Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-10-08
War in Orient Bars
Much DemobiIizinq

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Writer Discusses Alternative
Plans for Attacking Japan
By OiDen L. Scott.
It now appears that no large-scale
rehabilitation OF men In military serv-
ice win occur until the defeat Of Japan.
Release OF men from service will be
selective and slow after the defeat Of
Germany.
The 100000 men who soon will be in
service in the Navy, including marines,
VIII stay there through the japanese
war. OF the 100000 men In the Army
and air forces, 1t Is expected that about
100000 will be held to fight the jap
anese war. This means 5000 900 men
under arms and will permit demobiliza-
ton OF about 100000 from the Army
and air forces.
Generalization of those who are let
out OF the Army and air forces is ex-
pected to require about one year to
complete. The men released are to
come largely from foreign service and
no more than 250,O00 month, If that
many can be returned for discharge in
period when large numbers of men
are being shifted from one war theater
to another.
The decision appears to be that the
United States must be prepared to de-
feat Japan in either of two ways-the
naval way, which can be fast and de-
cisive If given full support; or the land
way, using huge American Army to
seek out the Japanese Army on the
mainland Of ASIA with the manpower
available from 400, 0O0, 900 Chinese look
ing on, for the most part, from the
sidelines.
Japan now Is beginning to look as II
1t would be setup for the United
States Navy. American forces soon will
be back in the Philippines. When they
are settled again in those islands, naval
and air power will sever Japan from
her rich empire in the Southwest Pa
cific. At that time, too, this country
will control an arc of naval bases within
$500 miles of the Japanese homeland.
That Is very comfortable operating
range for the Navy.
**t
The people Of this country have sup
piled their Navy with at least 100 air
craft carriers, more than 20 Of them of
the large type. They have supplied that
Navy with 26 battleships II Japan's
Navy ever comes out to fight the new
American Navy built around this often
sive strength, that Japanese Navy will
almost inevitably be destroyed. II it
does not come out, or If it does come
out and is destroyed, Japan will lie open
to devastating attack and to isolation.
American forces have demonstrated
once again in the Philippines that
Japan's land-based aircraft are no
match for this country's carrier-based
aircraft. The myth Of Japanese i'm
pregnability built around land-based
aircraft is destroyed by box score Of
from 10 to about 100 to / of Japanese
land-based planes destroyed by United
States carrier-based planes. 1t also is
true that at Saipan the United States
Navy, using carriers, maintained an air
cover over that island constantly for
two weeks.
There Is reason to doubt that this
country has built vast feet Of air
carriers merely to engage about 10 anti
quated Japanese carriers. There also
is reason to doubt that 26 United States
battleships are in commission Just to
deal with Japan's battleships. Rather
1t must be remembered that Japan's
cities and Japan's industries are con-
centrated along the coast line where
they are peculiarly vulnerable to attack
from 16-inch naval guns and from car
rier-based planes. The United States
Navy has staged many 1,0oo-plane at
tacks from carriers.
All Of this means that the American
people have created Navy designed
for the job of isolating, bombarding
and even invading the Japanese islands.
Once those islands are isolated and
blockaded-with coastal shipping de-
stroyed and fishing fleets wiped out
Japan is helpless and subject to starva-
ton. The Japanese lack the means
and they lack the time to move their
industry and their people from the
present islands to the mainland. In
dustry In Manchuria and China Is
totally inadequate to support q modern
army. Japans army on the mainland
Of Asia viii be without base OF supply
upon which to depend.
=
It is at this point that the mass
United States Army and air forces
enter the picture. Once Japan is
blockaded and blasted by air and sea,
there will be the question of whether
to produce final defeat by strangula-
ton or whether to throw in big army
for a quicker final decision. There
also will be the question Of whether to
use great American army to pene-
trate into China in order to engage the
big japanese armies there or whether
to provide arms and leadership to Chi
nese forces to do that Job in a more
leisurely way.
There are signs in official propaganda
that suggest decision to use American
troops to carry on big campaigns in
China and in Japan. At the same time,
this country is proposing that China be
recognized as one of the great powers
OF the world, although its manpower,
drawn from 40o,oo0,ooo people, will be
regarded as incapable Of dealing with
few hundred thousand Japanese
troops cut of from any real base Of