Evening star., 1943-06-27
tContinued From Page CID


estimated that 275 Jap planes were de-
stroyed. The battle Of Santa Cruz, last
October, cost the enemy l56 planes. In
fighting over the South Pacific, an un-
official calculation is that since July 81,
1912. American airmen have shot down
1,414 enemy planes. at price of about
one-fifth that many loses. Air battles in
the Solomons region during the first two
weeks Of June cost the japanese 146
planes and the American 26. On June l6
Japanese armada of 100 planes at
tempted foray against Henderson Field,
on Guadalcanal. No less than "a bombers
and Zeros were destroyed at an American
Liberty ship and landing barge.
In Pacific land operations, American
marines and infantry mastered Guadal-
canal after six months Of bloody combat;
Americans and Australians occupied
lower New Guinea, after the japanese
had pressed within A miles of the Allied
base at Fort Moresby, and American
troops exterminated Japanese garrison
of 1000 on the island OF Attu, at the tip
OF the Aleutians.
On the Asiatic mainland, American
planes, manned by Americans or Amer
ican-trained crews, took the dominant
role In frustrating an ambitious jap
anese drive toward Chungking, which
was intended to dispossess the defenders
OF their main rice bowl" and If possible
to lquidate the Chinese incident" Once
more. when the Allied peoples were be-
ginning to despair OF China's ability to
stay in the war, Generalissimo Chang
favored them with resounding surprise.
Axis Ran Wild.
To understand the radical change OF
situation reflected by the preceding par
agraphs, 1t Is necessary to do no more
than revert to the posture of events one
year ago. On June 26, 1912, the sur
render of Singapore was only four
months in the past. Still more recent
was the conquest of Burma and the
Dutch Indies. Corregidor had capitu-
lated on May 4. Kharkov fell May 80,
and Sevastapol was soon 70 follow.
Marshal Rommel had just driven the
British out of Libya and pushed within
100 miles of Alexandria. The news of
the loss of Tobruk, on June 10, reduced
a White House guest to tears. 1t was
Winston Spencer Churchill.
Yet so responsible an authority as
Judge Robert P. Patterson, Undersecre-
tary Of War, found it necessary few
days ago to issue another warning
against the typical American frailty of
overconfidence and complacency. Taking
a global point of view. such realists en-
phasize that Germany still occupies or
dominates most, of i, the continent of
Europe, including vast tracts in Western
Russia; and that Japan. grown from
poverty to fabulous natural wealth, has
enjoyed Is months, virtually unmolested,
in which to strengthen its outer de-
fenses and develop colossal new re-
sources of rubber OIL tin, steel and coal.
British invasion of Burma, designed
to help China, was defeated and elected.
Despite reverseS beyond Ichang, the Nip
ponese still hold the mouth and 1000
IlllCS OI tIlC l dli6bZC WAiiSia 40
two-thirds of the length, as well as the
only navigable part, of China's life line
Of transport"
The central powerhouses of the Axis
remain inaccessible to attack save by air.
The United States has been able to
mount only one small bombing excursion
over Japan proper. Air raids against the
continent may have destroyed 10 per cent
or less of the Reich's war industry. In
order to become truly serious, the havoc
will need to be multiplied by three or
even five.
Question Anti-Sub Success.
Naval spokesmen ask how much of the
fall in submarine depredations was due
to luck, and whether Hitler may not have
called in his wolf packs to safeguard Eu-
rope against possible invasion by sea.
During at least year. Germany has
lowed free hand to fortify its rampant
from Norway to Greece. For a genuine
perspective, sober authorities insist, it is
requisite to bracket Attu with the Philip
pines, Pantelleria with Crete, Guadal-
canal with Java and Tunis with the Low
Countries and France.
Nominal American leadership in the
campaign of Northwest Africa may have
dimmed the fact that it was predomi-
nantly a British show. Gen. Mont
gomery and the 9Th Army broke the
Afrika Korps at Ell Alamein. The Brit
ish 1st Army delivered the main weight
of the Knockout blow. American partici-
patton was limited to four divisions and
a relatively minor air force. The United
States has 10 infantry divisions, which
are climbing toward 100. No more than
seven have had battle experience. Ac-
cording to Gen. Brehon Somervell, COM
mander of the Army Service Forces, the
United States Army cannot be fully
equipped until late 1914.
No one who has inspected the Army's
advanced centers can doubt that its
senior units and their immediate officers
represent the choicest flower of Ameri-
can manhood, in the full pink of health,
energy and spirit. Their training tends
to approximate more and more to actual
front-line conditions. Yet Kasserene
Pass taught the lesson that training
without battle experience is not suffi-
cient.
The problem of line officers is one of
acute concern to military chieftains. No
doubt candidate schols have proved the
best instrument at hand for selecting
junior leadership in citizen army. But
our youthful lieutenants and captains, it
is declared, though intelligent and de-