The Wilmington morning star., 1945-06-01
interpreting
The War .
by KIRKE L. SIMPSON.
Associated Press News oN

I1::. -ieSs News Analyst
Implicit in Japan's indicated "
cision to abandon the whole ,o' rs'
ern sweep of her South Chin. 'a'p'
conquest zone and its garrison' :.
their fate to the admission - %
the American toll of Nippones. ".''
power has reduced it to virtual W. vi
potency for more than , ,,,;.'a a'
stand in the north U'
With Japan as with Maj
many, air power was The vi -ni,; Yer
factor upon which fantastic dtIaFy
OF conquest were primarily s'eahs
only to prove in the end inado oaset
to the task. japanese anS sq re
war planners alike reckoned N MAJ
out the vast industrial produ WIN
resources of Britain and the T1;
States, once they were gear y,t' ID
to total war effort The - av up
leaders and their peoples arc AXIS
ing for that oversight in utt e pay
feat, achieved in Europe and IT, a
preaching in the Orient. '0 ap'
First glimpses of the .Tsr.,
retreat in China came weep pSAeSe
as field observers noted tbo ago
sense of enemy air power t0 3D. d.
port futile attempts Of yro sup'
armies to expand the Chin n,Juaa
China communications cor. t',uo
and seize American l4th Air 'l ForOs
bases that were ham.str, ,Uies
traffic along that vulnerable s 1.s
line. At the same time the n nns
greness of japanese air forces ,'' ID
ployed in French Indo China. Tbsi
land, Burma and Malaya as mo- na'
pared to the increasing weight ' u
Allied air attacks there wa, notsd
Lacking the air power to roof i !,
over, it is obvious that the lsnd
lifeline japanese carved wifi Nla
much effort through Chin.
to replace lost China Sea comm,,ni
cations with the south must h.
come more of a liability than an
| asset to the foe.
There is authoritative word from
1t. General Wedemeyer, America
commander in China, as well as
from Chinese military spokesmen
that enemy abandonment of ths
corridor is in progress. He told
Chungking press conference there
seemed no doubt that the foe was
falling back northward to shorten
his defense lines and guard Jana,
nese main positions on the main.
land and Japan itself.
"Our supply problems are i'm.
proving while the enemy's are in.
creasingly difficult" Wedemeyer
added.
The American commander was
optimistic over the improved mill.
tary situation in China but warned
that the time had not yet come
when a general Allied offensive
there could be launched. 1t seems
obvious however, that in order
to meet both the crisis resulting
from American landings on Ok.
nawa and the uncertainty as to
what Russia may do, Tokyo has
called in virtually all that is left
of Japanese air power from the
south and even from central China
Accepting the Chinese view
shared by General Wedemeyer
that the foe is pulling back On the
mainland to some short defense
line that could be air linked with
the defense of the main japanese
islands, the weak point in such a
deployment would be the east
China Sea span between the
Chinese coast and Japan.
| OkinaWa, the largest and most
central island of the Ryuku chain,
is the key to the defense Of that
span and desperate as is Japanese
resistance still there, its complete
occupation by American forces Is
| assured. American or Allied pene'
tration of the East China Sea 10
split the. contracted Japanese de'
tense front in two will certainly
follow in due course.
That conception of the vital na'
ture of the attempt to beat oil Inc
OkinaWa threat by suicide taclcs
is reflected in japanese neWScasN
and in the desperate nature OF en-
envy suicide air sorties on AMER
can combat and supply craft III