Evening star., 1942-04-18
Roid on Toxic

The bombing of Toxic and other
Japanese cities, although as yet un-
confirmed by our own Government,
Nevertheless serves unmiStakaole
notice on the Mikados warlords that
they must begin TO pay the price OF
the treacherous act of December 7
which plunged the island empire
Into war with the United States.
For some four months Japan has
had things pretty much her own way
In this war. Reaping the temporary
advantages which flow from advance
preparation and stealthy attack, she
has pushed the forces Of the United
Nations back over a wide front and,
on her homeland, has been immune
from attack. But now there is in
ereasing evidence that the tide is
turning.
To this time the attacks on Japan
proper are conflrmable only from
Japanese sources. 1t is not known
whether the raiders were land-baSed
or carrier based planes and there Is
only a report from Toxic to indicate
that they were American bombers.
But these details are relatively un-
important, and can well await the
time when the raiders have returned
70 their bases and filed their reports.
The important thing Is that the
feasibility of carrying the war to the
heart OF Japan has been demon
strated while we are still far from
having reached the maximum of our
offensive strength.
It is significant that the announce
ment of the attack on Japan followed
by only a few hours the report of the
heavy assault on japanese bases in
the Philippines, an assault made by
American planes which few all the
way from Australia to drop their
bomb loads. And 1t Is also significant
that Lieutenant General George H.
Brett, chief of the United Nations
air forces in the Southwest Pacific,
has said that he is tremendously
encouraged" by the performance of
the new American planes which have
reached the area that he commands,
and by the overall Allied picture in
the Pacific.
Those Americans who have been
unduly depressed by the inability of
the Allied forces to check the Japa-
nese should remember that our air
forces-both in the Philippines and
at Hawaii-were knocked out by the
Japanese during the first few hours
of the war. and that our Allies, the
British and the Dutch, had only
negligible air strength in the area.
The task OF making good these early
losses has been an arduouS one, and
we still have long way to 60 The
Japanese seem to have been stopped
ut the threshold Of Australia, and it
now has been demonstrated that we
can strike heavy blows from the air
ut virtually any point in the region
under Japanese control.
These things, of course, do not
Justify an assumption that we are
beginning to win the war. We must
expect further Japanese advances,
and we should be alert to the fact
that II we can attack cities on the
japanese mainland, the probability
is that our enemies can strike in
similar fashion at American cities.
But the developments Of the past few
days are enormously encouraging.
They reveal that our strength has
reached a point which makes it pos
sible to carry the fighting TO our
enemy in the Pacific, and We know
that this strength will grow rapidly
with each passing month. This
means that victory is not assured
for the aggressor. but that the war
will be won by the nation which can
take punishment as we'll as give it
over the longer period Of time From
that point Of view, the odds are in
our favor