Evening star., 1943-11-28
By HENRY KEYS.

Courtesy of the London Daily ExpressD
PEARL HARBOR, Nov. 26 DE
layed. - American seizure of the
Gilbert Islands from the japanese
is a blueprint of the road to Toxic.
The battle for Betio, the fiercest,
bloodiest and most ruthless I have
seen in the two years of the Pacific
war, showed how long, hard and
costly that road will be.
Spectacular and critical almost to
the last, the struggle was but a
tactical highlight of the vast strate-
gic plan. AS such, it overshadowed
the real immensely Of the entire
Central Pacific operations. for which
the United States concentrated the
greatest naval and air strength ever
brought together in the history of
the world and without which vic
tory would have been utterly i'm
possible.
AS it was, we won by the mar
rowest Of margins. During the heat
of battle, while 1 was watching dive
bombers and warships bombarding
the enemy strongholds, Rear Ad-
miral Harry Hill, who commanded
the operation, told me that had the
enemy been able to sink but one
OF our transports we might well
have suffered the most humiliating
and CALLING defeat.
jap Navy Afraid,
That this didn't happen is solely
because the United States massed
such a colossal naval force that the
japanese Navy, in spite of Toxic
radio broadcasts. didn't dare to come
out at the critical moment.
Also, our air strength was so
great-more than 1000 planes-that
we were able to pound and neutralize
Japan's nearest air bases in the
Marshalls only few hundred miles
away. The result was that the enemy
air raids were weak and Intellectual
At Betio, for example, the greatest
number Of enemy aircraft to show
up was six planes which In the dark
ness on three successive mornings
made sneak raids in which I saw
them bomb their own troop
positions.
The vastness Of the preparations
for the fight for Betio was brought
home to me in a dramatic talk
with Admiral Hill and Mai. Gen.
Julian C. Smith, the Marine Corps
commander, on the signal bridge of
the flagship as, with elbows resting
on the splinter shield of the bridge,
we peered through binoculars at the
island while planes and warships
bombarded the Japanese positions.
Led Force in Britain.
Admiral Hill, who commanded the
American carrier task force oper-
ating with the British home fleet
in England from March to August
of last year, is a slight, blue-eyed,
energetic man. Sociable, but stick
ler for the ceaseless training and
discipline, he is known throughout
the fleet as "Hairbreadth Harry"
Dramatically and forcefully
pounding the palm of his left hand
with his right fist, Admiral Hill de-
clared, Victory here won't be a
matter Of luck
The Japanese" he continued,
have made Betio the hardest nut
any naval or military commander
has ever been ordered to crack. We
are going to win, because we have
got the force. Back of that force
we have brilliant men. I mean the
American high command and the
big three out here in the Gilberts
now-Vice Admiral Raymond A.
Spruance, who helped win Midway;
Rear Admiral Richmond Kelly Tur-
ner, who directed most of the Solo
mon landings, and Maj. Gen. Hol-
land Smith.
"The high command has given us
all they have. Look at all of these
battleships, cruisers, destroyers and
transports lying dead in the water
waiting for those magnificent ma
rines with rifle and bayonet to clean
up that island so the transports
can unload.
Unity Achieved.
Believe me, We couldn't have
done it, or if we had tried it, we
would have caught hell here if our
Navy had not been several hundred
miles out there in front of us.
Right now we on this bridge are
looking at the greatest and most