The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-05-08

thoritieS believe to be the most dang looked enviously to Europe and fe hoping that their nation will not let
 They believe the Pacific half still may be the toughest.
 The fear that America would feel the war is over once Germany was defeated long has been in the minds of men in the Pacific. Those III command believe that high military and civilian authorities know that every effort must be thrown into the fight against Japan, but they fear that a letdown may be felt among civilians which will lead to pressure for demobilization of men ana machines more rapidly than is com patible with plans for complete oe- feat of Japan.
 Face Fanatical Foe
 Men who have fought Japan know they face a tough, tanatlca4 foe whose toughness and tanatl- cism extend right down through the civilian population. Most o1 them. although they hope they are wrong, feel that estimates made bv people at home that Japan VIII collapse six months after Germany are too optimistic.
 Lieutenant General Millar F. Har- mon. commander of the neWly-es- tablished Army Air Forces, Paclhc Ocean Area, who commanded Army forces in the South Pacific area for the two hard, bitter years it took us to fight our way through the Sol omon Islands, recently expressed an opinion held widely among Pa- cific personnel when he said:
 We must count on more than year of hard fighting ahead be- fore the end will be in sight He (the Japanese) is a tough, dan gerous foe Up to now, we have not come to grips with the enemy's main strength. We have engaged only his heavily fortified outposts. There is no shadow of doubt that we have the winning team, but the big game is yet to be played"
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 Today, the United States, with the biggest Navy in the history of the world and the most expert amphibious fighters war has ever produced, still is fighting on the outer approaches to Japan nearly three years after the war started at Pearl Harbor. America is not yet in position to put Japan and it's important satellites, Manchuria and Korea, under sustained attack. With Korea and Manchuria, which furnish essentials to the Jap anesa war machine, Japan has an area three times as large as Ger many which must be brought under | attack.
 One problem which Pacific com- manders have had to face has been the necessity for sending most men, materials and planes to the European theater, first on the list to be cleaned up, while they were assigned to stop the Japanese ad- vance and start beating him back as best they could with what sup plies could be spared for the job. In the early days of the war, this sometimes meant that jobs were undertaken literally on a shoe string"
 Now, with men, material and particularly planes to be diverted to the Pacific with conclusion of the war in Europe, the problem of bases to support them arise. The difficulty with the islands in most cases is that they don't furnish sufficient land mass to support large air bases in sufficient number to premit mass bombing.
 Vast Preparation Needed
 This undoubtedly is at least part of the basis for the strategy which has been announced by Admiral Nimitz - to drive for the coast of China Exploitation of landings there would permit establishment of bases of sufficient size to sup port mass bombings and eventual invasion of Japan, if that is nec- essary.
 But landing in China will re- qulre vast preparation, not the lesat of which are the securing or naturalization of other bases in the Pacific still in Japanese hands and the diversion of large numbers of men, ships and planes from Europe and production of vast amounts of new material. Then. when a landing in China is ef- fected, 1t must be exploited to bring under Allied control suffi- cient part of the country to sup port and and possibly invasion as- saults of a size necessary to bring Japan to her knees.
 All this must be done in the face of an enemy who as yet has shown title inclination to give up re- Rardless of the hopelessness of the