The Wilmington morning star., 1945-04-02
Interpreting
The War
BY ELTON C. FAY
Associated Press War Analyst

ASSOCl9te0 1IcSS war Analyst
The space separating American
forces from Japan should be meas.
ured in months as well as miles.
United States Army and Marine
forces stand today on Okinawa,
only 325 miles from the enemys
homeland. They reached there by
the boldest stroke yet executed in
tn sWiftly-moving Pacific war. Vic
tory is nearer in the Pacific, but
it still is midtown on the hori.
zon.
Admiral Nimitz' communicate
points up the thought that even
this mighty advance is only pre-.
paratory. Possession OF Okinawa,
says the admiral, will greatly
intensity the attacks of our fleet
and air forces against enemy
communications and against Ja-
pan itself and final decisive VIC
tory is assured"
The way still must be made
ready for landing large masses OF
troops to defeat the main army OF
Japan. To do that, the enemy.
means to defend himself first mus.
be reduced by intensified air at.
tack on his war-making ability
strategic bombing) and aerial
cover provided for the invasion
forces TACTICAL air coordination)
The time element involved is
evidenced in some recent state
ments and developments.
Air commanders say the strate.
gic bombing of Japan's war in.
dustries is only in the first stage,
despite the current 300-plane Bog
strikes. They mention eventual
1,O0O-plane attacks. This certainly
would seem to project the final
offensive well into the future.
The building up of air strength
to provide tactical cover is no
less a time-consunling task than
the deliberate step-up Of the stra.
tegic bombing. The problem is not
one of planes; they are available.
They must, however, have bases,
ashore and afloat.
The Ryukyu Islands will provide
many good bases for fighter and
tactical bombing planes. Two Jima,
although approximately twice the
distance from Japan at Okinawa.
still is within maximum fighter
and easy bombing range of the
home islands. But large quantities
Of tactical air support, based close
in also will be needed to cover
any large-scale troop landings on
Japan.
Here is where the Nays air
craft carriers enter the picture.
The Navy now has in operation the
worlds greatest fleet Of carriers
scores of the fast carriers of the
Essex and other classes and even
more of the smaller types. The
Navy, however, isn't stopping here.
It has started out on a program
of building super-carriers.
The first of these giants, the
As, 00O-ton Midway, was launched
recently at Newport News, Va.
Significantly, the Midway is de-
signated as "battle carrier"
The Navy says officially that she
has been given the heaviest pro-
lection with which it is possible
to "armor" carrier and that
she is designed with Withstand the
enemy's most intensive attacks
with bombs and torpedoes.
These references to "battle
carrier" and to "armor" up
to this: The Navy is building car
riers for close-in combat, car
riers that can shove up almost
to the point where the beach can
be sighted before their planes are
sent up to cover landing opera
tons.
1t should be noted that these
carriers are still in the construc-
ton stage. The Midway has been
launched, but not yet finished and
commissioned. Two sister ships
are on the ways. The others SO far
as only blue prints
While all of this is being done,
ships built and planes massed and
strategic bombing expanded, it will
be necessary to bring millions OF
men and their equipment from Eu'
rope and set them up in the Pacl'
fic for the final blow.
Those things take time.