The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-12-07
U s In 4th .Yeor Of War
Continued from Page D

ing of Chicago was home arranging an engagement party for her Three years after the Japanese knocked out the backbone of the U. s. Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, the strategic outlook for the United Nations is generally good. In the west, more than 100000 Allied combat troops are pressing slowly into. Germany in one of the great ofensives of all time, while Red Army hordes are driving upon the Reich from the east.
 In the Pacific, General Douglas Macarthur is back in the Philip pines, the U. s. Navy has avenged Pearl Harbor by crippling the Jap anese fleet, and Tokyo is learning from B-29 crews that war can be a flaming hell.
 Dark Spots
 But there are dark spots in the picture, and a host of imponderables making uncertain the immediate future course of the war and cloud ing the face of the peace to come. They include:
 1. A Japanese breakthrough in southern China which threatens both Chungking, the capital, and Running, the U. s. 14th Air Forces great base on the Chinese side of the Himalayan Hump.
 2. Allied supply problems, espe- cially in the vast Pacific; manpower shortages and production lags at home; and difficulties inherent in trying to prepare economically for peace while still fighting the war.
 3. Internal discord in China and in the liberated countries of Eu- rope, taking in many instances the form of an, theological tug-of- which conceivably could breed diffi- culties among the major Allies.
 But these difficulties could not ob- scure the brilliant Allied success of the recent past. A handful of dates supply the main chapter headings for teh story of 1914:
 June 6-Allies smash Hitler,s At lantic wall and invade France.
 June 15-B-29 Superfortresses at tack Japan for the first time.
 August 15-French and American troops invade southern France.
 August 25-Paris liberated.
 September 11-Soldiers of the U. s. First Army invade Germany.
 October 19-MacArthur returns to the Philippines.
 November 24-B-29's attack Tokyo for the first time.
 This same year also saw the U. S. capture of Peleliu, Saipan, Tin ian, and Guam, bringing the Allies 4,000 miles closer to Tokyo; the nb- eration of most of France, all of Greece and much of Yugoslavia, and the desertion of Germany by three erStwhile satellites - Romania, Fin land and Bulgaria.
 27 D-Days
 In all, this year, there were "27 different D-Days each one,' in the words of President Roosevelt, "a triumphant success"
 Thus far, one of the greatest con- tributionS of the United States to modern warfare has been the per- lection of amphibious offensive op- erations. The New Year may well see the American amphibious tech- nique, employing concentrated naval and air might to protect novel and highly specialized landing craft, d. rected against Japan proper.
 Despite the fact that 1914 was the most violent and consuming year of the war thus far, the United Nations found time and energy to plan, at international conferences for the peace years ahead. And in the United States, the people took their first wartime presidential elec- ton since 1864 in stride.
 The discussion of world peace was conducted against a background of vast changes in the World War since Japan sought to insure { quick and lasting victory by her treachery at Pearl Harbor.
 Since that day of infamy," the United States has built its Army from l,600,000 men to e,000,000, of whom nearly 6.000,00 are overseas. Its Navy has grown in personnel from 430.000 to 3.800.000 and in ships from i,076 of all kinds displacine l,875,000 tons to b6.270 aggregating i0,4s6.ie4 tons.
 The United States has built 240,- 900 planes, 10000 tanks, 2.s00, ,O0o big and medium guns, i,000.0 .00C trucks, i6.00O,0O0 machine guns and rifles, 43,000. .O00, 600 rounds of am- munitlon. l3A00.n00 bombs, and 4,30e merchant ships totaling 44,082,. 900 tons. Its 1894 food production