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Show conditions confronting us In the Pacific and no doubt emphasizing the use of our tremendous navy to attain the full benefits of sea control that is practically absolute. It has already been announced that the Pacific theater of operations opera-tions will be commanded by Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, and Army General Douglas MacAr-thur. MacAr-thur. Each leaders will be supreme in his specific field, the former in naval operations and the latter in land Invasions. Over both will be the four top military leaders of the nation, Generals Marshall and Arnold and Admirals King and Leahy. We Cannot Gamble On A Short War . . . According to ther eports from Washington, the campaign against Japan will include an encirclement encircle-ment phase which means the establishment es-tablishment of a naval blockade and the delivery of massive aerial blows from land-based and carrier based planes. The Superfortresses, which operate op-erate under the command nf ripn. FORWARD MARCH By H. S. Sims, Jr. . lllllllll.illmiiiiiiminnHmiiiiililliliuiiMiiimimmmiill TIGHT NAVAL BLOCKADE Ud DELUGE OF EXPLOSrVES WILL SOFTEN JAPAN POR THE INVASION The unfavorable outcome of the war against Germany reflects credit cre-dit upon American military and naval leaders. Back of the tremendous tre-mendous offensive which crushed Germany in the West was the wise planning of our chiefs of staff whose experience and intelligence laid the groundwork for the overwhelming over-whelming force, both human and material, which triumphed in Europe. eral Arnold, have justified themselves them-selves in earlier raids upon Japan and will continue to play a leading lead-ing role in the aerial offensive- but with the acquisition of bases closer clos-er to the home islands of the enemy, ene-my, it will be possibel to use small bombers to intensify the attack and deliver a heavier rain of explosives. ex-plosives. While our strategy in the Pacific is based upon a long ar, because we cannot gamble upon up-on anything else, the possibility of a Japanese surrender exists. Actual Invasion Is Certain . . . Apparently, the actual invasion ered certain. This is not depend-of depend-of the Japanese islands is consid-ent consid-ent upon any preliminary landing on the coast of China. If Russia comes into the war, the situation on the Asiatic mainland will be vastly improved and Chinese troops are expected to become more effective in proportion to supplies delivered to them over the now open Burma highway. There is no prospect, however. We think the people in tnis country coun-try can have the fullest confidence in these men, many of whom are unknown, as the war in Europe comes to and end and the nation prepares to use its full strength against the Japanese. On the basis of what happened In Europe, we can rest assured the same careful, painstaking performance perfor-mance will produce similar results re-sults against Japan. Victory in the Pacific will be attained with a minimum expenditure of American Ameri-can blood. Campaign Planned For Japan . . . While it is not customary for the chiefs of staff to announce publicly the full scope of the strategy strat-egy to be employed against an enemy, en-emy, it is comforting to know that' our war leaders have mapped out a campaign that will end only when the Japanese surrender surren-der uncvonditionally. Our operations against Japan will be based upon the lessons learned in Europe, modified by of an immediate invasion of Japan Jap-an unless unexpected and unfor-seen unfor-seen developments lead to a change in present plans and make it advisable to speed up our war program. This happened in the Philippines, it will be remembered, remember-ed, where the occupation of Leyte was moved up two months as the result of the observation of Admiral Ad-miral Halsey and the acceptance of his recommendation by General MacArthur. This change was made to take advantake of relative rela-tive Japanese weakness and if conditions in the home islands indicate in-dicate anything like a collapse of the war effort, it is quite likely that an earlier Invasion will be undertaken. |