Evening star., 1942-06-28
Growing American Power
Reason for Optimism
By OUen L. Scott.


darker in the period just ahead, because
the British are in trouble in the Med
iterranean and may have their navy
forced out OF that important sea and
the Russians are up against a new on
slaught from Hitier's armies on one side
and are threatened by attack from Japan
on the other.
On the surface, certainly, the situation
looks far from encouraging. Yet that
surface appearance is likely to be decep-
tive. The fact Is that beneath the sur
face, there are developments that give
ground for some cautious optimism
Those developments, basically, are two:
First, the fact that Germany and
Japan have maneuvered themselves into
somewhat the same position in which
Great Britain and the United States
found themselves not long ago. They are
spread thin. with long lines of COM
munications and with danger threaten
Ing from several fronts.
Second, the fact that the power Of
the United States is being brought to
bear gradually, months earlier than that
power was expected to be brought to bear.
In the Pacific. American air power has
crippled an important segment Of the
Japanese fleet and has hit at Toxic itself.
In the Mediterranean, American bombers
have hit at the Italian fleet and have
bombed Rumanian oil refineries In the
Atlantic, American power fast is being
built up in England for powerful smash
at Germany herself.
1t was only few months ago that
Britain and this country appeared rela-
lively helpless. The Japanese and Ger
mans were free to strike in any one Of
several directions. Our side had so many
places to defend that it was impossible
to get enough strength to any one point
fast enough to stop the enemy. Now all
Is changed.
Hitler currently finds his forces spread
bit thin at spots. He has 1000 miles
of front in Russia, must guard other
thousands Of miles of European coast
line from Norway to Spain and has to
keep supplies flowing to his forces in
Africa. All Of the time, at home. his
aoNool iCS. Always diIu supply UdSCo dIc
subject to attack from the air He finds
that his enemy is concentrating forces
in England for a blow in any one OF
several directions. The German forces
are dispersed and not able to concentrate
TO meet that attack.
Much the same is true Of Japan. That
nation has conquered vast and rich
areas. 1t now controls all of the raw ma
terials that any nation could desire to
control. The Americans and British are
driven from the Western Pacific Yet
Japan feels insecure and is insecure She
has seen her air force go down to defeat
every time it met American flyers on
the japanese Navy dealt far harder
blows than the Japanese dealt the United
States at Pearl Harbor. Japan has built
her conquests upon her navy and now
she finds that the airplane and not the
battleship can be master of the seas.
Russian bases in Siberia point direct
ly at the heart of Japan. American air
strength is beginning to push farther
and farther westward. All of this is
ominous for the japanese who can see
the handwriting on the wall unless they
succeed in building new barriers between
themselves and the Russians and be-
tween themselves and the United States.
All Of this helps to explain why the
defeats that still are to be suffered by
the British and Russians may turn out
to be deceptive. They may appear to
be more important than they really are.
The fact is that the recent lessons
learned in this war are very encouraging
to the United States. Those lessons
teach that the airplane is an even more
vealed it to be in their initial victories.
The Germans showed what the bomber
could do when geared to operations of
land troops. This country has just
taught the Japanese what the torpedo
plane and the bomber can do to surface
fleets. The British and Americans are
about set to demonstrate what the
bomber can do to enemy war industries
when that weapon is designed for the
purpose and is used in large numbers.
Big bombers are turning out to be the
real secret weapon of this war and no
nation is equipped to produce and to use
bombers in the way that the United
States is equipped.
This country enjoys two big advantages
in the phase of the war that lies ahead.
First, it enjoys the advantage of a
head start in design and construction of
long-range bombing planes. These are
the real offensive weapons of the air.
They are heavily armored for their own
defense. They can fly very long dis
tapces Thev cap carry bomb loads of