Evening star., 1942-03-22

If our utterly realistic naval and mill
tary strategists were allowed to express
themselves publicly. they would warn
the people of the United States that they
must practice stoical patience In the
months to come, that they must exercise
forbearance in the face Of the ineN-
tably slow operations by our armed
forces in all the theaters Of war.
America is in tight spot and unless
there is full cooperation between the
directors of our military operations and
those who pay with blood. sweat and
tears the situation may become worse
than 1t is.
The fundamental and unfortunate
truth about this country's present sit
uation is that we are fighting two
ocean" war with a "half-an-ocean"
Navy. This means simply that as the
result of our losses in the Pacific We do
not have the striking power to under
take an all-out offensive in that area
and at the same time maintain our vital
lines of communication with Britain
and Russia in relative safety.
1t will be many months before our
navy yards have produced enough to
fill the gaps in the Pacific, provide the
Navy with enough fighting ships to
counteract the strong Nazi submarine
offensive in our own waters and assure q
continuous flow of supplies to our asso-
ciates in Europe.
Jams Demonstrate Strength.
The battle of Java convinced every one
in Washington that the Japs are not to
be minimized as an enemy. They have
good fleet, excellent naval officers who
know how to handle their ships and
first-class crews who are as accurate
in gunnery as our own men. They had
numerical superiority, it is true, in the
engagement of Java. but their superior
ity could not be considered overwhelm-
ing. They had no more against the
United Nations than the British had
against the German fleet at Jutland.
Despite the fact that we have been
constrained to abandon our basic strategy
in the Pacific. that is to strike at the
enemy with all the might at our disposal.
the Navy is doing its best in that area,
where it has only few small bases left.
In recent weeks we have progressed
from purely defensive strategy to COM
bination defensive-offensive actions. We
are like the boxer who knows the game
thoroughly and is intelligent enough to
recognize his own shortcomings and
those of his opponent.
After Pearl Harbor we were placed in
purely defensive position. We COW
cred our face with our gloves and con-
tented ourselves with parrying blows.
The action of the task force In the Gil
bert and Marshall Islands showed that
we are coming out from behind cover to
punch whenever and wherever we can.
Must Bide Our Time.
We cannot come all the way out of this
defensive position, however, until our
plants have produced enough planes and
the Navy and private yards have built
enough ships to enable our general staff
to take the initiative and start hitting
the enemy with more power It will not
be until sometime next year that we can
think in terms of real offensive. barring
any disastrous setbacks before then.
Our obligations to our Allies and our
production shortcomings force us to re-
main on the present -of1en-
sive," but the strategists at the head of
American forces are unanimously of the
opinion that the war cannot be won
without taking the offensive. But, con-
firmed realists that they are, they also
are unanimous in the belief that until
We are fully prepared for tt-which We
are not yeti would be utmost folly and