The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1942-02-20
BY A. E. ANDERSON


Even though the United States ha
no Two-Ocean navy, it still held un
disputed supremacy on the wide Pa
cific until the shameful tragedy o
Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941, whel
the Japs in a surprise air attack des
troyed six of our warships including
the battleship Arizona as well as mos
of our airships stationed there demot
ing U. S. navy from commanding
to secondary position amongst the
navies of the world. This gives the
Japanese navy the leading role in the
Far East and makes 1t supreme in the
China sea and the West Pacific en-
abling it to take the initiative in all
important engagements there.
Japan Missed the Bus
While the Japanese surprise attack
on Pearl Harbor was the outstanding
single stroke-of-aggressio by the Axis
powers, stupendouS in it's ram1f1ca-
tions, it still missed an opportunity
never to be presented again: the in
vasion of Hawaii. Considering what
happened there, it is not unduly
stretching the imagination to think of
what might have happened if the Jap
anese navy with landing force had
taken possession of Pearl Harbor or
some other landing place for the con-
quest of the whole Of Hawaii whose
population is 1870 Japanese or blood
related as intermarriage between Japs
and natives are quite common. With
a big part of its fleet stationed there
after successful invasion, the
islands of Midway, Wake, Rowland
and the Philippines would fall easy
prey even Singapore, the Dutch East
Indies and Australia would be in a
critical position. 1t would take a
mighty navy and years Of fighting for
the Allies to regain these positions.
Orthodox Procedure Upset
Pearl Harfbor, by nature shaped
into an easily defended harbor and
more than a hundred million dollars
spent on Notifications there with its
navy and airforce on guard should
make it impregnable against any hos
tile force coming either through the
air or by water. 1t has its listening
posts scattered far and wide includ-
ing air and sea patrols as well as
airplane detectors and even under
normal conditions should have been
warned hours ahead of any coming
airplanes. Considered one of the
strongest fortified spots on earth, it
failed miserably because its equip
ment was seemingly in cold storage
and failed to function because lacking
a guiding hand Those in charge evil
IDENTIFY expected the Japs to start the
inevitable war in the orthodox and
formal fashion: first recall their am
bassadors followed by declaring war
before starting hostilities.
This procedure would have given
the Pearl Harbor defenders a good
chance of bringing down most of the
attacking planes with an insignificant
loss of our own with the added assur-
single plane would make the return
trip to Japan, had our equipment
functioned.
A Wavering Far East Policy
We have been slack in permitting
Japan to fortify the Inundated islands
while neglecting our own; in our pur-
suit of business as usual" policy, |
we have helped to arm Japan-same |
ornaments now used against us-and |
shown lukewarm attitude towards
China in her heroic stand against jap
anese invasion but now fully realize
how essential China's coordination is
in the defeat Of Japan. Had we taken
a more positive stand or fully coop
Grated with U.S.S.R. when Japan at
tackled Manchuria, Japan would be
more peaceful nation today and the