Evening star., 1943-02-14

tected by submarines. It is easily un-
derstandable that We will need every
ship, large or small, new or told, to take
that force ashore and maintain it in
supplies, reinforcements and war ma
terials after it has gained a toehold.
Allied shipyards will have to triple last
years figure at least to meet that situa-
ton alone. And under these circum-
stances it Is hardly conceivable that we
shall have anything substantial to spare
for the Pacific area.
The holding strategy" which was de-
cided for that theater of operations az
far back as January, 1912, was con-
firmed last August when political rather
than military considerations prompted
the Allies to decide to fight in Europe
first regardless of cost.
The recapture of some portions of
Guadalcanal led some advocates of the
strategy to dispose of the Nipponese
first and turn later to Hitler with all our
might to believe that the demonstration
given to the world by the American
forces in the Pacific would gain more ad-
herentS for such strategy.
Attack Was Demonstration.
1t may now be revealed that one OF
the principal reasons why the Navy in
sisted on such demonstration against
an enemy who had to fight on one front
only was to show the feasibility of an
all-out operation against the Japs Had
we then exploited that initial victory, it
is safe to say that by this time we could
have been close to the Japanese lines
OF. communication between the japanese
isles and the Netherlands Indies.
The strategists advocating that policy
maintained stubbornly that the only safe
holding strategy" In the Pacific is tta
one in which we are astride of the enc
my's lines of communication. When we
reached such happy position, they felt
we could easily hit the enemy with SUBJ
marines and planes from excellent bases
which would have been available to us.
and turn with the rest of our power
against the enemy in Europe.
The weakness in the japanese armor
is shipping. The japanese have limited
number of naval and private yards and
began the war with relatively made
quate number of merchantmen. The
damage inflicted on them by the Amer
lean submarines operating from bases
thousands OF miles away already Is seri-
Gus enough to worry the Toxic govern
ment. But our undersea craft can do
only limited damage since they are so
far from their bases.
Since we did not continue the offensive
after the capture of Guadalcanal the
japanese took full advantage of the
breathing spell to transform the poorly
| defended islands west of New Guinea
| particularly Timor and Borneo-into
first-class fortresses. They worked dav
and night. Specialists and technicians.
Japanese and Germans, were taken
there. The native population was drafted
to work for Hirohito. 1t is not an exag-
| geration to say that every one of these
islands is as strong as the best available
fortifications at Truk or Pearl Harbor.
Japs Improve Bases.
In the meantime, taking advantage of
the fact that the American naval and
air fleets were not within reach of the
Netherlands Indies and Indo-C China, the
Japs are repairing docks and yards
which were damaged, but not destroyed
by the Allies before they abandoned
Java, Sumatra, Hong Kong and other
of their possessions
In short time, probably by the end
of this spring, the Japs, who have i'm
proved the existing establishments, may
be able to build ships in that area, which
(See BROWN. Page BID