Evening star., 1943-07-04
Japanese Turn to Defensive,
But Make i. S. Task Difficult
Bv Constantine Br0yn.

tIUE OIOLO
nese are tortured by the soldiery which
obeys orders from its officers. The rea-
son the prisoners are tortured before
being killed Is not so much that the
Japanese lack any ordinary human in
stincts and are cruel beyond words.
They follow definite policy ordered by
Toxic. The Japanese military leaders
realize that the men might waver and
surrender when they realize that it is
useless to continue to tight. They tell
their men that the enemy is cruel. and
death on the battle field is more to be
preferred than capture.
Torture for Propaganda.
In order to prove the veracity of their
statements, the japanese submit their
prisoners to all kinds Of indignities and
cruelties and tell their men that their
actions are humane in comparison to
what we are doing to japanese prison.
ers.
Instances have been known in which
bodies of Japanese soldiers. reported as
missing we're taken back to their units
in a state of mutilation. The officers
showed these corpses to assembled units,
declaring that these mutilations-done,
in fact, by the Japanese themselves IN
secret-had been perpetrated by the
Americans and that such fate awaited
any Japanese who surrendered.
Under these circumstances 1t is not
surprising that the ignorant peasants
and fishermen, who form the over
whelming majority Of the Jap fighting
forces, prefer to be killed or commit
suicide on the battle front If they cannot
break away.
These are the men we must annihilate
before we can conquer the islands which
form a protecting arc around the jap
anese Empire.
The progress of fortifying the islands
has been sped in remarkable manner.
For instance, last September the
American aviators who flew over RaDaul
met with only limited air resistance.
There were some antiaircraft guns and
few fighter planes protecting Rapaul
When Americans flew again over that
Jap stronghold in New Britain in March
only six months later-they were met
of japanese fighter planes. Our obser-
vations now indicate that Rabaul IS so
we'll defended that it would take at least
four or five divisions to. conquer It,
United States Navy in Command.
This explains the delay in operations
of our amphibious forces in that area.
At sea we have complete supremacy in
the Pacific But warships alone cannot
conquer territories. They can form an
efficient escort for conveys carrying men
to be landed ashore. They can protect
landings to a certain extent in areas
where the japanese have an inferior
airpower But the fire Of their guns
alone cannot conquer definite objective
if it happens to be well garrisoned and
adequately defended.
The defenses of the other islands
farther west which are even more i'm
portant for the protection Of the new
japanese Empire are even better than
those of the islands in the Australian
area. Large forces OF Japanese SOL
diers are stationed in all those islands.
The natives have been treated With
care and consideration which we cid not
think the japanese were capable of. The
Filipinos and the Malayans, who in the
early days of the conquest of their coun-
tries were kicked around by the soldiery.
are now treated almost as equals.
The educated people who are willing
to play along with the Japs-and there
many such individuals-are being given
remunerative jobs in the administration
of the islands.
Their religion is not being interfered
with. This is especially true of the Phil
ippines where Catholicism is preponder-
ant. There are no labor battalions in
those areas similar to those the Germans
have organized in the occupied coun-
tries of Europe. There is ample food
for everybody and the graft of the jap
anese officials has been reduced to a
minimum by orders from Toxic.
For the sake of painting as correct a
picture as can be given from reliable
bits of information obtained from the
South Pacific, the inhabitants of the
former British and Dutch colonies now
have as many liberties as they had under
their former masters and in other re-
spects are treated better than they were
treated by the white colonial admin
istrators.
Cruelties Left for Future.
The upper classes of the islands do not
encounter the superiority complex which
was characteristic of the British colonial
administrators and those in the lower
classes who work in mines and in the
fields get better pay than under the old
| rule.
These new conditions do not make the
inhabitants of the former British and
Dutch colonies feel that they have traded
a good master for an evil one; quite the
| contrary. OF course, the Japanese even
tually will exploit their subjected nations
in the same cruel way as they have ex-
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