Evening star., 1942-10-18

the Far East, with Siberia as the pivotal
point of the Allied effort, is being raised
in many competent quarters as result
of the many urgent appeals from Amer
lean, British and Russian leaders for an
offensive while the Red Army Is still
holding of the Germans.
When the public talks about second
front, it means an invasion OF Western
Europe That is the thought OF Joseph
Stain and all those who speak for him.
The appeal finds ready response among
the people Of the United States and
Great Britain because Of the heroic fight
the Russian armies have put up against
the terrific forces of the invaders.
It Is not possible for the American and
British public to know the enemys
strength in Western Europe and the un-
believable difficulties which an attack on
that region presents to the still unpre-
pared armies of the western democracies.
The people are worried and wonder why
the brass hats" do nothing to save the
Russians.
Two Fronts Exist Now.
America and Britain already have two
fronts to occupy their best available
forces. Britain's first front is no longer
in the United Kingdom, which has be-
come exclusively a defensive front, but
in Egypt and the Near East, where she
hopes to begin an offensive sometime this
year, before the armies of Field Marshal
Erwin Rommel have received sufhcient
reinforcements to resume their offensive.
Britain's second front is England itself,
from which air forces are launching at
tacks with increasing frequency against
the Reich and its occupied territories.
No one expects that these air incursions
will bring the Nazis to their knees, but
they are bothering the Germans and
cause considerable disruption of their
production facilities
Americas first front is in the Pacific,
which Is far more important for the
security of the United States than any
other battle zone. We achieved some
success with an offensive there, but it
could not be followed up because of the
lack of shipping for sending reinforce
ments. But it is not impossible, If the
Solomon Islands can be held for the next
few weeks, that the original plan will be
followed up.
Our second front is in Egypt and the
Near East, and we are determined to stop
the Nazis at any price from reaching the
rich Mesopotamian oil fields.
These are the established and active
fronts today. The establishment Of
third front-since we talk popularity
about first and second fronts-is not as
difficult as it appears, provided our Rus
sian Allies are willing to abondon their
neutrality in the Pacific war.
Would Aid Two Allies.
This third front would be in Siberia
and it is from there that we could strike
the Japanese most effectively and bring
the maximum OF relief to- the hard
pressed Russian armies.
On paper such an undertaking would
appear risky and impracticable. Yet,
according to the majority of military
experts, it is the only feasible operation
which would open up real line of COM
munication with the present Russian
front and at the same time bring the
desperately needed relief to the Chinese
armies, which are breathing heavily and
fighting as heroically as our Russian as
sociates.
The Japanese forces are spread thinly
over a huge area. depending on the sea
as their principal means of communica-
ton. The Japanese must keep a large
force in the occupied areas in the South
Pacific. must keep an equally important
force in the Indian Ocean and Burma
and must keep portion of their best
armies and large part of the fleet in
the Southwest Pacific to protect the
bases in the inundated islands and pre-
vent "stab" movement from Gen.
Douglas Macarthur in Australia. Final
ly, the Japanese must maintain half
million men in China.
All this shows that the Japanese can
not afford to throw force of real con-
sequence against Siberia. Japanese mil
itary power is by no means under -esti-
mated in Washington. But at the same
time, they do not have enough force to