FOR LONG FIGHT

Grey River Argus, 25 February 1942, Page 6

FOR LONG FIGHT

AMERICA FACES UP President’s Confidence INSPIRING BROADCAST. [Aust. & N.Z. Cable Assn.] WASHINGTON, February 23. Mr. Roosevelt, in his broadcast speech, showed a spirit of conlidence, but re-emphasised that __ the war would not end soon. “Difficult paths lie ahead,” he declared. “The Allies are daily increasing in strength. We and not our enemies, will take the offensive, and we will win theTinal battles and make the final peace. The present great struggle ha's taught us increasingly that freedom, personal"' security and property anywhere in the world depend upon the security of rights, obligations, liberty, and justice everywhere in the world. This is a new kind of war, different from all other previous wars, not only in methods and weapons, but in geography. ft is warfare in terms of every continent, island, sea, and airlane in the world.

“The broad oceans, which have been heralded in the past as our protection from attack, have become endless battlefields, whereon we are constantly being challenged by our enemies. We fight at these vast distances because-, that is where our enemies are. Until our .flow of supplies gives us clear superiority, we must keep on striking our enemies wherever and whenever we can meet them. Actually, we are taking a heavy toll of the enemy as every day goes by. The Nazis and the Japanese a'im to separate the United States, Britain, China, and Russia, and to isolate them from one another, so that each may be surrounded and cut off from supplies and reinforcements “There are those who still think in terms of sailing ships. They advise us to pull our warships and planes into home waters, and concentrate on a last-ditch defence. Look at the map. The British Isles, Australia, New Zealand, the Indies, and India, with their resources of raw materials and peoples, are determined to resist Axis domination. If these great reservoirs were cut off, we could no longer send aid. “Those Americans who believed that we could live under the illusion of isolationism wanted the American eagle to imitate the ostrich. Now those same people want our national bird turned into a turtle, but we prefer to retain the eagle, flying high and striking hard. I know that I speak for the American people when I say that we reject the turtle policy, and that we will continue increasingly carrying the war to the enemy in distant lands and waters as far as possible from our home grounds. The maintenance of vital lines of communications in the North and South Atlantic, the Indian Ocean, and the South Pacific, is a very tough job, requiring tremendous daring and resourcefulness, and above all tremendous production of planes, tanks, and guns, and ships to carry them. I speak again for the American people when 1 say that we can and will do that job. Heavy bombers can fly to the south-west Pacific, but Smaller planes cannot. They must be packed in crates, and shipped. Despite the length a'nd difficulties of transportation, we have already a large number of bombers and pursuit planes manned by American pilots, in daily contact with the enemy in the south-west Pacific, and thousands of American troops are engaged in that area, not only in the air, but also on the ground. “The Japanese had an obvious initial advantage, including Indo-China, which was yielded to them by Vichy. Japan’s encircling movement in the Philippines, has prevented the sending of reinforcements there. We knew that we should have to fight a delaying action. We knew that the war as a whole would have to be fought and won by a process of attrition against Japan. We knew all along that, with our greater resources, we could outbuild Japan, and ultimately overwhelm her on sea and land, and in the air. Nothing that has occurred in the past two months has caused us to reverse this basic strategy. “General MacArthur has magnificently exceeded previous estimates. He and his men are gaining eternal glory there, for they are making Japan pay an increasingly terrible price for ambitious attempts to control the whole of the Asiatic world. “The consequences of the attack on Pearl Harbour, serious a's they were, have been wildly exaggerated by Axis propagandists, repeated, I regret to say, by Americans in and out of public life. You and I have the utmost contempt for those who have whispered, off the record, the fear that there is no longer any Pacific Fleet. Your Government has unmistakable confidence in your ability to hear the worst, without flinching or losing heart. You must in turn have complete confidence in your Government’s keeping nothing from you except information that would help the enemy. To pass from the realm of rumour to the field of facts, 2,340 men were killed at Pearl Harbour on December 7, and the wounded totalled 946. Of all the combatant ships based at Pearl Harbour —battleships, cruisers, aircraft carriers, destroyers, and submarines—only three were permanently put out of commission. Many ships of the Pacific Fleet were not even there.

“It is essential that we should help China in her magnificent defence and inevitable counter-offensive, for that is one important element in the ultimate defeat of Japan. If we lost communication in the southwest Pacific, all that area, including Australia and New Zealand, would fall under Japanese domination. Japan could then release a great number of ships and men, to launch attacks on a large scale against the coasts of- the Western Hemisphere, and at the same time extend her conquests towards India, Africa, and the Near East.

“If we stopped sending munitions to the British and Russians in the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf areas, we would help the Nazis to overrun Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Persia. Egypt the Suez Canal and the whole coasts of North and West Africa, putting the Germans within easy striking distance of South America. If, by such a fatuous policy, we ceased to protect the North Atlantic supply line to Britain and Russia, we would help to cripple the splendid counter-offensive by _ Russia, and we would deprive Britain of essential foodstuffs and munitions. PEARL HARBOUR LOSSES. (Rec. 7.5). WASHINGTON, Feb. 23. 'President Roosevelt declared: “Some of our ships at Pearl Harbour were hit very slightly. Others that were damaged have either rejoined the fleet already, or still undergo repairs. When these are completed, they will be more efficient fighting machines than before. The report that we lost one thousand planes at Pearl Harbour is baseless, as are other rumours. The Japanese do not know how many. I am not going to tell them; but up to date, including Pearl Harbour,

we have destroyed considerably more Japanese planes than they have destroyed of ours.

TURN OF THE TIDE.

“We have certainly suffered losses from Hitler’s U-boats in the Atlantic as well as from the Japanese m ihe Pacific, and we will suffer more before the tide turns. We have been compelled to yield ground, but we will regain it. Soon we, and not our enemies, will have the offensive All peoples, conquered nations, and Asia, knowi that if there is to be an honourable, decent future, it depends on a victory being won by the United Nations. If a just, durable peace is to be attained, or even if we are to save our own skins, there is one thought to keep uppermost—the fulfillment of our special task in production. Germany, Italy and Japan are very close to their maximum output of planes, guns, tanks and ships. The United Nations are not, especially United States. Our first job is

build up production

to enable us to control the seas and the air, not merely with a slight superiority, but an overwhelming superiority. On January 6th., I setcertain definite goals for production of planes, tanks, guns, and ships. Axis propagandists called them fantastic. To-night nearly two months later, after a careful survey, I can tell you tnese goals will definitely be attained. In every part of the country, experts and men and women ,workers at plants are giving Joyal service. We are calling for more plants, and additions to old plants. We are seeking more men and women to run them. We are working longer hours. We know now we can lose this war only if we slow our effort, or waste ammunition sniping at each other. Here are three high purposes for every American: —Firstly, not to stop work for a single day; secondly, we shall not demand special gains, privileges, or advantages for any one group; thirdly, we will give up conveniences and modify the routine of our lives if the country asks us. We will do it cheerfully.” AXIS PROPAGANDA. (Rec. 8.5). WASHINGTON, Feb. 23. President Roosevelt continued: “Axis propagandists have tried in various evil ways to destroy our determination and morale. Failing therein they are trying to destory our confidence in our own alliesThe say that the British are finished. and that the Russians and the Chinese are about to quit. Patriotic sensible Americans will reject these absurdities. Ever since America became the arsenal, o f democracy and the enactment .of the- Lend-Lease Act, there has been a persistent theme in all Axis propaganda that the Americans are admittedly a rica and considerable power, but the Americans are soft and decadent, and that they cannot and will not unite to work and to fight. We have been described as a nation of weaklings and playboys, who would hire Russians, British, and Chinese soldiers to do our fighting for us. Let- them repeat that now. Let them tell' General Macarthur and his men. Let them tell the sailors who are hitting hard in the Far Pacific. Let them tell the boys in the ‘Flying Fortresses.’ Let them tell that to the marines. The United States constitute an association of independent peoples, equal l in dignity and importance, and dedicated to a common cause. We shall share equally the zeal, the anguish and the awful sacrifices .of war. We must all play our several parts, each being equally indispensable, dependent one on the other. We have unified command, co-operation, and comradeship. We Americans will contribute unified production, and unified acceptance of sacrifice and effort. That means national unity without limitations of race, creed, or selfish politics.

THE UNITED NATIONS. “We of the United Nations are agreed on certain broad principles in the kind of peace we seek. The Atlantic Charter applies not only to the parts of th e world bordering the Atlantic, but to the whole world. The British and Russian people have known the full fury of the Nazi onslaught. There have been times when the fate of London and of Moscow have been in serious doubt. Rut there was never the slightest question that either the British or Russians would yjeld, and to-day all the United Nations salute the superb Russian Army as it celebrates its twenty-fourth anniversary. Though their homeland is overrun the Dutch people are still 'fighting stubbornly and powerfully overseas. The great Chinese people have suffered grevious losses. ■ Chungking has almost been wiped out of existence, but it yet remains the unbeaten capital of the unbeatable Chinese. That'is the conquering spirit which, prevails throughout the United Nations. The task we Americans now face will test us to the uttermost. Never before have we been called on for such a prodigious effort’, Never before have we had so little time in which to do so much. These are times that try men’s souls. Tom Paine wrote those words: The Drumhead Light of the Camplire. Washington ordered Paine’s great ( words to be read to every regiment. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis shrink from the service of their country, but he who stands now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered. Yet we have the consolation that the harder the sacrifice, the more glorious the triumph. So spoke the Americans of 1776. So speak the Americans of today.”

To Counter Mr Roosevelt JAP PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGN. .WASHINGTON, February 23. The President’s Secretary, Mr S. Early, said to-day that Governmentinformation services had advised White House that the Tokio Radio has been attempting to discredit in advance President Roosevelt’s fireside talk delivered on Monday night. The radio was putting out the biggest propaganda campaign yet attempted. Four times on Monday morning th e Tokio radio broadcast a statement in English alleging that Mr Roosevelt, has dodged all questions at his press conferences. The responsibility for America’s entry into the war is placed directly on Mr Roosevelt. _ ■ ■ Mr Early quoted the following sample of a Japanese broadcast: “Good American citizens should know that the stateipejxts of ' President Roosevelt, including his popular fireside chats and announcements fox’ his followers are all got-up stories or tricks cunninglv. set up in order to conceal the facts and the truth.”