The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-07-29


 not be regarded as meaning that the enemy does not have new or up-to- date equipment.
 The Japanese navy fighter plane, known as the Zero, copied the best features of western-built fighters, but Japanese mechanical ingenuity such as has been demonstrated fre- quently in industrial fields in the past, added certain important fea- lures to make the plane more suit able to Japan's requirements.
 (The Zero had fatal weaknesses, primarily lack of protection for the pilot, if it was to engage in modern type air warfare, but it accomplished its purpose in the East Indies fight ing and later models used over Australia had corrected the armor def1ciency0
 All Are Toughened
 Not only the Japanese soldier but the Japanese people are hardened and toughened by their ordinary life. Their living standard, low in comparison to western countries, all leviates for the time being at least the increasing hardships of war time existence, the food shortages, the begged wages, heavy taxes and an increase of perhaps 300 per cent in prices.
 These hardships, especially if aggravated by future Allied bombing attacks, may make themselves felt but the present military successes and an r-tight censorship have stirred up tremendous national istic feeling and indicate that they can carry on for long time if new ly-won resources can be exploited.
 Communication have proved a serious weakness for the Japanese and should become an increasingly grave problem as American air and naval strength increases in the Pa cific. A few Allied submarines this Spring disrupted enemy shipping of Hong Kond and the problem of maintaining railroad communica- tions in occupied China has been tremendous and largely unsolved.
 Railroad equipment is run down and Chinese scorched earth tactics have disrupted many lines in addi- tion to breaks caused by guerrilla attacks. Even in the Shanghai sec tor, guerrillas continue active and many Japanese fear assassination so acutely that they will not leave the International Settlement without an army escort.
 When the guerrillas strike, the Japanese at Shanghai attempt to isolate the affected zone. A block ade is established and not even food can be moved in or out One such blockade lasted six weeks and when it was lifted more than 250 Chinese were found dead of starvation.
 Another Weakness
 Another enemy weakness that the Japanese war lords have made every effort to counteract is vulnerability to aerial attack at home. Progress has been made toward reducing the infiammability of Japanese cities by avoiding congestion in new sectors, but many great industrial areas at Nagoya, Kobe and elsewhere are easy bomb targets.
 How far the favorable and un- favorable factors go toward balanc- ing each other will be determined only by progress of the Pacific con- flict, but the Japanese are desper- ately attempting to guard against their weaknesses by using their long prepared strength to hold the in- itiative.
 There is no doubt now that cal culated cruelty has been used as regular part of this program, in- tended in part to destroy western prestige in the Orient but also di- rected against Orientals. Only part of the story of maltreatment can be told now but our dispatches have cited specific instances of bayonet- ting wounded prisoners at Hong Kong and maltreatment of Ameri- cans interned in China and Korea.
 These primitive acts demonstrate the Japanese adoption of Axis methods of all out warfare against civilians as well as soldiers. They emphasize the ruthless, relentless foe we face. They warn that half way measures won't win the war in the Pacific.