SIBERIAN BASES WANTED

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23942, 8 May 1943, Page 5

SIBERIAN BASES WANTED

NEW YORK PAPER’S ARTICLE

ACTION IN PACIFIC URGED (N.Z. Press Association-rsCopyrlght)

(Rec. 11.50 p.m.) NEW YORK, May 7. The former American Ambassador to Moscow (Mr Joseph Davies) should ask M. Stalin for Siberian air bases from which United States aeroplanes could attack Japan, says the “New York Daily News.” Mr Davies will visit M. Stalin in Moscow as Mr Roosevelt’s personal representative. It has been reported that he might invite M. Stalin to return with him to meet Mr Roosevelt.

“America would be justified in asking for the use of Siberian bases in return for lend-lease favours,” says the “Daily News.” “Japan is fortifying the rim of her large conquered empire with air bases backed by troops and ships. So far we have only pecked at the perimeter of this empire. “Guadalcanar and Papua are bright spots in the United States’ military history, but they are only fleabites in the hide of Japan. The Japanese are still in the Aleutians, They claim the sinking of 50,000 tons of Allied shipping on the Australian supply route in the last nine days. General MacArthur and the Australians keep calling for help. A recital of these facts, plus the request for Siberian bases, would be a highly appropriate part of any Stalin-Roosevelt conference.” Need for Action The “New York World-Telegram” says in a leading article that Mr Roosevelt is confronted with a military problem that will not be ignored —the need for action in the Pacific. “We can understand the British thinking the battle in the Pacific of secondary importance, because they are so far away,” says the newspaper. “We cannot understand Americans who think in these European terms. Americans as a whole feel strongly on this subject. The time has passed when their demands could be shrugged off as irresponsible emotionalism. “Experts who know most about the Pacific war are the strongest objectors to the neglect of that front. America is producing at least 6000 aeroplanes a month. Is it fair to say that the small fraction sought by the Pacific commanders cannot be spared? Japan everywhere is consolidating her vast gains. Time is not on our side.”