Evening star., 1943-09-08
WEDNESDAY,
General MurshoII's Report

SSneIui WuISHuiI NepOIt
OF his report to the Secretary of
War summarizing the important
events affecting the Army between
July /, 1941, and June 80, 1943, Gen.
eral George C. Marshall, chief of
staff, declares: "It is record of
what was done and why 1t was done
and is submitted while America is at
war to permit better understand
ing of the great offensive operations
now in progress
1t is great record, unsurpassed in
history, 1t should fill every Ameri-
can with pride in what has been
accomplished and with confidence in
the victory now in the making. To
print this report in its entirety at
one time is, for The Star, an i'm
practicable undertaking under pres
ent conditions. Beginning in this
issue of The Star, however, the body
of the report will be printed in daily
installments.
Those who follow these chapters
will find in them the answers to
many questions regarding decisions
which, when announced in the past,
lacked the clarifying background
which the report now makes avail
able. They will learn something of
the appalling nature of the problem
ynrn %a f,a%
prepared at the outset for total or
any other kind of warfare. They
will obtain better conception of
the global strategy which forms the
pattern of operations now being re-
vealed by our soldiers and sailors In
battle. The Star commends these
chapters to its readers.
In this report General Marshall
confines himself to statements of
what took place, injecting few opin-
ions of his own. 1t is a straight
forward, soldierly narrative. There
is no fault finding for our unpre-
paredness, no effort to make out
that our military men were the only
ones who could see, while every one
else was blind. Democratic govern
nients," he says philosophically, de
vote their resources primarily to
improving the standard of living for
their people. Therefore, when at
tackled by nations which have con-
centrated on preparations for war
of conquest. the initial successes in
evitably will go to the aggressors."
They did In this war. It required
approximately eight months for us
to recover from the blow at Pearl
Harbor before we could assume the
offensive by the attack on the Japa-
nese positions at Gualdalcanal and
Tulagi 81 required six months be-
fore we could launch our first bomb
ing attack on Germany, with hand
full OF bombers assembled in Eng
land. 1t was almost a year before
we could join our allies in unleash
Ing the North African offensive. But
we held the Japs in the Philippines
long enough to get back on our feet
after Pearl Harbor. And in General
Marshall's opinion, the Japanese
reached the high tide of their march
OF aggression when the Navy turned
them back in the Coral Sea.
General Marshall made his first
report as chief of staff in July, 1889.
1t covered the first and second phase
OF the war, concluded with Ger
n1any's declaration of war against
Russia in June of 1941. This current
report covers the third phase, be-
tween July, 1941, and Pearl Harbor;
the fourth phase, between Pearl
harbor and the landing at Guadal-
canal, and takes us into the fifth
phase, which involves the launching
OF Allied military power against our
enemies In series of constantly in
creasing offensive blows until they
are beaten into complete submis-
sion"
Under his direction as chief of
staff, General Marshall has laid the
groundwork for the final phase. The
fortunes of war may find him in a
position to conclude that final phase
aIs leader of the forces which admin
lister defeat to the Germans. No
better man could have laid the
groundwork; no better man could be
chosen to administer the final blow.