Evening star., 1944-08-15
Area Buses' Seen Plan
For Defenses in Pacific
Many Harbors and Islands to Be
Included in Unit, Says Writer

W. oSISubSSS bbu OSbBbS
Many Harbors and Islands to Be
Included in Unit, Says Writer
By David Laurence
The days of Pearl Harbor As our sim
gle base in the Pacific are over
The future naval or air base will not
be an island or q single harbor. 1t
will be an area extending over several
hundreds OF miles and including many
harbors and many islands.
The term area base" Is likely to come
into use in the future because OF the
tremendous influence which air power
has had on naval strategy.
Japan, Of course, has realized this for
many years, because the Caroline Is
lands rs well as the Marianas Islands
and the Gilbert and Marshall Islands
represented three distinct area bases"
But Japan was not able TO continue to
exploit those bases because she lacked
the resources to build the planes or the
ships necessary to utilize such bases to
their maximum strategic advantage
President Roosevelt's speech at Seat
tie was significant, therefore, in that he
spoke Of islands closer to Japan than
Hawaii and he also spoke Of islands
close to South America. None OF these
islands by themselves are important,
but when they constitute q group ex-
tending over a wide area, then from the
standpoint of air As we'll as surface
ships, they constitute AREA bases"-the
newest thing that naval strategy today
requires.
Lesson Of December Learned.
1t seems likely that the United States
Government will want to possess all the
important AREA bases" In the Pacific
between Hawaii and Japan. 1t is quite
conceivable that the Aleutian "area
base" will be widened to include islands
in the Kuriles group which, when cap
tured soon by the United States, will
not be given up This is because of u
necessity for using them in the deT,>-e
of Alaska
The lesson Of December 7, 1e41, has
been learned 1t has been learned 80
well that never again will so many bat
tleships of the United States fleet be
kept In a single harbor anywhere. The
AREA base" theory Is that not only must
naval vessels be kept in various anchor
ages protected by anti-aircraft defenses,
but there must be q string of air fields
in the different islands sufficient to pro-
tect one another in the event that an
assault is made at one point
The Gilbert and Marshall Islands, the
Caroline Islands and the Marianas are
potential area bases" for the use of
the United States in the future. Air
fields will be developed there for our
fortresses and superfortresses, and pos
s'bly for the use of air power OF friendly
nations allied with us in an interna-
tional organization to preserve peace.
The lessons Of this war reveal that
even the fertilization of Guam, which
was so much a matter Of controversy a
few years ago, might not have been of
avail in this war except to assist the
United States naval forces in fighting
q delaying action. Even If Guam had
been fortified, it is questionable whether
1t could have stood up against the
aircraft carriers available to the jap
anese in the early months Of the war.
Island Hopping Pared Way.
Incidentally. the Japanese strategists
never believed that the United States
would ever recover from the defeat at
Pearl Harbor. They thought the United
States, being preoccupied with the Eu-
ropean war. would never Be able to build
up navy or air power sufiiciently
strong to go across the Pacific to the
Marianas.
Unquestionably the Japanese are
now nonplussed when they see the
United States naval and air might
mobilized within a few hundred miles
of their homeland. This could not have
been done without the previous work
OF the Army, Navy and Marine Corps
in what was called island hopping, "
but it was, nevertheless, a vital pre-
liminary to what is being accomplished
IN the western Pacific today.
1t may be that "area bases will Also
he required by the United States in and
around the Philippines and it may be
that the United Nations will develop
area bases too, in the vicinity of the
Dutch East Indies to be utilized by the
military forces of the United Nations.
Never again will naval bases like
Singapore or Pearl Harbor play the
role in naval strategy that has been
attributed to them heretofore.
The main reason for all this, OF
course, is the remarkable job that the
atrplane has done in this war both
from the decks Of naval carriers and
from land bases. 1t may truly be said
that while the airplane by itself is not
decisive as weapon of war, 1t has
nevertheless. exercised a decisive in
nuence on the character of naval
strategy at sea and military strategy on
land.
Reproduction Rishts Re.erved)