Evening star., 1943-11-19
Mid-Pucific Offensive?

| WIN OSsiIS SIICuSIVS.
Three heavy American air raids
within 48 hours on japanese bases in
the Gilbert and Marshall Islands are
the latest in a series of indications
that the Central Pacific may soon
become a major theater of opera
tions. Those raids come on the heels
OF a statement by Admiral Nimitz,
commander in chief of the Pacific
Fleet. that "the time has come for
us to attack" And previous to that,
spokesmen for our Army and Navy
high commands have intimated that
the current months OF autumn and
winter would see concentric pres
sures on the japanese defense sys-
tenn, all the way from mid-Pacific
to the Bay of Bengal. At a time
when Japan's naval and air forces,
already subject to heavy attrition in
the South Pacific, must be disposed
to meet those far-fung threats,
major move by us in the Central
Pacific would be logical part in the
larger strategic pattern.
The specific targets of those latest
raids were Jaluit, Mile and Maxim,
the trio being within a 3O0-mile
radius OF one another. All are coral
islands, Jaluit being the largest and
most important. The Marshall and
Gilbert Islands together form the
easternmost Of the series of island
groups stretching like a giant rec
tangle some 1,500 miles east and west
IN mid-Paciflc just above the equa-
tor, its north-south extension aver
aging nearly 1000 miles, None of
those many islands are more than
specks against the ocean immensity
wherein they are sparsely distrib-
uted. Nevertheless, they collectively
form a system of "unsinkable air
craft carriers" and submarine bases
which presents formidable barrier
to hostile operations against the
japanese homeland This was ia
pans arch-prize gained in the First
World War when she conquered them
from the Germans and got them
assigned to her by the Versailles
settlement as League Mandates
whose terms Japan has flagrantly
violated. The undoing of that blum
der Is one of the tasks which the
present war against japanese aggre-
sion must accomplish.
This is not the first time those
Gilbert and Marshall bases have
been attacked by us. Nearly year
ago they were pounded by a naval
task force, while last August a
marine commando unit made raid
landing on Maxim Island. However,
this is the first time that air raids
have been conducted by Army long
range bombers, operating from fields
as yet undisclosed. They met with
no air interception and only moder-
ate antiaircraft fire. nor did they
report any sizable Japanese naval
concentrations in those waters. This
would indicate that Japan's outer is
land defenses are at present lightly
held.
1t is unlikely that the japanese
high command would let the Gilberts
and Marshalls go without a real
fight if they should now be attacked
by expeditionary forces bent on their
conquest and permanent occupation.
But real fight is just what our high
command wants. For months our
Navy spokesmen have been daring
the japanese to bring out their
battle fleet and have a showdown
with ours. In this connection, our
naval experts are inclined to believe
that Japan's heavy losses in cruisers,
destroyers and other light craft have
impaired the balance of her fleet,
even though her biggest battlewag-
ons are intact and her carrier con-
tingent has suffered no attrition
since the battle of Midway.
sustained major offensive against
Japan's mid-Pacific rectangle would
place Toxic in an inescapable di-
lemma. 1t would either have to risk
a large part of its battle fleet in
defending those vital island bases or
see them 60 by default But deci-
sive naval defeat spells the doom of
the Japanese Empire almost as
surely as similar defeat of the
British Navy would entail the disrup-
tion of the British Empire. Both
imperial structures are fundamen-
tally based on sea power, without
which neither could continue to
exist. 1t is these larger considera-
tions which invest current happen
| ingS in mid-Pacific with their necnl