Show RE W aa washington D C FAR EAST POKER GAME for perspective on the present south pacific tug of war between japan and britain it is well to remember that for years thailand then known as siam was a pawn in the power game of the bigger nations of the pacific in this game the united states had a hand for years american f financial in ancial advisers have been attached to the thailand throne one of them having been francis sayre son in law of woodrow wilson now high commissioner of the philippines he he wooed thailand on many occasions ca including the ornate reception given the former king of siam who as supreme arbiter of the ebb and flow of the tide brother of the moon half brother of the sun and keeper of the twenty four golden umbrellas came to washington in the days of herbert hoover and was regally entertained the british were even more interested te in the siamese british advisers for a time ran the kingdoms government trained its army supplied the one or two ships for its navy but half a dozen years ago the japanese began preaching the doctrine of asia for the yellow man and siam for the siamese that was how the name came to be changed to thailand a nationalistic token of home rule reason for japans interest in this small country was not nationalism but the fact that a slender finger fin ger of land about ai as wide as the isthmus of panama called the isthmus of kra is controlled by thailand A canal through this isthmus connecting the indian ocean and the gulf of siam would give a new short route from the pacific to india render singapore impotent and cut three days from the trip between indochina indo china and burma such a canal would leave singa pores giant guns and expensive naval bases guarding an out of date sea highway almost as unimportant as the straits of magellan after the panama canal was built that is one reason the british are ready to fight to keep the japanese out of thailand 0 0 BRITISH INVASION PLANS first british plan for an invasion of the continent since the start of the russian nazi conflict was a landing in holland this it was figured would get sympathetic support from the dutch would create a second front requiring hitler to divert part of his troops and airplanes from the russian front the original british idea was to have the united states operate cooperate co in a landing force this however scarcely got beyond the informal suggestion stage it was immediately and emphatically vetoed first for political reasons second because roosevelt did not have the power to send troops abroad third because of the scarcity of sh shipping pang to transport and supply an american army overseas since then none of the proposals for creating a second european front has contemplated any american participation the second idea discussed was a british attempt through spain and portugal this also scarcely got beyond the discussion stage because it was figured first that the german army probably could take over spain by the time british troops began to land second that even if a foothold could be obtained a march across the pyrenees Pyre nees to france would be too difficult the only part which the united states might have played in such a plan was to send food ships with which to help win over the spanish population norway heavily fortified since then another plan for possible british invasion of norway has been discussed however this also is difficult the nazis now have 10 divisions in norway more important they have been working feverishly with characteristic german thoroughness to fortify norwegian ports and possible invasion points the chief factor holding back the british however has been their lack of armored equipment although the british army is about strong only about men are fully armed with modern equipment and the most serious defect in their equipment is the lack of tanks vast numbers of tanks were lost by the british at a loss which has not yet been replenished and no invasion of the continent could be successful without a powerful tank force also despite the strength of the nazi army on the russian front a total of 47 well equipped german divisions are stationed in western europe this is approximately men recent discussion of british aid to russia has turned to the near east and a british move from the gulf of persia through iran to the russian oil fields of the caucasus these oil fields are one of the chief goals of the nazi army and once hitler succeeds in taking the ukraine it would be relatively easy for him to cut off this supply |