U.S. MIGHT STRIKE JAPAN FROM ALASKA

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23513, 16 December 1941, Page 6

U.S. MIGHT STRIKE JAPAN FROM ALASKA

WAR IN THE PACIFIC

NEW YORK. November 22. We had seen soldiers working m the rain, as we sailed into Dutch Harbour (Alaska) that afternoon, toiling single-file like lines of ants up the green treeless, rain-swept hills around the harbour, stringing barbed wire on inverted V’s like ranch fences, digging gopher holes in the sopping tundra for gun emplacements, carting away the dirt afterward and dumping it over the cliff so that no tell-tale brown mounds would warn an enemy aeroplane. We had seen them miring knee deep in the soupy yellow mud, building roads around Amaknak Island, hand-hauling materials up steep mountain slopes. , They are getting ready, here at Dutch Harbour: for the Aleutian islands form the United States westernmost outpost in the Pacific, eight degrees west of Hawaii, less than 800 miles from the nearest Japanese territory. Two hundred and fifty miles north is Russia’s heavily fortified Komandorski Island—a rich plum for an enemy power if Russia falls. At about the same distance from American soil is a big Soviet air base at St. Lawrence Bay, reportedly built by Nazi engineers. And across the narrow Bering straits is still another base on Russia’s East Cape peninsula at Weylin, only 47 miles from Alaska. They take it for granted in Dutch Harbour that when anything happens, it will happen to them first. Not only at Dutch Harbour; they are getting ready all over Alaska to-day. You will see it, in the course of this article, at the United States Navys other two Alaskan bases at Kodiak and at Sitka. You will see it in the interior, at the Army’s nearly completed cold-weather experimental stations and its smaller auxiliary fields. You will see the Alaskan tundra quaking with the greatest burst of activity since gold-rush days. You will see 100,000,000 dollars being poured into Alaska to-day to make it ready. Designed for Offence Ready for what? Invasion? Military qxperts generally scoff at the idea that an enemy would attempt to capture a territory so far from home, so sparsely settled and undeveloped that it would be impossible to hold it successfully. Attack by parachute troops?

Air-borne tanks? A siege of Alaska by an enemy fleet? No; none of these. Contrary to popular impression, our army and navy are not primarily concerned to-day with Alaskan defence. There is another reason for all the military preparation going on up there m such a hurry right now. That reason is offence. Dutch Harbour lies smack in the middle of the shortest ocean highway between the United States and Japan. Actually it is shorter to Manila by way of Dutch Harbour than by way of Honolulu. Even the southern island of Guam is nearer the Pacific coast by way of Alaska than by way of the Hawaiians. The startling fact is that the shortest route from any part of northern Asia to any part of North America is either through, or close to, our territory in the north. Alaska lies virtually dead centre. All roads, it seems, lead to Nome. What does it add up to, then? Briefly, that we have in the Aleutians a transoceanic bridge of potential island bases unequalled anywhere else in the world. They are located strategically on the flank of the most direct routes from northern Asia, not only to our own coast but also to Hawaii; any Oriental force proceeding against Honolulu, for example, would automatically have them an its left and rear. The mere existence of well-for-tified bases in these islands would have a strongly deterring effect likewise on any tendency to trespass on the Philippines, the East Indies, Singapore, or Australia, Capacity of Harbours Furthermore, in this 1000-mile Aleutian chain there are at least three harbours—Dutch Harbour, Adak, ..and Kiska—which are larger than any harbours in the south Pacific east of the Philippines. The capacities of Pearl Harbour, Pago Pago, and Guam are, respectively, four, seven, and 11 firstclass ships; the capacity of Adak Harbour alone is 23 ships, Kiska could accommodate 40, and Dutch Harbour could furnish accommodation for the entire fleet. Alaska’s role is to keep the peace; but, if war comes to the Pacific, Dutch Harbour is the spot they all figure would be the most logical target for an early enemy attack. Navy observers consider it would be attacked because of its offensive position, because it is nearest, and because such an attack would draw American forces away from other vital points. Only token attacks were likely. Dutch Harbour is the outermost section of a defence chain north and west from Seattle. That chain goes from Seattle to the new base at Sitka, on to Kodiak, and then to Dutch Harbour.

[By COREY FORD in "Collier’s Magazine"]

They are getting ready fast. The navy, working without publicity and against staggering handicaps of distance and tough terrain, has turned in a major miracle in Alaska,, one they can well be proud 01. A year ago, for example, Unalaska was a small, disreputable, ill-smelling collection of native hovels and liquor stores—still is, for that matter—and Dutch Harbour, across the bay. was literally a ghost town, with an old pier and a rusty tin i warehouse and several sagging and de T \ serted buildings, relics of the gold • stampede of the late 90's. To-day that ghost town has come to life; the startled streets echo to rivets and steam shovels. Magnitude of Undertaking

To-day on the very site of a historic past, a modern 13,000,000-dollar naval base is rising over a mile and a half area, rising so far ahead of schedule that on September 1 of this year, 12 months after the first workmen arrived, it was commissioned by the Secretary of the Navy. Due to the absence of trees —there isn’t a tree in the Aleutians for 1000 miles—all guns had to be concealed in deep holes in the mossy hillsides, camouflaged from the air.

Already the temporary marine quarters and some defence houses have been completed. At the adjoining army cantonment, the standard mobilisation barracks are occupied. Permanent concrete naval barracks, a recreation hall, a hospital are all under way. The site is well chosen; the harbour itself is the best in/the Aleutians, and with a little dredging it can be turned into a full-section base, capable of accommodating the large vessels which now must go all the way to Prince Rupert or Bremerton for repair. And Dutch Harbour has only begun. It is only a question of time before Unalaska Village will be absorbed. Work has started on the new destroyer and submarine base to be located on Expedition Island, between Unalaska and Dutch Harbour; and a pile-driver was driving test pilings in the harbour. Docking Facilities at Kodiak

Kodiak—the second section of th# navy’s pipe line, about 700 miles to the eastward in the Gulf of Alaska—was started just a year earlier, than Dutch Harbour; and it is that much nearer completion. It is located about five miles from the village of Kodiak. The total reservation at Kodiak covers about 65 square miles. There are 2500 workmen at the base, all but 55 living on the base itself. The whole project will cost at least 37,000,000 dollars—in Alaska they always say "at least’’—and it will be the navy’s main base in the Territory, the Pearl Harbour of the North. And they are getting an impressive job for their money here. Already three permanent naval baracks are completed, convenient, well-lighted, and well-planned. One aeroplane hangar is already in use, a second is due to be completed this year; when they will finish the others depends on how soon they can get the steel. There are docking facilities to accommodate 600-foot vessels with 30-foot draughtsman carriers and destroyers and aircraft tenders, anything short of the big cruisers or battleships. Work on the submarine base is expected to start this year, with an eventual capacity of 18 submarines. They were just finishing paving the two runways when we were there. It wasn’t taking long—a paver lays a , strip 21 feet by 1400 feet in a single 10-hour day. Like squeezing toothpaste out of a tube. Next spring, when funds are available, they hope to finish an additional runway. When we asked: “When will you be ready?” we were told: “We can go to war on a limited basis right this minute. Kodiak ready now.” Air Force Facilities Sitka, third and nearest section of the chain, located about midway in Alaska’s famed panhandle, is ready, too, in spite of difficulties. The'base the navy is building there to-day appears to be a really impregnable proposition. About 100 buildings are completed to date; permanment concrete structures for the navy, temporary wooden structures for the army. Two concrete hangars are already in use, with full ramps and parking areas, and a third hangar is going up as this is written. Coastal guns bristle from strategic points around the island: protected by the natural rock barriers, screened from air view by heavy camouflage netting. A causeway is being strung around the small islands on the ocean side of the base, to improve Whiting Harbour and give it adequate protection as well. These three navy bases, then —Sitka and Kodiak and Dutch Harbour—constitute Alaska’s first line of defence. They are nearly ready. When they will be called on to serve, of course, no one can tell; the Pacific situation shifts too fast. But one thing at least is clear. They will serve in other ways than merely for defence. Line of Communications In the event of any extensive operations in alliance with Russia, Alaska would furnish a continent to continent iine of communications passing well north of Japan and protected—if we fortify the rest of the Aleutians —all the way. Already Alaska offers an all important method of sending vital supplies. Only with the whole Aleutian chain fully fortified and ready can the United States really dictate peace in the Pacific.