The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-11-14
JAPAN'S OBJECTIVES

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 JAPAN'S OBJECTIVES
 Not only were the European part ners of the Axis unable to coordi- nate their plans and resources and agree within their own nations how best to proceed, but the eastern partner, Japan, was working in even greater discord. The Axis, as a matter of fact, existed on paper only. Eager to capitalize or the pre- occupation of the western powers in Europe, Japan was so greedy for her own immediate conquests that she laid her strategy, not to help Germany defeat Russia and Great Britain, but to accumulate her own profit. Had the way been open Germany and Japan would have un- doubtedly joined their armies in Central Asia, but to Japan this ob- jective was secondary to footing the Far East while there was no real force to stop her. The War De- partment General Staff's analysis of Japanese objectives follows:
 "The Japanese, for many years, bolstered by a fanatical belief in divine guidance and their own spiritual and military supremacy, had planned the domination of the Far East and eventually the world. Japan in her inland em- pire was not self-sufflcient. She required broader land areas and access to oil, rubber, and other raw materials if she were to be- come a major industrial world power This principle of expan- sion was outlined in the 'Tanaka Memorial purportedly secret memorandum prepared for Hiro- hito by the Jap Premier in 1927. Authentic or not, it provided the pattern which Japan has followed, eliminating in the great Pacific conflict.
 Time Was Ripe
 "Strategically, Japan was well poised in 1941 to carry out her aims in Asia. All the major world powers who normally maintained the status quo in Asia were ab- sorbed in the war in Europe. France had been overrun and eliminated. England was threat ened by German invasion. The U. s. s. R. was attempting to re- pei German invasion on her Western front reaching to the gates of the capital. The United States had become the Arsenal of Democracy, with major efforts di- rected toward the support and preservation of our European Allies.
 "The Tripartite Pact had been signed, giving Japan free hand in Asia. She had a large and rela- lively well-equipped army and moderately good air force we'll trained by actual combat in China. She had obtained by forced agree- ments staging area in French Indo-China. She had a fairly large navy especially strong in the transport craft available. She had accumulated by great national economy good stockpile of stra- teg1c materials at home for the initial effort and with each suc- cessive conquest she obtained new and important areas from which other supplies of materials could be drawn. such as oil, rubber. and metal. The Japanese mistakenly believed in the hearty coopera- tion of liberated peoples of the so-called Greater East Asia Co., Prosperity Sphere with their huge labor pools. Japan considered herself ready to strike.
 "Japan's objective was the con- quest, consolidation, and even- tual domination of the whole Far East. She intended to make her conquest in rapid surprise drive which would overpower all re- sistance, to form an iron ring of outer defenses against which the spiritually inferior, pacifistic com- bination of opponents could beat themselves into weariness, while she consolidated her gains at leis- ure."
 What Japan Intended
 The best estimate of Japan's plan for the accomplishment of her objectives appears to be the following:
 l. Neutralize or destroy the U. s. Pacific Fleet by an attack on Pearl Harbor.
 3. Drive rapidly south over- coming the Philippines and the Southwest and South Pacific Is- lands in order to cut sea routes of supply or attack from the East and gain the vast natural re- sources of the East Indies.
 3. Cut China's supply line from the west by an invasion of Burma.
 4. Form a flank by the seizure of the naval base of Singapore and the islands of Sumatra and Java.
 5. Isolate or possibly invade Australia.
 6. Invade the Hawaiian Islands via Midway.