NO PAUSE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25849, 21 May 1945, Page 4

NO PAUSE

THE WAR AGAINST JAPAN

IMMEDIATE TRANSFER OS! FORCES (Special) WASHINGTON, Apl. 18. Victory in Europe will unleash long pent-up emotions throughout the world, but to the armed forces of the United States it will be D : Day as momentous as, the morning, of June 6, 1944, when the Allied; forces, landed on the Continent. An Office of War Information survey of United States Army plans revealed to-day that V-E Day will be considered D-Day for the shifting of United States forces halfway around the world for the final assault leading to V-J Day, or victory over Japan. War Department plans for shifting the most powerful striking force in the history of the world from Europe to Asia recently were announced by the Secretary of War, Mr Henry L. Stimson, the chief of staff, General George C; Marshall, and Lieutenant-general Brehon Somervell, commanding general of United States Army Service Forces. The War Department has emphasised that there will be no official celebration of V-E Day. In a report last September on plans for shifting the armed forces after the defeat of Germany the department said: “It must be borne in mind always that the war will not be won nor peace enjoyed until Japan has been completely crushed.”

Faced with the problem of transporting millions of men and their supplies in thousands of ships for distances ranging up to 14,000 miles across two oceans, the War Department, in the words of General Marshall, faces more critical days than during the battles of the United States armies in Germany. Plans in Readiness General Marshall in an Army Day address on April 6 emphasised that there would be no pause after the defeat of Germany. He said: “For more than a year the War Department has been working on plans for this transfer, which constitutes, I believe, the greatest problem in administration and logistics in history. We have constantly kept our plans up to date; we have been prepared to put them into action literally on an hour’s notice whenever that hour strikes.” General Marshall said that at the very moment hostilities cease “it is imperative that we start the movement through Suez and through the Panama canal of the units needed in highest- priority for acceleration of the campaign in the Pacific."

Mr Stimson on February 28 said that when hostilities. cease in Europe “ the War Department intends to marshal against the Japanese every soldier and every item of equipment that can be used effectively to speed our final victory.” The main burden of transferring the largest body of men over the longest distances in the history of the world will fall on the transportation corps of the United States War Department, which controls the movements of ships and railroads in war theatres and in the United States, and the Army Service Forces, with the responsibility of seeing that the men receive supplies. The office of the chief of transportation of the War Department revealed that it requires 15 Liberty ships to move the equipment of one United States Army division, in addition to a varying»number of transport to carry more. than 10,000 men in each division. Each man transferred from Europe to the Pacific will require five ship’s tons of supplies for the move and one ship’s ton a month to keep him in the Pacific. Liberty ships require two and one-half months longer to make the trip from Europe to the Pacific than fast transport ships and the movements of troops and supplies must be co-ordinated so that they will arrive at their destiantion at the same time.

in transport by rail, 35 American railroad trains are required to move one infantry division. As railway cars in Europe are smaller than American railroad cars, an even greater number of trains will, be. required, to move men and equipment to ports of embarkation along the European coast. Four Phases of Transport

An Office of War Information survey of War Department plans indicates that transport and supply will fall into four phases:—Shifting of men and supplies direct from Europe to the Pacific. A War Department report states that active units needed against Japan will be shipped to the Pacific from Europe and that the majority of ships proceeding to Europe will continue on to the Pacific, with very few returning to the United States; shipment of food and supplies to the. armed forces remaining in Europe for occupation, duties: return of surplus men and equpiment to the United States, some of the men to be given further training for eventual service in the Pacific, and some of the equipment to be reconditioned for use in the Pacific; shipment of food and supplies to liberated areas to feed the liberated peoples and to rehabilitate their industries and services.

Both General Marshall and General Somervell have emphasised the necessity of sending increasing supplies to liberated areas. General Marshall in his Army Day speech said: “ To a constantly increasing degree we shall have urgent requirements for food to feed the starving in Holland and to meet the stark necessities of other occupied areas, demands for raw material to get factories going, and to put restless and poverty-stricken men to work. AH of these involve ocean tonnage.”

General Somervell, in his recent speech, asid: “ Overseas civilian supply is an increasing problem. As we liberate new areas we must rehabilitate their plants, utilities, railroads, and farms to help them to support themselves. As we liberate more territory, the demand for civilian supplies will, rise.” On general problems of redeployment General Somervell said: f, The redeployment problem is by all odds the most difficult the War Department has yet had to face. At the same time as our troops move into position to occupy Germany we must inventory and re-warehouse millions of tons of supplies and equipment. Some must be set aside for troops who remain, some be reconditioned and supplemented for those who go direct to the Orient. Equipment for troops redeployed here (in the United States) must be returned from Europe and suplemented from new production. Camps must be reopened and stocked with* training equipment while slowmoving items are being shifted to the Orient" to be ready there when the troops arrive. All this must be Woven into intricate shipping schedules.”