The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-03-29
Jap battle-ground

| Premier Koiso tells his people that Japan
itself will soon become a battle-ground. We
are obviously preparing that ground to make
our invasion less costly and the victory more
certain There is nothing random about our
mounting air assault on the Japanese home
islands. 1t is like the barrage which pre-
cedes almost every great battle. 1t follows a
definite pattern and has a definite purpose
| 1t will help us to understand what is hap
pening to Japan if we think of that country
in terms of our own land. Let us suppose
that three-quarters of our population were
concentrated on a narrow strip OF our East
ern coast cut off from the rest of the coun-
| try by stretches Of ocean. That rugged and
mountainous strip would contain only about
IS per cent of lowland which would stand
all of our big cities housing most of our war
| industry. Some industry would have been de-
veloped in the conquered islands and on the
continent, but it would take a large part
of our Army to keep its alien and disaffected
people in subsection. Our real fighting
strength would lie in the coastal strip.
Now let us see what would have happened
to us if some enormously powerful enemy
had not only seized Bermuda and other At
lantic islands to establish long-range air bases
but had dispatched victorious fleet to range
our entire shorelne. Twenty-Five square
miles of our principal cities would be burned
out New York would be reduced by panic
and fire to little more than half its normal
population The hearts Of Philadelphia, Bos-
ton and Pittsburgh would lie in ruins. Mil
lions of homeless refugees would be wander
ing about Many of our plane factories would
be wrecked, including the huge United Air
craft plant in Connecticut that turns out our
Pratt Whitney engines Our Navy, cut down
by many defeats and hiding somewhere in
Chesapeake Bay. would be crippled by
swarms OF carrier planes. Invincible fleets of
enemy carriers and battleships would also be
sweeping through the islands of the West In
dies bombardng our bases there to cut US
off from the Panama Canal Zone. We would
be feverishly mobilizing everybody into a
| home army to resist invasion.
| Such is the dismal prospect faced by ia
pan. She is being softened up much more
| rapidly than Germany was. Her cities are
more vulnerable, and her four largest were
Quilted by fire within a period of weeks.
Though Japan depends on her overseas pos
sessions, she no longer has a navy capable
of defending her empire even Of defend
ing itself. Her homeland air force has been
badly depleted, and latest Superfortress
precision raid on the Mitsubishi airplane
works In Nagoya seems to have destroyed
that major engine plant. In the final battles
1t IS our hope, Of course, to confine Japan's
strength almost entirely to her ground forces.
We cannot destroy her armies from the air.
Whether our next landing attempt comes in
the Ryukyus, as the japanese think it WILL
or whether it comes on the soil Of Japan
itself, we will encounter fanatical foe pre-
pared to fight to the DEATH But the more
we weaken Japan now, the sooner the death
Of her last soldier will come. New York
Times.