STRONGER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24850, 25 February 1942, Page 5

STRONGER

THE ALLIES' STRATEGY PROCESS OF ATTRITION TIDE WILL SURELY TURN (Rec. 8 p.m.) WASHINGTON, Feb. 23. "We have certainly suffered losses from Hitler's U-boats in the Atlantic, as well as from the Japanese in the Pacific, and we will suffer more before the tide turns," said President Roosevelt. •' We have been compelled to yield ground, but we will regain it and soon wa and not our enemies will have the offensive All peoples of the conK^NaSr 5 ° n Vktory "fa just a S nd durable peace is to be attained, or even to save our own skins, there is one thought to keep uppermost—the fulfilment of our special task of production. Germany, Italy, and Japan are very close to their maximum output of planes, guns, tanks, and ships; the United Nations are not, especially the United States. Our first job is to build up production to enable us to control the seas and the air, not merely with slight superiority, but with overwhelming superiority. On January 6 I set certain definite goals „„ ,„„„ ,„„„„ imiiiiiii

for the 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 that those goals will definitely be attained. In every part of the country experts and men and women workers in plants are giving loyal service. We are calling for more plants and additions to old plants, we are seeking more men and women to run them, and we are working longer hours. We know now that we can lose this war only if we slow our effort or waste ammunition by sniping each other.

"Here are three such high purposes for every American:— "First, 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, and we will do it cheerfully."

The President said the Japanese had an obvious initial advantage, including Ihdo-Chiha, yielded to them by Vichy. "Japan's encircling movement in the Philippines," he continued, "prevented the sending of reinforcements, where we knew we should fight a delaying action We .knew 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 freater resources, we could outbuild apan and ultimately overwhelm her on the sea, on land, and in the air. Nothing that has occurred. during the past few months has caused us to reverse this basic strategy.'' Japan Pays Terrible Price

Continuing, the President said that the commander of the American forces in the Philippines, General Douglas MacArthur, "has magnificently exceeded the previous estimates. He and his men are gaining eternal glory for their stand. They are making Japan pay an increasingly terrible price for her ambitious attempts to control the whole of the Asiatic world. The consequences of the attack on Pearl Harbour, serious as they were, have been wildly exaggerated by Axis propafandists and repeated, I regret to say, y Americans in and out of public life. You and I have the utmost contempt for those who have been whispering 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 that your Government is keeping nothing from you except information that will help the enemy. The Pearl Harbour losses

With the strategic position as it was in the Pacific when war broke out, said the President, even if Pearl Harbour had not been attacked it would not have been possible to send reinforcements to the Philippines through the miles of ocean between Hawaii and the islands. The losses at Pearl Harbour and their effect had been exaggerated, he declared. "Some ships were hit very slightly, and others which were damaged have either rejoined the fleet already or have still to undergo repairs. When these are completed the ships will be more efficient fighting machines than before. The report that we lost 1000 planes at Pearl Harbour is as baseless as the other rumours. The Japanese do not know how many we lost, and I am not going to tell them, but up to date, including those at Pearl Harbour, we have destroyed considerably more Japanese planes than they have destroyed of ours."

" To pass from the realm of rumour to the field of facts," the President said, "2340 men were killed at Pearl Harbour on December 7, and 946 were wounded. 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."