Evening star., 1944-02-02

WQdG Is True OaViu LaWrence.
of this incident seems to be true of
the attitude OF many uninformed
persons who rush to conclusions
about the American ope, ations in
the Pacific. 1t Is beginning to be
understood now, however, that ac-
QUESTION of valuable bases from
which aircraft can operate requires
costly invasions by amphibious units,
followed by land troops and by con-
struction battalions.
There is no easy way to get air.
craft bases and, despite all the mis-
leading talk by some of the eXtrem-
lists who give the impression that
air power alone can do almost any
thing, it begins to be apparent now
that naval power must be depended
on for constant and repeated at
tacks through "a hours of the day
when such bombardments are alb
solutely necessary.
None Of the islands thus far TAX
en- near the Marshalls, such as the
bases in the Gilbert Archipelago, is
big enough to permit building of the
airfelds needed to support 1000
planes, or anywhere near the num-
ber of planes being used in the
European theater of operations. for
instance, to level enemy fortiflca-
tions.
Another source of widespread mis-
understanding is the superficial crit
ism that has been made of island
hopping" 1t is to be noted that It.
Gen. Vandegrift, head of the Ma
rine Corps and hero of the battle
of Guadalcanal, took occasion in a
public address in the last "a hours
to point out that 'island-hopping"
is absolutely essential if certain is
lands that happen to be the key to
japanese defenses are to be won.
Gen. Vandegrift pointed out that
while some people would like to
believe there is some mysterious
short cut to Japan, as many Of those
islands as we absolutely need, we
shall have to take
This is but another way of saying
that the uninformed should examine
closely the geography of the Pacific
and the distances across that vast
ocean. They should note also that
these islands are small and that
whoever gets there first can prepare
defenses so we'll that even naval and
air bombardment will not wipe out
pill boxes and concealed artillery.
It is important that the public
know these facts because losses in
acquiring these valuable bases, so
urgently needed in making an air.
way to Japan, will be heavy. The
landings at Tarawa were costly and
the American people must expect to
see similarly heavy casualty lists in
other invasion attempts unless, of
course, the American invaders are
lucky and have the benefit Of tides
and breaks in the weather which can
materially cut our losses.
AS the Pacific operation unfolds,
1t is apparent that the American
Navy is doing a colossal job against
an enemy which has the benefit of
defensive preparations and much
shorter lines of supply for fuel and
reinforcements. AS the American
Navy gets closer to Toxic, the Japa-
nese advantages will tend to in
crease.
But the important fact to be borne
In mind in an overall look at what's
happening is that we are acquiring
bases from which the long-range
bombers of the Army Air Forces can
operate, thus throwing a cover of
protection over our cargo vessels and
tankers and also swinging out to
strike more and more offensive blows
along Japan's life lines.
The war in the Pacific is slow, but
necessarily So But of one thing the
American people can rest assured
no operation in our naval history or
the history of any other nation has
been better planned nor has any
other involved such gigantic supply
operations for fuel, for food and for
munitions.
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