongly fortified Jap positions in
the Pacific. In this direction Japan
is not vulnerable at all. Here she
is strong and we are weak, and our
tremendous disadvantages are I'M
likely to diminish with the passage
of time.
To see what we are up against 1t
is only necessary to study on the
map the interlocking chain of Jap
naval and air bases, which now
extend in compact, unbroken, mu-
tually reinforcing lines from the
homeland to the fighting fronts in
New Guinea and the Solomons.
Primary Jap Bases.
True, none of these equals Pear.
Harbor in size or Importance. Fol-
most major repairs, for instance
damaged Jap vessels probably must
put back from the Solomons all the
way to Sasebo, Kure or Yokosuka
These primary Jap bases are in the
homeland. Sasebo lies at the south
west tip of the island of Kyushu
Kure on the same island in an in
land sea, Yokosuka, the No. l jar
base, in Toxic Bay.
But Pearl Harbor itself is slightly
farther from the Solomons than
Sasebo, Kure or Yokosuka, and be-
tween Pearl Harbor and the Solo,
mons we have no such chain OF
interlocking, strongly developed
secondary bases as the Japs.
1t is a mere 500 miles from Yoke.
suka to the Japanese Malta,
Chichi Jima, in the Bonins. Sever
hundred miles south of Chichi Jima
in the Marinannes, the Japs pos
sess another extremely powerful
base on Saipan Island, as we'll a.
lesser Establishments on Rota anc
Guam.
Almost due east of Chichi lima
a couple of hundred miles south Of
Sasebo, the Japs have a huge sea
and air base at Amami-O shima
Southwest from the Mariannes liz
zap and Palau in the Western Caro-.
lines. These form an arc with the
new Jap base in the Southern Phil.
ippines.
Nerve Center for Japs.
Only $40 miles southeast of Sal.
pan lies the great Jap base of Truk
the vital supply and repair bast
which is the nerve center of Jap
ans campaign in the South Pacific
Sheltered all around by a natura
sea barrier coral reef rising 80 II
IS feet from the sea, Truk sprawl
over an archipelago of small vol
canic islands. The great base meas
ures IS miles from apex to base
and it is roughly triangular il
shape. Its reefs are an excellen
defense against surface lombard
ment. 1t could be hit hard onl!
from the air or by forcing surface
warships through its narrow ant
heavily mined and Melted entrances
Westward from Truk it is 38'
miles to another Jap base, Ponape
in the Carolines. In the Marshal
group and separated from Ponap
and each other by 400 miles or les
lie such bases as Maloelap, Range
lap, Kwajalein, Eniwetok, Jalui
and Wolfe. Marcus and Wake, cas-
of Chichi Jilna and north of tn
Marshalls, are independent island
but easily reinforceable from tn
Bonins, Marshalls and Mariannes.
South from Palau, Truk and Pc
nape are front-line Jap bases IL
the active fighting zones-Rabau
the main base on New Britain; La
and Salamaua on New Guinea, tn
BUM aisi area at the south end o
Bougainville and the new airfield
Munda, or New Georgia.