The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-06-16
United Nations


 (Continued from Page D begin. When the island chain has been won, modern naval base es- tablished, the next step will be toward the Philippines, Formosa or the China coast itself.
 Hopping On Point
 The Marianas are the hopping oil point for the final stages of the Pa- cific war. After the coast of China is reached the United States in a major way will move into the big Asiatic war. And, meantime, the Army's new 20th Air Force, which was unveiled yesterday in its first bombing operation against Japan, will soften up the Japanese home land for the invasion to come. The numbers of men, ships and planes involved in cracking the west wall, going ashore on Saipan or bombing Japan are military secrets. The layman's only compre- hensible approach to the enormity of the current military operation is in terms of distance.
 For instance, the Marianas. where U. s. task force landing parties now are fighting their way inshore on Saipan. the principal island, lie B. 900 miles west of Pearl Harbor where the Japanese struck an al- most paralyzing blow on December ', l94l. From Guadalcanal. where the first American offensive in the Pacific was undertaken In August, 1942, to Saipan it is 2,000 miles.
 5000 Miles
 From the Cherbourg Peninsula in France where the Anglo-American Allies have broken the west wall. to the Marianas chain 1t is 5000 miles by the shortest air route, which would be approximately across the North Pole.
 Little Wake Island lies now far to the rear of American action. Still held by the Japanese but under bomb fire at the will of U. s. task force commanders, Wake Is 1,5O0 miles east of Saipan.
 The thousands of Boeing workers in Wichita. Kan, where the first Of the armys great B-29 bombers were built, may ponder the fact that when the big ships let their bombs fall on Japan yesterday they were approximately 6,200 miles from the Kansas prairie plant where some of them were built.
 Looking westward toward the enemy from the Marianas beach, head, 1t is 1.600 miles to Manila or 1900 miles to the nearest point on the China coast.
 From the principal U. S. Pacific base-Pearl Harbor-to Saipan 1t Is approximately $500 miles, about 1900 miles further than the air line distance between New York and San Francisco.
 Fantastic
 These distances are fantastic when viewed in relation to supply They are air line distances. Much of the supply in the Pacific Is by air. But the hsllk AS by water, via longer routes and in conveys which may not travel in 24 hours as far as B-29 in one.
 But this past fortnight is only the beginning. Admiral William H. Hal- sey has been relieved of his Pacific command for new assignment in that area. That means the whole pattern of war in that theater is about to change. The Allied land- ings on the Cherbourg peninsula were spectacular. But that peninsula is only a nibble of what Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower has in mind and what his men must take.
 MacArthur turned the Japanese back at Port Moresby, the gateway to Australia. but the Philippines still lie far to the north and west.
 Two Years
 More than two years elapsed be- tween the first bombing of Japan and yesterdays second. Those bombings are to become daily, deadly incidents in the life of the Japanese. The whole expanse of the Japanese empire power, of Ger many and of most of their vassal states are free from attack except by air. By land and sea and air the long, bloody miles stretch ahead.
 But as the fifth year of war draws to close 1t is evident that the United Nations have found the paths to Berlin and Tokyo, just as they found the path to Rome.
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