Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1944-08-18
Jdps Still Powerful, but
Position Grows Weaker
Shipping Losses Reduce Flow of Material;
Efficiency of Pilots Suffers From
Poor Tactics in Combat.
By BAUKHAGE
Ne,us Analyst and Commentator.

the German air force. And as Nazi
ighter-defense dwindled, so the
weight of sheer numbers reduced
the effectiveness of German anti
aircraft defense and offense, due to
the bombing of her plane factories
and plane-part factories and to the
destruction of her pilots. Germany's
next greatest weakness is lack Of
gas and oil. This has been caused
by the destruction (by the Allied air
force again) of oil wells, gasoline
refineries and synthetic oil plants.
Proofs of the effects of this bomb
ing are not limited to photographs
showing the effect of Allied air raids
on ball-bearing plants, on the Ploesti
oil wells, on the synthetic oil plants
and the refineries. 1t is shown in
the German tanks and other war We
hicles in perfect condition aban-
doned and captured because they
ran out of fuel.
Raids, really shake-down cruises
of the giant BIOS directed against
Japanese industrial plants, have just
begun.
Japan is already suffering from
shortages of essential materials. Her
great stolen storehouses of the Phil
ippines and the Dutch Indies are a
long way from home. The trans
portation problem is a terrible one
japanese shipping has been SUBJ
jected to terrific losses by our SUBJ
marines and planes.
Distances Shrink in
Far Pacific Warfare
Is Japan in any better position to
resist air attack than Germany?
The answer seems to be mo-" Her
greatest defense is distance, and dis
tances in the Pacific theater have
shrunk at a speed far greater than
most people dreaE1rd was possible.
Japan's next defense - fighter
planes-hss suffered in greater pro-
portion than was expected. The
quality, as well as the quantity of
Jap planes has fallen off so that
Japan has become stingy in her
use of fighters as the Germans. The
quality of her pilots has greatly de-
Perforated. And this point blends
into another. Japan simply has not
the strategic know-how of aviation.
When she does send her bombers
and fighters out in great numbers,
they are no match for Allied power,
man or plane.
There is no question that as ia
pans resistance Weakens the Allied
StrIkInu ic inornoSnI ic
impossible to mention details, OF
course, for security reasons and it
would be unwise to assemble known
facts and figures concerning the type
of material manufactured and the
disposition of forces which, taken
together, would indicate clearly
enough how the weight of Allied
might is being distributed.
We can quote the statement Of
Prime Minister Curtin of Australia,
for instance, who says that "this
year" British forces in great num-
bers will be transferred to the Pa
cific theater.
Finally, there is a third factor
which seems to be Fastening of the
end. 1t is difficult to speak of mo
rale" in connection with Japan since
the people are told how and what
to think. But the tone of the official
utterances has taken on decidedly
gloomy note. Even as to the shifts
in command-the fall of the TOTO
cabinet - which might have been
hailed with a cheerful fanfare, the
phrases were grave and grim.
1t is also reported, from sources
in touch with Japan's inner poll
tics, that the Jap militarists are
waiting hopefully to see if the Allies
grant enough leniency in their terms
to Germany to justify surrender on
their part Although it was en-
phatically denied in Tokyo it is still
believed here that the Japanese rep
resentative to the Holy See laid a
tentative peace offer before the
Pope
Briefly, then, as the conservative
ton look at the picture rapidly FORM
ing in the Pacific, they see several
factors which heretofore worked to-
ward long drawn out struggle in
the Far East either removed or al
tered. First, the theory that the
Allies must fight their way to vic
tory, sea-mile by sea-mile, island
by island, has been completely ex-
ploded. Second, Japan's air force
has been measureably debated.
Third, the strategy of blow at the
heart of the empire rather than at
triton at its perimeter is now con-
sidered a reasonable certainty.