Evening star., 1942-02-17
Jups Have On Achilles Heel
Eliot Suys 1000 Allied Planes Could Retrieve
Situation by Hitting at Toxic Supply Lines


Java; while the Allies still lack suf-
fcient means ESPECIALLY aircrafb to
deal adequately with the situation
thus presented to them,
Strain on Supply Lines.
1t seems certain that could the
AlNes now deploy 1000 combat-type
planes, properly distributed be-
tween bombers, fighters, long-range
scouts and flying boats, along the
front from Rangoon to Darwin, the
Japanese would have little chance
of taking even Sumatra, let alone
Java or Burma, before overwhelming
Allied reinforcements could arrive.
AS it is, what planes there are
available must be apportioned
among several points to be de.
Tended; and so In the end Sumatra
may be lost. The Japanese will un-
doubtedly attack Java without wait
ing to make sure of Sumatra: they
will probably seek another air base
to the eastward of the island, in
Bali or perhaps in Lombok or Sum-
bawa and they will intensity their
attack against Burma.
So considered, 1t would seem that
the Allies can do little more than
hang grimly to their defenses in
these vital areas and wait the slow
accretion Of help from far away.
But this Is narrow point of view;
true, Java and Burma must be held,
and as much Of Sumatra as we can
hang on to, to say nothing Of Timor
and other eastern islands. This is
only a part Of the strategic picture.
No war was ever won by taking the
defensive permanently. The greater
the scale Of the japanese effort in
these various areas. the greater be-
comes the strain on their lines of
communication with Japan, which
Is the supply base and the only
available supply base for all they do.
Japan is 1000 miles from Singapore.
To maintain a series of campaigns
at such distance requires an enor-
nous quantity Of shipping, which
must all be protected by convoy
escorts or adequate naval and air
patrols.
Achilles Heel Of Japs.
Here is the Achilles heel Of the
whole Japanese effort in the South
western Pacific: the home bases and
the lines Of communication. The
harder the Japanese have to fight
and the greater their losses in men
and material. the more they will
have to draw on the resources of
the home country: resources which
are by no means inexhaustable. The
resistance Of the powerful and we'll
armed Dutch Army in Java is not
to be quickly or easily overcome.
Even Sumatra, because of its size,
will prove no simple conquest. The
resources of India are moving
toward the Burmese front. On all
these fronts, the Japanese are going
to have to fight hard. use more
men. more material, more ships.
1t is at the Japanese communi-
cations that the Allies can strike
with telling effect, insofar as their
power and their possession or ac-
QUESTION Of bases permits. 1t is in
combination Of defensive strategy
in Burma. Java and Sumatra, and.
offensive strategy directed against
the long and vulnerable japanese
communications and the scattered
and weak outposts which defend
them that the one remaining pos
sibility lies of retrieving, at least in
part, the disasters of Singapore and
Pearl Harbor-that is, within the i'm
mediate future. Much will depend
on the volume Of reinforcements ar
irving for the defense of the vital
areas; probably much more, on the
boldness and even recklessness with
which the lines Of communication
are aSSailed.
CCopyriEht. 1e42. New York Tribune. IncJ