Evening star., 1944-02-02
Forward in the Pacific

yet undertaken in the Pacific, our
Army, Marine and naval forcessare
striking at the heart of Japan's
formidable outpost in the Marshall
Islands. This is no raid, and 1t is
misleading to speak of a task force"
being involved in the operation.
Authoritative reports reveal that we
have thrown into the assault naval
force which in some respects is
greater than our total Navy strength
at the time of Pearl Harbor. Ameri-
can warships of all kinds and de-
scriptions, aggregating at least
two million tons, have moved into
enemy waters, and Toxic is telling
the japanese people that "the mere
fact that the enemy is able to attack
the Marshall Islands must not be
taken too lightly"
AS yet we know little of the prog
ress of the attack, except that land
ings have been made. But we do
know that this is an all-out effort to
win victory that should be decisive
in the Central Pacific area. AS one
correspondent, writing from the
scene, describes it: Admiral Nimitz
has committed his Pacific Fleet and
the soldiers and marines involved.
The result must be either horrible
defeat or resounding victory. There
Is no road to escape" -----
Unless the lessons learned at Ia
rawa have resulted in lombard
ment technique more destructive in
character, the storming of the Mar
shalls may be an even more costly
business, because this group of coral
atolls has been in japanese hands
for more than a quarter, century
and has been extensively fortified
in defiance Of the terms of the
League mandate under which Japan
obtained legal possession Of this
former German colony at the close
Of the First World War. Indeed, this
will be the first part of the prewar
Japanese Empire to be conquered
a fact of psychological as we'll as
strategic significance.
Perhaps the most important as
pect Of the attack on the Marshalls
is that, though made in great force,
1t is only one Of several offensive
operations launched almost simul-
taneously against every important
sector Of Japan's outer ring of de-
fenses in the Pacific. At the very
moment of the combined naval air
and land attacks on the Marshalls,
the Japanese-occupied island OF
Wake was being blasted by big for
nations of heavy bombers, presum-
ably based on Midway Island, our
outer bulwark of Hawaii, while SIM
liar air bombardments were harry
ing the Japanese base at Rabaul,
New Britain and footholds on
Northern New Guinea. The pincer
squeeze on the Japanese positions
in the Southwestern Pacific has
reached point where it is debat-
able how much longer they will be
tenable. And the dual conquests Of
the Marshalls and New Britain
would expose Japan's Pacific Gil
braltar" at Truk in the Carolines to
development from two sides.
These operations do not exhaust
the list of American attacks. The
recent air raids on the japanese
base OF Paramushiro in the Kuriles,
launched from our Aleutian Islands,
and frequent raids on Japanese
bases deep into the Dutch Indies
complete the picture of consistent
pressure on the entire japanese de-
fense line, stretching many thou
sands of miles. That, combined
with depredations of our submarines
on. japanese shipping, must be pro-
ducing strain on Japanese naval,
merchant and air strength which
is increasingly hard to sustain.