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Show . - - FORWARD MARCH By II. S. Sims, Jr. ( I I I I I III I 'I 'I I H I nH dkvk.xsk ok l'lut.irriNKS pKl'KNOS OX IMncAKTMKH VM) AOMIKAL 11 YKT The main thrust of the Jnpnnose VV!ir will bo towards the South Pacific Pa-cific to got the much-needed raw materials from the Dutch East Indies In-dies and British Malaya. To accomplish accom-plish this purpose it will be necessary neces-sary for the Japanese to destroy certain bases of the Allies. One of these bases is tho Philippines. Tho Philippines could be called the gate to the South Pacific, because It will bo necessary for Japanese supply sup-ply ships to pass within a few hundred miles of this base en route to the South Pacific. The Philippines are about 1600 miles south of the Japanese capital. capi-tal. Tokyo; they are about 500 miles from Hong Kong, British b;1So on the Chinese coast; they are 1.300 miles north of Singapore, Singa-pore, the large British naval base; they are almost 5,000 miles from Pearl Harbor; they are almost 7,-000 7,-000 miles from San Francisco. The Asiatic fleet, the United States fleet stationed at the Philippines, consists of a few cruisers and a large number of both destroyers and submarines. submar-ines. This fleet was not caught napping by the Japanese attack; at-tack; in fact, for about two weeks before the Jap war broke, Admiral Thomas O. Hurl, ooninmtulor-lii-chiof of this fl.Mvt, kept It out of Man-lb. Man-lb. ttny. Navy Secretary Knox was right In his appraisal of Admiral Hart: "An exceptionally good man handling hand-ling a situation In tho Far East that requires great skill and understanding." un-derstanding." Admiral Hart assumed command com-mand of the Asiatic, fleet during dur-ing the summer of 1939, and lie was selected by President Koosevelt lieoauso ho was a man who would not let tho Japs "push him around." Incidentally, In-cidentally, he served in both the Spanish-American war and the Kirst World Walr. During the World War he was in command of submarine divisions 1 and 5, and for distinguished service ser-vice in engaging the enemy in European Eu-ropean waters, he was given the Distinguished Service Medal. Not very long ago Admiral Hart pointed out that if war came in the Tacific "transportation "transpor-tation by water is bound to be the most important single factor." fac-tor." And Admiral Hart's duty today Is to disrupt Japanese transportation and at the same time keep the Japanese from blockading or successfully Invading In-vading the Philippines. Japanese troops that are successful suc-cessful in landing on the Philippines Philip-pines and Japanese parachute troops who are dropped there, are being dealt with by the U. S. army, which is composed of about 125,000 native troops and about 25,000 American Am-erican regulars. The training of these troops and the land fortifications of the Philippines are the good work of General Douglas Mac-Arthur. Mac-Arthur. In 1935, the Philippines were considered indefensible; nevertheless, neverthe-less, President Quezon wanted the Islands protected when they received receiv-ed their independence from the United States in 1946. So, with the approval of President Roosevelt, President Quezjon borrowed General Gen-eral MacArthur from the U. S. army and gave him the task of making the Philippines impregnable. impreg-nable. Douglas MacArthur made two records when he was at West Point: the highest scholastic scho-lastic record in 25 years, and engaged to eight girls at one time. He was described in the First World War by a private in the A. E. F. as "a hell-to-breakfast baby, long and lean, who can split nickles and chase Germans as well as any doughboy in the Rainbow." During the summer of this year, he was made commanding command-ing general of all the -U. S. armed forces in the Far East by the president; he has also been sent one of the biggest forces of large bombers ever'' assembled by the United States outside of this hemisphere. hemi-sphere. Incidentally, it takes these bombers bomb-ers a little longer than six hours to get to Tokyo. |