Evening star., 1942-08-25
Jups Surprised
By Blindness Of
American People
BY RELMAN NORM.

Aug. 25.-"You people must have
been blind"
The Japanese intelligence Officer
smiled coldly. He was examining
me at Saigon on a charge OF espio.
mage. To the Japanese, all news.
papermen are subsequently, Their
own. He had a dossier on me, sent
down from Toxic. It showed tha,
I had left Japan exactly IL months
before the Pacific war, and that ]
had then gone to the Philippines
the Netherlands Indies, Singapore
Malaga, Burma, Thailand and SO to
lndo-China-just where the Japa-
nese were to come.
NOW 1t was early summer, and ali
those places were in Japanese
hands, quickly conquered.
Yet, the officer was asking about
the state of preparedness in all the
colonies and territories bordering
the South China Sea. The subject
seemed to fascinate him. He re-
turned to 1t, again and again.
He would say, "at that time. did
they expect war with Japan" or
now long before the war had they
been preparing?"
Had Not Expected War.
The answer In the case of the
Netherlands Indies was that the
Dutch had expected war. But thew
started too late, and they were toe
few, numerically, to hold such a vast
territory as the Indies.
The offlcer understood that. Eyes
the Orando-Jm (Hollanders) were
very brave" What about Sinea :
pore? What did they think there;
To the British, an attack or
Singapore, as late as July, 1e41. was
almost an academic question. II
was possible, they thought, but not
very likely.
The Japanese officer smiled again
I think nobody had true under
standing OF Japan's real strength. y
He had something there. Few
people did. Outside professional
military circles, nobody would be-
neve that Japan was flrst-class
military power. In all those areas,
American, Dutch, British, French,
you got yourself into endless. futile
exasperating arguments on the
subject.
Japs Underestimated.
All the old bromides were current
and taken as gospel: japanese
avlators are no good because. as
children, they are carried on their
mothers backs and that impairs
their sense of balance. Japanese
warships are over -gunned and top
heavy, therefore useless in stormy
weather. Japanese gunners have
bad eyes and can't shoot. Japan
hasn't been able to do anything ir
China, so what could she do against
a real army?
That, from thousands and thou
sands Of white persons, all over the
Orient, who had never seen a jap
anese plane, warship or soldier.
The oficer then turned to the
Washington talks, which were pro-
ceedlng when Japan attacked. He
volunteered some information.
Your government made a specia,
point of this country, French Indo-
China. Did they really think we
would set out? do-China gave III
control OF Thailand and the two, to-
gether, gave us q land route anc
perfect bases for attacking Malaga
Singapore and Burma. Did they
really expect us to Withdraw"
French Indo- China Important.
Psychologically, he said, French
Indo- China was perhaps even more
important in the whole story.
Until we came here we never
fully realized the weakness of you
white people in the Far East. Until
we saw how easily the French sur
rendered, and found so little mill
tary strength, we did not know it
would be so cheap"
Then, suddenly, the smile faded
and the tone changed.
"The only reason Bataan and Cor
regidor held out 50 long was that
America had . million soldiers
there"
I said doubted that.
Then how many troops were in
the Philippines?" I said I did not
know.
What did they think? Did they
actually believe they could conquer
Dai Nippon (Great Japan ?"
Colonel" said, II don't think
YOU understand Americans"