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Show How Long Will War Last? Qk Answer Remains in Doubt IE I yA Successful American Offensive Result of J:l? i'A Thorough Planning; Two Possibilities J? . ' J May Alter Picture in Russia. 'i$', 'p" J.: By BAUKIIAGE News Analyst and Commentator. VVNU Features, 1343 H Street, N. V., Washington, D. C. How long will the war last? Two things have happened In the last weeks which have made people ask that question again even If the answer remains as deep in the mire of speculation as ever. The first event Is the significant passing of the first milestone on the road to Tokyo. On the little islands, and ahout Tulagi harbor which British Brit-ish Admiral Jellicoe In the last war said contained the finest natural harbor har-bor In the world, the marines landed and now have the situation well in hand. The first American offensive in the war was accomplished, not without with-out losses but with success and as a result of a plan worked out nearly five months ago. It was a surprise attack and yet there were many in Washington who guessed that something some-thing was about to pop In the Pacific. They did not know what. They didn't have any Idea that it would be on the scale of the battle of the Solomons. Solo-mons. But for a full week before It took place. I found great Interest in certain quarters in the activities of the Japanese in those islands. The people I talked with probably didn't know what the navy was planning plan-ning they were not naval officers but they did know that the Japs were busy as bees completing a fine airfield on Guadalcanal and getting ready to prepare other complete installations in-stallations on the nearby islands, especially developing and protecting the Tulagi harbor for a submarine base. Also, Japanese forces there would be too near the island of New Caledonia, Cale-donia, on which American forces are stationed, for comfort. New Caledonia Cale-donia is much further south, opposite oppo-site the western coast of Australia. I mentioned this activity of the Japanese Jap-anese in the Solomons on the air more than once, right up to the eve of the battle, and nobody questioned ques-tioned my script I mean there was no question from the censor. Perhaps Per-haps even the censor wasn't in on the secret! Anyhow the blow was just arout to be struck. It was struck and it may mean the turning point, in the battle of the Pacific. So much on the credit side.' Russian Picture B it in the same weeks which saw this achievement of American arms, the Russian picture began to unfold un-fold as darkly as the pessimists pictured it. The story of the campaign cam-paign of the Caucasus is not over yet, but the Nazi armies have carried car-ried on so far at a tempo beyond t'lat which even the pessimists did i.ot calculate upon. Two things may brighten the Russian Rus-sian picture: The sudden appearance appear-ance on the northern fronts of a mysterious army of red reserves which some believe have been hidden hid-den in the long shadows that cloak all of Russia's war plans. Second, the revelation of much greater losses on the part of the Germans than are evident at this writing. . Based on developments to date, however, Washington "hopes for a short war," as one military man put it to me, "but is preparing for a long one." I suppose a short one would be defeat of Hitler by 1944 a long one, any longer than that, with the fighting in the Far East to continue still longer, and then the indefinite period when United Nations troops will have to patrol the world to keep a semblance of order. The reasons for these prognostications prognosti-cations are: first, the fact that Hitler Hit-ler now has food and oil in his grip; second, with a strong German army in control of the Caucasus and Russia's Rus-sia's chief area of raw materials and war industries cut off, the Red army can be of no positive military assistance to the United Nations. (Unless those mythical reserves turn up.) This means that Germany cannot be broken by blockade; that a powerful pow-erful expeditionary force will have to defeat Hitler's armies. More Predictions Speaking of predictions there have been many of late concerning the war and a number have been gathered gath-ered together in a very readable 150 page book called "Prophets and Portents" (Thomas Y. Crowell Company) Com-pany) by Rolfe Boswell. These somewhat vague prophecies do not intrigue me very much but they are interesting reading. One, however, which has been quoted considerably of late is more modern than most of the rest and is remarkable to me because it actually uses the word "fascism" although it was written in 1842, and so far as I know that word had never been used to describe de-scribe a form of government. It is by Heinrich Heine, written after his self-exile to Paris. This is what Heine wrote, just a hundred years ago: "When revolution starts spreading around the world, we shall witness the advent of the most frightful of all foemen who ever set out to fight against the established way of life. This opponent has not appeared as yet, but will arise under the name 'fascism,' and will be the most competent com-petent enemy who ever has countermarched counter-marched against the existing order. "War will be only the first scene in the titanic drama and will be just a curtain-raiser. -The second act will be the European revolution and world revolution, the gigantic conflict con-flict between those who have and those who lack. "The future tells us of cruelties, of blood, of atheism and of vast intrigue in-trigue and plotting. I warn our grandchildren to come into the world with shoulders and backs padded pad-ded heavily. It well may be that the ancient belief of absolutist tyranny tyran-ny will step out upon the world's stage once again, this time in new attire, with new war cries and shibboleths." shib-boleths." Where Men Are Men And Women Are Absent Just about the time that news came to Washington that the Japs had landed on Attu island in the Aleutians I received a copy of the Kodiak Bear. Now I have had a nodding, peanut-tossing acquaintance acquaint-ance with a couple of Kodiak bears at the Washington zoo for many years but like most people I never connected their name with an American base off Alaska, where this journal is published. The Bear is a six-page seven-column seven-column newspaper with a red-hot headwriter and some very peppery correspondents on its staff. I would not estimate or identify its circulation circula-tion if I could, since it is printed for the American forces that is probably a military secret. But whoever the readers are they certainly cer-tainly are a lively lot according to the accounts of their doings. And they have a variety of tastes. That is clear from a two-column headline on a page one story. It reads: Baseball, Fishing, Girls, Religion, Keep Outfit Busy "Where men are men," the story reads, "and women just aren't, something must be done to take up idle moments. The men have constructed con-structed themselves ping-pong tables ta-bles and tournaments are frequent." But, gentle reader, don't let mention men-tion of that innocuous pastime of table-tennis mislead you. "The baseball has started to cleave the air," the reporter continues, "and many have taken up axe and knife throwing." (Not so innocuous, I would say.) Fishing tackle is out, too, and the chronicler predicts that "it won't be long before the smell of fresh fish frying on the griddle will be a delight. de-light. The very idea is a delight right now." "Twice a week" religious meetings meet-ings are held. But as for the ladies, the last paragraph reveals the sad truth. The news on that score is limited to heart-breaking accounts of soldiers sol-diers who don't get those letters from back home any more. It seems, the writer from far Kodiak concludes, "absence makes the heart grow fonder for somebody else. Ask the man who no longer owns one." To men there is real pathos in that. It's bad enough to be a soldier in a foreign land, but in the lonely domain which the Kodiak Bear reveals re-veals as its habitat, it must take a lot of ping-pong, knife throwing, etc., to make up for the things (inanimate (in-animate and otherwise) these boys left behind them. |