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Show - "t . i t i i i i i i i i i i i i t i i i i i i i FORWARD MARCH By II. S. Sims, Jr. , have always been known for their fighting valor, and because be-cause they are a. highly intelligent intelli-gent white race. Unfortunately, however, vJapari can conquer this continent in all probability if she is willing to pay the price in ships and men and material. The fate of Australia is now in the balance and only history his-tory knows the answer. Nylon bearings for machinery have recently been patented. is necessary to run them must be imported. In Australia there is also a shipbuilding industry- But ships require oil, too! And here is where the rub comes in: everything from the United States must be convoyed. And this is a tough job. The Japanese will have a hard time beating the Australians Aus-tralians into submission. This is true because the Anzacs as large as the city of New York. .Afore than two-thirds of the area of Australia is so arid that rainfall will not sustain sus-tain human life. Rivers and lakes, in general, are dry except ex-cept for brief rainy seasons. Communications are bad. There is only one railroad running from Perth on the southwest coast through Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney in the southeast to Cairns in the northeast. There is no railroad rail-road to Darwin, Australia's Singapore Singa-pore on the north coast. Most of the people of Australia Aus-tralia live on the coast, in cities which have grown up on artesian well sites. In fact, almost half of the population of Australia live in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Brisbane. Bris-bane. These four large cities are located in the southeast corner of the island. Darwin would be the ideal naval na-val and military base for the Allies Al-lies were it not for the fact that it cannot be defended. It is within with-in 600 miles of potential Jap air I bases in the Netherlands East In-dies. In-dies. But all supplies and power must be shipped in to this city and over a single route. Even drinking water must be shipped in from across the continent. AUSTRALIA: Ol It I'liONT LINE IN THE FAR EAST Australia is now the front line of America's . war in the Pacific. The last hope of the white race in the Far East depends upon the defense of this small continent. This large island, which is almost as large as the United States, has a population about It aj)pears unlikely then that the Allied nations will use Darwin as a naval base for very long. But It is also true that a Japanese landing force would also have to be supplied sup-plied with drinking water, if they begin the conquest of Australia in the north or west. To cross the desert lands of ' Australia would be a formidable would be utilized completely to foil Jap plans, consists of about 40 ships, exclusive of auxiliaries. The backbone of this fleet is five cruisers. Added to this force there will be a number of Dutch and U. S. Asiatic units. In Australia there are also powder mills and plants that manufacture ammunition of various sorts. However, most of the munitions must be imported im-ported from the United States. The continent also builds a limited number of aircraft tanks, and anti-tank guns. But all the gasoline and lubricating oil that task indeed. In fact, the conquest of Australia will hardly be successful suc-cessful by an invading force from the north alone. The infiltration war with which Japan has been so successful is not practical on the northern and western coast line. It Is also true that the southern coast of Australia is so far from Jap bases that a -major invasion along this coast line is practically impossible. impos-sible. Consequently, an attack on Australia's east coast seems most likely. The northern portion of the east coast is partially protected by the Great Barrier Reef. With specially spe-cially built sloops, however, it is possible that the Japanese could cross this barrier. Jap attacks on the east coast of Australia would originate from the Caroline Islands, Is-lands, Rabaul, and the newly acquired ac-quired bases in New Guinea. i The Jap objective would be to fight their way down the east coast to Sydney and Melbourne, Mel-bourne, the ports to which the United States will send supplies. sup-plies. The success of such a campaign would depend in a large measure on the effectiveness effec-tiveness of the U. S. navy in crippling the Japanese rear. The Australian navy, which |