The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-06-05
Interpreting
The War
BY klRKE L. SIMPSON
Associated Press News A.,

-'o"s Analyst
Return OF Admiral William =
(BulD Halsey and his Bird H..
organization now 10 the ,o,;,
front in Japan's home waters oo',,
be just routine move in ro,.n
of command; but it will not \.
construed in Tokyo. II has
much the look of a prepar.+o NO
MacArtAur-Halsey team inc Oty
anew for the next advance as,; ~
Japan itself. N'''N
While Halsey is now f,lnction;
under the Nimitz end of ths MI
Arthur-Nisnitz twin overall a sIaV'
Navy command beyond the pacis.
there seems every reason n oa
clude that he and General M WIZ
Arthur are advocates of diraot
ton against the japanese nome i;
lands as the next step in the c,m ny
paign. If that is to come if is "a.
tain that Macarthur would r.S.
have Halsey than any other saio.
in command of the fleet srt,O.
and air elements assigned IN Saw
herd his troops ashore when y.
big push comes. They worked to
gether in perfect harmony in IN.
advance up the Pacific 10 i'm
Philippines. They are the two mns. l
colorful command personalities -.
the war with Japan and their 40
miration and respect for each oth
er are unbounded.
American redeployment from
Europe to the Pacific will NOT \.
far enough advanced for several
months to warrant expectstion
soon of new major amphibious nm.
erations, whether aimed at Jana,
direct or via China. There is much
preparatory work also still 10 do
ashore both in the northern phin.
pines, and on Okinawa even ,te,
it has been wholly secured as an
air-sea advance base. battle lo,.
istics being what they are in the
Pacific. Tokyo received too manv
jarring surprises at the hand, a,
the MacArthur-Halsey ground.sjr
sea combination in earlier phase,
Of the struggle, however, not ia
look with concern upon the fac,
that they are again in position 10
team up.
Nor can the Jap leaders have any
doubt that both Americans belley,
the place to finish off Japan is in
Japan itself. They have been out.
spoken in that conclusion. Whatever
may be the operational directive,
coming from Washington for The
next phase of the attack, it stands
to reason that if invasion Of
Japsn's home islands is contem.
plated at any time, the execution
of the plan would be intrusted 10
commanders who are in full
sympathy with it and who have
proven themselves adept at t1s
business of accomplishing stra.
tegic or tactical surprise. The Mac.
Arthur-Halsey ground-sea team
managed to do that every time in
the advance to the PHILIPPINES
There are other immediate rea.
sons which could have prompted
Admiral Halsey's relief of Admiral
Raymond A spruanee at this
stage.
Japanese resort to suicide bomb.
ing on a major scale against con-
bat and cargo shipping off Ok.
nawa put Spruance's 5th Fleet per-
sonnet under an extreme strain
Fifth Fleet ships of all categorie
in the area now taken over BY
Halsey and the Bird Fleet have
been on a virtually constant aler
for weeks.
Fatigue due to prolonged vigil
ance tends to slow up the reaciin
of men at the anti-aircraft batter
les of Warships. Few if any Jap
suicide planes have managed %
breakthrough to reach their tar
gets where crews were fresh. Pr
sumably Halsey's Bird Fleet crews
like their commander and his stall
| have had chance to rest up 10
preparation for whatever tasks lie
ahead for them including the Oes'
ing off of stepped-up suicide al
attacks.