The Wanganui Chronicle. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1941. IN THE NORTH PACIFIC

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 85, Issue 292, 11 December 1941, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1941. IN THE NORTH PACIFIC

JAPAN has gained an initial advantage by the treacherous stlil- •' denness of her attack upon the United States and the British and Dutch territories in the Far East and the North Pacific. it was anticipated in military and naval circles that on the commencement of hostilities in the Far East the Japanese would immediately attack the Philippine Islands, move into Bangkok, the capital of Thailand while that attack was going on, ami simultaneously establish landings of troops on the narrow isthmus of the Malay Peninsula while the fortress of Singapore was being subjected to attack.

The Japanese were also expected to attack the outposts of America in the North Pacific. The island of Guam was expected to be attacked first because it presented an easy task for the Japanese, as their nearest base is only forty miles distant at Saipan Island. The American Navy authorities have for years insisted that it is essential for the defence of American interests in the Pacific that Guam Island should be fortified with land guns and a seaplane base, but the American Senate refused for years to assent to the appropriation for this on the ground that it would aggravate relations with Japan. Guam is within a radius of 1500 miles of Tokio and is in the Asiatic or western side of many Japanese-mandated islands. Recently the Senate approved of the appropriation for the fortification of Guam, Wake Island is some 1250 miles to the east of Guam, nearer to America, anil has been subjected to fortification operations for a longer period than Guam. Early in the current year an aerodrome was being built for the accommodation of some 300 planes. .Midway Island, which is some thousand miles distant from Wake Island, in a north-easterly direction, was also the scene of preparations and the programme was to accommodate a fleet of 500 planes at this island. Pearl Harbour, in the Hawaiian Islands, is the bastion of America’s defences in the Pacific, providing prolection against hostile approaches from the west on the American Pacific Coast and the Panama Canal Zone. There are three other islands to the south of the Hawaiin group which are under American control, these being Johnson, Palmyra and (with the Bri.ish) Christmas Islands. American Samoa constitutes the farthest south of the American defence quadrilateral.

It naturally causes surprise that a raid on such a vast scale could have been successfully launched against Pearl Harbour, and it seems reasonable to assume that the element of surprise favoured the Japanese attackers. The allocation for the modernising and the enlarging of the defensive system amounted to 100.(100.000 dollars, or roughly £30,000,000. The spending of so large a sum would not provide immunity from attack, but i 4 should give some idea of th# strength of the base, and even though considerable damage has been inflicted on the defences it is improbable that they will be seriously impaired by a single attack.

Those politicians who have hamstrung America’s defence effort for so long, and those who have preached isolationism, must bear the opprobrium of having served their country ill. Their delaying efforts have aided the Japanese. The American Army and Navy have for years begged in vain for the tools wherewith to create the defensive outposts of the American Republic.

Despite past mistakes, faced with the realities of invasion of American soil, with American gunboats eaptund hy the Japanese, with the Stars and Stripes being displaced by the Rising Sun, the Senate unanimously voted the Declaration of War against Japan. America has had to be confronted with a sevenloss before realities would be faced by everyone, but it may be that the sad loss will have purchased a spirit of unity which shall well repay its cost in precious lives and lost territory ami defences