2 Months of War In Pacific Finds Allies in Bad Spot
By John M. Hightower
WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 -- (AP) Military and naval experts asserted today that the situation of allied forces in the Western Pacific at the end of the second month of war is very serious and that still further reverses can be expected.
While fully recognizing the heroic achievements of defenders in the Philippines, Singapore and the Dutch Indies and allowing for Japanese losses of more than 100 ships and thousands of men, these authorities grimly declared that only the delivery of huge reinforcements -- difficult if not impossible at this time -- would turn the tide of battle against the enemy.
The Japanese were said still to possess the great advantages of time and initiative seized in their sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, two months ago tomorrow. Theirs is the choice of when and where to attack, and the costs they are paying in troops and material were described as not too great for the advances they have made.
Great U.S. Power Not Yet Hatched
Effective reenforcements, especially in war planes, could block further advances and hold the threatened bastions still in allied hands, it was said, for the Japanese position has become vulnerable at many points.
But America's great striking power is still largely in the factories and training camps. And the material now ready for the fighting fronts must be divided among England, Russia and Africa as well as the Orient and transported with naval protection over thousands of miles of dangerous ocean.
As strategists here view the enemy gains in two months of incessant action, the Japanese have:
1. Prevented offensive use of the Pacific fleet for many weeks by the raid on Pearl Harbor.
2. Forced the Asiatic fleet to withdraw from its Philippines bases and pushed the American defense forces on the islands into a last ditch stand on Bataan peninsula and in the forts covering Manila bay.
3. Completely overrun the Malay peninsula and put the British base of Singapore under siege with overwhelming forces after having destroyed the mainstays of British naval power in the Orient -- the battleship Prince of Wales and the battle cruiser Repulse.
4. Made landings at various points in the Dutch East Indies so that without waiting for the fall of either the Philippines or Singapore they are already able to bomb such Dutch bases as Soerabaja, on which effective defense of the Indies depend.
5. Captured Moulmein and advanced toward the Burma road, threatening to cut the artery on which China depends for the lend-lease munitions she needs to continue the war.
No Slowdown Sign
Despite these spectacular successes, which have required the transportation of troops and supplies more than 2000 miles from Japan, the enemy forces have shown no sign of slowing down or of encountering opposition which their audacious strategy had not provided for.
The more pessimistic among Washington observers fear that this means various allied strong points will be lost, the Indies jeopardized and possibly overrun and even Australia directly and forcefully attacked.
Yet none doubts that in the long run the weaknesses inherent in Japan's military and naval position will crack under the growing power of allied, and especially American, forces.
Military and naval men say these weaknesses are numerous:
Japan's army of approximately 2,000,000 men is scattered from Russia's Siberian border to the island of Borneo. Her navy split between the main fleet and convoy ships, is engaged in convoy duty all over the China sea and Western Pacific. To protect these far-flung communication lines her main fleet probably is based hundreds of miles south of the Japanese homeland, leaving it to some extent poorly protected.
Two Incidents Noted
Two Incidents Noted
Two recent incidents of successful allied action already have sharply pointed up these weaknesses. The first was the United States-Dutch attack on a convoy in Macassar straits off Borneo. Although it was a 100-ship affair loaded with invasion troops and supplies, the Japanese apparently had provided the convoy with a relatively light escort. The allies sank or damaged well over 50 ships of all types and casualties probably ran into the thousands.
The second incident was the raid by units of the Pacific fleet on Japanese bases in the Marshall and Gilbert islands. The navy heavily damaged these enemy salients flanking American supply routes to the western Pacific, but it found no Japanese combatant ship in the area.
The losses in fleet auxiliary vessels which the Japanese suffered in the raid were piled on ton of the losses in Macassar straits and elsewhere to raise the total of all types of vessels sunk to far more than 100, but a more exact figure must await further reports of the action.
Harder to Replace
However, warships sunk and damaged to date may be more accurately estimated. They include one battleship sunk and three severely damaged, one heavy and one light cruiser sunk, and aircraft carrier probably destroyed, about seven destroyers sunk and half a dozen or more submarines sent to the bottom.
Japan's losses in ships and munitions are believed by authorities here to weaken her relatively more than comparable losses would weaken the allied forces with their tremendous production resources. Thus the Japanese face the ultimate prospect of having to fight against a progressively vastly superior opponent.
It is undoubtedly for this reason that they are risking everything they have now to drive the united nations out of the Western Pacific and consolidate their gains while they still have the might to do the job.
Dual Citizenship Problem Studied
Law May Be Asked for More Authority To Deal With Coast Jap Situation
WASHINGTON, Feb. 6. -- (U.P.) -- Justice department sources disclosed today that they are weighing the possibility of asking congress for legislation that would permit the "protective custody" arrest of any citizen for the duration of the war as an additional means of coping with the Japanese problem on the West Coast.
They emphasized that they are reluctant to seek such a law and have made no final decisions, but may find it advisable to make such a request.
Many American-Born Japs Considered Dangerous
Though the bill would be aimed solely at the dual citizenship problem of West Coast Japanese, it would permit the seizure of any citizen whose presence in defense areas was considered dangerous to the national security.
The powers of the justice department now restrict them to ordering the evacuation of enemy aliens from prohibited areas. Numerous Japanese who were born in this country and therefore are American citizens are reported, however, to be considered more dangerous than many of the alien-Japanese.
Attorney General Francis Biddle was reported reluctant to ask such legislation because of the danger that would be faced by all citizens if such a power, once granted, were used improperly.
Transfer Considered
It was disclosed also that the transfer of full responsibility for the alien enemy problem on the Pacific to the war department was under consideration. This would permit the declaration of martial law in California and other states so that the army could bodily evacuate undesired persons from any area.
A third proposal, all persons, including citizens, would be required to obtain passes in order to move about in restricted areas. Huge zones would be designated as restricted areas and permits would be refused citizens and aliens considered "dangerous to the national security."
Represents Combined Effort
Restrictions on the unlicensed thus would force them to move to unrestricted areas.
Present machinery being used to oust aliens from 86 California areas and 31 in Oregon and Washington represents the combined effort of the war and justice departments to prevent another Pearl Harbor. Presently the war department designates prohibited and restricted areas, and the justice department issues the proper orders for the ousting of the axis nationals or for restricting their movements.
Bainbridge Isle Japs Held for Hearings
SEATTLE, Feb. 6. -- (U.P.) -- Federal officials today planned speedy hearings for 15 alien Japanese seized in a raid on Bainbridge island -- near the Bremerton navy yard -- for possession of dynamite, guns and short-wave radio sets.
The men were held in the immigration station and their contraband confiscated.
Dynamite taken from the Japanese was used to clear land for berry and pea fields, federal agents admitted.
But several guns and one short-wave radio set were found in the aliens' homes.
The Japanese will be taken before an alien hearing board when it returns from Missoula, Mont., where it is investigating the cases of Seattle aliens interned there. The board is expected back next week to decide whether the Bainbridge Island Japanese should be interned for the duration of the war.
Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation led the raids Wednesday after Governor Arthur B. Langlie proclaimed the island a defense area at the navy's request and after complaints were received that many aliens had failed to surrender contraband.
State patrolmen and Kitsap county deputy sheriffs aided the FBI in their surprise foray.
FBI Rounds Up Aliens In Mare Island Area
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 6.-- (U.P.) -- With fifth column treachery at Pearl Harbor fresh in their minds, federal agents in a series of lightning raids that still were continuing today, seized nine Japanese aliens in the vicinity of the Mare Island navy yard at Vallejo, in addition to considerable contraband.
The contraband, federal agents confirmed, included a set of U.S. navy signal flags, cameras, guns, radios and "miscellaneous" articles.
Twenty persons, including one Italian, were apprehending in the simultaneous raids conducted by 50 FBI men and Vallejo police, but all but the nine Japanese were released after questioning determined they were American citizens.
The biggest haul of aliens was at the "navy laundry," which overlooks the navy yard. There six men and a woman were taken into custody. Two more were arrested at the Frisco café, which is heavily patronized by shipyard workers and enlisted personnel. Both are Japanese-operated.
Wartime Equipment For Oregon Okehed
SALEM, Feb. 10. -- (AP) -- The regional Office of Civilian Defense advised the governor's office today that the government has allocated fire-fighting equipment to Portland, Eugene, Astoria, Bend, Klamath Falls, Medford and Salem.
The Portland allocations include 72 pumper units, 3466 block equipment sets, 8120 steel helmets, 1624 firemen's helmets, surgical equipment for 81 medical teams and for 40 casualty stations, and about 400,000 gas masks.
Society Doesn't Help Youth In Drink Decision, Claim
Nothing is done by society to help youth choose between alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. That was the inferred statement by W. Roy Breg, executive secretary of Allied Youth, Washington, D.C., who addressed the conference of the Oregon Fellowship Wednesday afternoon at Hotel Portland.
Breg, in Portland at invitation of the fellowship, the Oregon Congress of Parents and Teachers, the Oregon Federation Women's Clubs and the Portland Council of Churches, has been speaking in all high schools here. He was introduced at the fellowship meeting by School Superintendent Ralph E. Dugdale. Presiding was Mrs. W.W. Gabriel.
"When young people make a choice about drinking at cocktail parties and elsewhere," said Breg, "they do it in a split second, and their choices are made under a lot of social pressure.
There is seldom fruit or tomato juice on the tray to make their decision easier. Who says we have no dictators in America? We do have -- social dictators."
He has spoken to American youth in more than 750 high schools, explaining that Allied Youth is non-sectarian and non-partisan, offering a program which is both educational and social, and its aim is to help youth face and solve for themselves the social questions which confront them. Breg argues that movements for youth betterment are less apt to succeed when adults are at the head, but when youth themselves head a movement, good results may be expected.
"In your city," said Breg, "I take my hat off to Mrs. Saidie Orr Dunbar and Mrs. William Kletzer, for what they have done through their work to promote the Allied Youth movement."