Evening star., 1943-11-11
ups Determined
To Hold Bouqoinvi|Ie
By Maj. George Fielding Eliot.

These lines are written on November
TO- the 168th birthday of the Marine
Corps, and it finds-as so many of the
birthdays of that distinguished corps
have found-Marines locked in battle
with the enemies of the Nation.
The Marines who are fighting today
on Bougainville Island are engaged In
the type of operation in which they are
specialists-amphibiou warfare. The
value of the Marine Corps training in
the conduct of landing operations has
been underlined again and again by
the events in the war in the Pacific.
In the planning and conduct of land
ing, there is an infinitude of detail, and
1t makes vast difference whether that
detail is carried out by officers and men
trained to do everything in the way
that experience has taught is best and
quickest and most economical both of
lives and of time, or whether it has to
be done by Army personnel whose basic
training and experience are with ground
operations and to whom landings are
not the main business of life, but only
an incident-who feel better and hap
pier the farther they can get away from
anything that floats on the water.
Considering the nature of the Pacific
fighting we have done, and of that which
still lies before us, we can as Nation
congratulate ourselves on possessing this
corps of trained and seasoned specialists
in dealing with the complex problems
attending the transfer of fighting power
from packed transports to deployed bat
tie efficiency ashore
Such corps must be partly men of
the sea- and partly men of the land;
they must be at home, and happy,
whether they are afloat or on solid
ground. Indeed today they must in
clude men of the air also, in order
that the close association necessary to
efficient support may be established be-
tween the surface elements of the corps
and the airmen whose integrated CO.
operation is so essential to the success
of any modern battle. Their organiza-
ton, their equipment, and their tactics
and technique are the products of all
the vast wealth of experience that has
come to be Marines, in landings small
and large, during the 1853 years of
their active history.
On Bougainville, at the moment. the
Marines are fighting against an active
and determined enemy. The japanese
cannot afford to give up Bougainville
without making hard fight for it; for
Bougainville is the last Eastern bastion
Of Rabaul, the center of japanese power
in the Southwest Pacific.
The fact that the japanese have made
landing north of the Marine beach,
head at Empress Augusta Bay, suggests
first of all that the interior communica-
tions of the island are almost nom
existent, so that the Japanese cannot
move overland with any facility. Wheth-
er the fact that they were able to land
successfully indicates that some of their
reports about American naval losses in
that vicinity may be true, is debatable
So far. there have been no reports of
further American landings and there
have been no reports as to the extent
if any to which the Marines may have
been able to enlarge their original beach,
head
This is painfully reminiscent of the
absence of detailed news about the land
ing on Guadalcanal, where the naval
covering force was driven off, tenn
porarily at least, by the japanese, and
where the Marines were in consequence
left isolated for some weeks, and were
for a time in serious straits. This NAV
have happened at Bougainville, too: and
If the facts are otherwise it is to be
hoped that no time will be lost in ap-
prising the country of the true conditions
at the earliest moment that military
security permits.
l do not. however, wish to spread
alarm The facts as known are quite
consistent with satisfactory progress on
our part, too. 1t seems likely that we
are in overwhelming naval and air SUI
periority, which was not the case at
Guadalcanal. The japanese landing may
have been quick sneak" one of those
swift and unexpected moves which no
vigilance can be sure of intercepting.
We may be able to get reinforcements
ashore, and mop up the new japanese
arrivals, whose numbers are stated only
as several hundred" One question has,
however, been answered: the Japanese
are determined to do their best, and to
take very long chances indeed. to retain
possession of Bougainville Island. They
have already suffered severe losses in
the various moves they have made: it
remains to be seen to what degree they
will be able to translate these efforts
into actual fighting power on Bougain-
vile itself