Evening star., 1945-07-10

The liberation of the Philippines
marks turning point of the war in
the Far East. 1t frees two American
armies for new operations, operations
for which the gathering of American
airpower on Okinawa may provide the
preparation. While Gen. Macarthur
gathers his legions, fits the reinforce
ments which are pouring across the
Pacific into his strategic framework, and
makes his plans, another phase OF the
war against Japan is proceeding farther
south
This campaign is being conducted in
two parts, which are destined eventually
to meet. The larger of the two parts
is that Of Admiral Lord Louis Mount
batten's Southeast Asia Command
which includes the British 18th and l4th
Armies, the East Indies Fleet and Brit
ish and American air forces. Most of the
ground troops are Indian, but it is pos
sible that within the near future the
famous British I'd Army from the Euro
pean theater may be added.
Mountbatten has just completed the
liberation of Burma, excepting fringe
of frontier territory along the noun
famous Thai border. The monsoon has
brought his operations to an end save
for small-scale fighting, but when the
monsoon breaks he will be able to go
on to fresh activities. 1t is certainly no
secret that most British officers in this
part of the world are thinking in terms
of Singapore but what road will be
chosen to Singapore is another matter.
There are several-by way of the Malay
Peninsula, or through Sumatra, or an
attempt to force the narrow Strait of
Malacca.
To 20 down the Malay Peninsula by
land it would be necessary to cross from
Burma into Thailand. The roads are
few, almost nonexistent, across the bor-
der mountains. There Is a narrow
gauge railway, built by the Japanese to
supply their forces in Burma. It's Ca
pacity is hardly equal to the task of
supplying British division, let alone
a couple of armies. But If the Thai
port of Bangkok could be captured there
seems no good reason why Mountbatten
could not shift his base of operations
to the Gulf of Siam and be supplied
from the Pacific by way of new ad-
vance base on Borneo. This would not
be wholly satisfactory, because his In
dian troops are largely dependent on
India as source of supply, but it would
be a possibility in case nothing better
could be worked out.
A quicker approach to Singapore might
be landing in the vicinity of Penang,
and the establishment there of an Of
fensive base for an advance down the
peninsula This would necessitate the
prior naturalization of Japanese air
s.. Ax.5 rad
Islands and in Northern Sumatra. Prob
ably carrier-based aviation would have
to bear great part of this initial task.
AS for landing on Sumatra itself, the
japanese are believed to be in some
strength on that island (possibly 75,000-
10000 combat troops and lengthy
preliminary campaign might be involved
before 1t would be possible to make the
jump across the Malacca Strait to the
Malay Peninsula. But this might be the
shortest route in the end; 1t all depends
on whether. in the judgment of Admiral
Mountbatten and his staff, Sumatra can
be safely by-passed.
Certainly the shortest way to Singa-
pore is by water. The bolder spirits on
SEAC's staff will surely examine with
hopeful care the possibility OF forcing
the Strait of Malacca by direct naval
and-air operation, supported of course
by landing forces to establish air bases
on both shores, The hazards of mines,
suicide aircraft, suicide motor boats and
shore batteries are considerable in these
| CONSTRUCTED waters where ships cannot
maneuver to avoid attack 1t would not
be wise to give the enemy, at, this stage
of the war the moral uplift of a de-
| fensive success. So the direct attack