Evening star., 1942-05-10
Americas Victory
Depends on Transport
By O1Cen L. Scott.

war in which American forces will be
tested to the utmost or whether it is to
be a war of moderate duration that will
not require the United States to show
its full strength.
The situation is lining up as follows:
In Europe-Hitler's choice of action
appears rather limited. He can try to
hold in Russia and turn his main atten-
ton to England for an attempted knock
out. Or he can maintain his defense
against the British and try for a knock
out in Russia. There are signs that the
British do not overlook the chance that
Hitler may be planning to come their
way. The pattern of British bombing of
the continent seems designed to dis
courage any invasion attempt. However,
more strongly held view is that the
biggest German stake is m Russia and
that action must be in that direction,
and or in the direction Middle Eastern
oil.
In the Far East-Japan is winding up
one phase of her war in a blaze of sue
cess. She has China isolated, the British
pushed back to India and Australia,
American forces pushed out of her part
of the world, and has gained access to
immense Iiches in all of the raw mate
rials that she requires for a self-suffi-
cient empire. Never in history has a
nation conquered so much in so little
time and with so little effort as has
Japan. But, there are at least two flies
in the ointment. One is the presence of
strong Russian forces right in Japan's
backyard. The other is the presence of
American forces in Alaska reaching out
toward Japan.
The japanese face several alternatives
in their next phase of attempted con-
quest. They can move into India, or
into Ceylon on the southern tip of India
in an effort to command the Indian
Ocean. Or they can make their try
against Australia. Or they can try to
wind up the fight in China. Or they
can drive against American outposts in
the Pacific that range from New Gale
donia in the south to the Aleutian Is
lands in the north. Or they can make
their try against Russia. Most of the
to think that Russia is Japan's choice as
her next opponent.
All of this raises question concern
ing the role that the United States is
to play in 1912.
Against Hitler-President Roosevelt
has said publicly that American flying
fortresses soon will be operating over
Europe The President also has made
public his direction that every effort be
made to get war goods to Russia. Mr..
Roosevelt too, has let it be known that
lend-lease aid will be expanded to the,
Middle Eastern area. American combat
troops already are in England and North
Ireland. This suggests that the United
States in the war against Germany, at
least temporarily, will perform the func-
tion of an arsenal for the most part 1t
also suggests that some American air
strength might be felt over Europe
Against Japan-The President has said
that the United States will wage a wan
of attrition, on the basis of plans long
ago worked out. This calls for subma-
rine and air operations and possibly
with the japanese war effort In that
type of warfare the United States is
trying to do to Japan what Germany is
trying to do to England-namely, to sink
her shipping and to complicate her prob
lem of supply. Both England and Japan
are islands heavily dependent upon
shipping to carry the basic materials
n, he 1o,
revealed that the United States will con-
tinue to make an effort to supply China
with war materials, to do that requires
large-scale air transport operations.
However, there is nothing in this picture
to suggest that large numbers of Ameri-
can troops will be involved against Jap
anese troops in 1912.
The big question is whether the Ameri-
can military and air strength, which now
Is considerable, will be brought fully to
bear in this crucial period of the war
This question grows from the diff
Guilty OF transport. Today's war moves
at swift pace. It is being fought thou
sands of miles away from the United
States. The war revolves in important
part around control Of the air, and the
United States is building thousands of
planes each month and these planes are
the best in the world. But they are
largely inside the United States and not
on the battlefields. AS matters now are
organized, except for big bombers, air
planes must travel to the battlefelds on
sloW-moving merchant ships that take
at least two months to get to Pacific and
Mediterranean destinations.
In word, this is an air war, but so
far as the United States is concerned, it
is tied to the speed of an ocean freighter.
There is growing recognition of the
fact that some way must be found to
remove these shackles of slow-moving
transport. If way is not found the
United States is likely to discover that
its war effort is being dissipated during
the crucial period when the issues of the
war are being fought out. The way to
break this bottleneck, some important
officials are convinced, is through the
use of huge fleets of giant transport air.
planes.
These airplanes, made in part from
non-Sca materials such as plywood
and pulling trains of trailers, could carry
the critical supplies that are needed for
air operations in distant parts of the
world. They would make up in speed
and in number of trips for the fact that
their carrying capacity, per plane, would
be much lower than the eight-or-ten-