Evening star., 1944-11-15
War Seen Heightened
By Philippines Invasion
Operation Will Absorb Vast Part
OF Pacihc Forces, Says Writer
BY Dapid Laurence


Of Paci6c Forces, Says Writer
BY David Laurence
Decision to throw the veisht Of our
military and naval forces into the
Philippines may delay the ending of
the war against Japan.
The present outlook is that the
Japanese-American War will terminals
sometime toward the end Of 1916
about two years hence-unless Japan
decides for economic reasons to sur
render sooner
From strsight-out military and
naval viewpoint, the Philippines opera
ton will absorb a tremendous part of
our Pacific forces. 1t may even delay
the entry of Russia into the war against
Japan-sonlething which is by no means
4 certainty but which has been fire.
quently predicted. For the problem of
supply Is such that, with our commit
ment in the Philippines, we could not
do both jobs right away-supply north
ern route for shipping direct to the
Siberian coast and take care of the
Macarthur requirements in the Philip
pines, too.
Some day when historians coldly
evaluate the decisions that were made
In recent months to confine our present
operations to the Philippine theater and
forego the possibility of by-passing
these islands and trying for a shorter
inn nf fHn kx,z xusIx-
north, the present policy will come in
for considerable discussion.
Viewpoint Of Prestige.
Undoubtedly the recovery of the
Philippines was important from
prestige viewpoint, and also it was
necessary to get some bases there for
various purposes, but it does seem as
If this would have required much less
manpower and shipping If the bases
to the north could have first been taken
its source.
part of the story has been unfolded
already by Col. Alfred E. Kastner, who
was with Admiral Halsey recently. Col.
Kastner says that the Admiral found
the Japanese naval and air defenses of
the Philippines weak and decided to
bypass his real objective-the island
OF Yap-and recommended that the
Philippine attack be undertaken at once
So while We landed much earlier than
obviously was intended and got a good
chance to demolish half the Japanese
feet besides, the fact remains that our
Pacific forces are committed now to
the Philippine area and not to opera
tions nearer Japan.
The japanese are pouring airplanes
into the Philippines regularly from
Formosa and other points farther north,
and it is apparent from the news dis
patches that the airfelds for the use
of the Army Air Forces are not yet
ready. This is plain to be seen from
the announcement that aviators from
Admiral Halsey's feet have been active
against the Japanese ships in and
around Leyte, whereas if we could have
gotten airflelds ready for the Army
fighters, these would have been In action
by now
This Is not to be construed as any,
body's fault, because airfields after all
cannot be captured and put into use
for substantial numbers of land based
fighter planes overnight Meanwhile
the Japanese are pouring reinforcements
into Luzon for further attacks SOUTH
ward and will give the Americans quite
battle which may take several months
and absorb large numbers of our men
and supplies
Bypass" Idea.
The bypass" idea has been used so
successfully by the American strategists
thus far in the Pacific that 1t seems
pity means could not have been found
for landing also at points north of the
Philippines such big forces as were
available to Gen. Macarthur. 1t is said
Gen. Macarthur had his heart set on
making the major operation in the
Philippines and the morale value of the
recovery took precedence.
In fairness to his concept. however.
1t must be stated that the news as given
out by Col Kastner indicates that the
operation was begun sooner than
planned by anybody, and that now all
other methods of bringing Japan to her
knees by striking at strategic spots must
necessarily await our making secure the
positions We have assumed in the
Philippines.
War consists of sudden changes and
the seizing of opportunities, and there
can be no doubt that the acquisition of
the Philippines makes more sure the
Introduction of land-based air power
of the Army for protection of areas In
the China Sea and northward. But it
must be realized nevertheless that the
war against Japan has been consider
ably lengthened-a view which was not
apparent Immediately after the recent
naval victory but which has come to
light only after Col Kastner's disclo-
sures and the news contained in recent
press dispatches from the Philippines
theater
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