KEY TO JAPAN WON

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 23, 27 July 1944, Page 5

KEY TO JAPAN WON

VALUE OF NEW BASES NEW YORK, July 25. The Secretary of the Navy, Mr. James V. Forrestal, at a Press conference described the Marianas as the "key Avhich Avill unlock the door to l Japan, the Philippines, and the China coast." Admiral E. J. King, Commander-in- : Chief of the United States Fleets, and Admiral Halsey indicated agreement I ivith this statement. Mr. Forrestal said..that Guam, Tinian, and Saipan were bases with an aggregate of 300 square miles. They contained eight airfields and five har- , hours 1500 miles from Japan and the | Philippines. Mr. Forrestal declared: "There has never been anything like the sustained i six Aveeks' 'naval offensive in the MariI anas, wbere a great force has been ! operating' from 550 to 1500 miles from the enemy's home islands without suf- , fering serious injury. "The navy has i now achieved the mobility and reach i which the commanders have sought > since the beginning of the war." Admiral King asserted that the fall of Tojo entails "no aid and comfort" for the Allies in as much as Japanese resistance remains fanatical, though enemy strategy may be revised. Mr. Forrestal praised General MacArthur's co-operation in the aerial building-up for the Guam campaign. Admiral Halsey said he stopped at General MacArthur's headquarters en route to Washington to thank him for the splendid support given all IMs actions.