Where the News Ends
CHAMBERLIN, WILLIAM HENRY
Where the News Ends I, witiMM Htnnr chammklihFar Eastern Front MlLITARV event* in Europs tend to move at a speed that defies the effort* of a weekly commentator. So one aaay turn to aurvey the...
...There has been the Japanese raid into India in the neighborhood of Koala** aad lmphal...
...Yet, voluntarily, he aeat in a monetary contribntion ta The New Lender Fund...
...As matters stand* the Japanese hold the seven largest cities of China-Peking, Tientsin, Shanghai, Hankow, Nanking, Tsingtao and Canton—much the greatest part of China's slim network of rsilwsys and the great waterway of the Yangtte for almost a thousands miles up to their advanced position at Ichang...
...If th* Japan*** could succeed ia clearing th* Chinese forces from th* entire line af the Hankow-Canton Railway (no small achievement, te be sure), China would be badly cut up and Japan would possess a valuable lint of land transportation that might help to compensate for the increasing harassment of ite sea lanes...
...There has been the effort ef Am eric a a air-borne troops and Chineee forces to break the North Banna bottleneck and pave tbe way for a resumption of the land communication with China which has been stopped ever since the Japanese swspt into Burma in the spring of 1942...
...A4olpk Montr la New York, etc We are especially prou4 ot a con t rihut ion tbat came tkim week trom John Dawey...
...There ia Sidney Stark la Pittsburgh...
...Talk about China being "knocked out of the war" may be discounted...
...And, most important perhaps of the three, the Japanese have been displaying more military Initiative in China, munching drives with fairly large forces to extend their grip ea the east-west Lunghai Railway and on ths north south Peking Hankow line, and also driving for aa important goal ia tbe shape ef Changtha, one of the largest town* in unoccupied China and capital of the rich ric* producing province, Hunan...
...This aid, yet tltil vigor-ous fighter for 4em*craty ia one af the Contributing E4ttora to Tht New Leader...
...the military supply problems are staggering...
...We uonntod wkttktr it would be worthwhile tMag so muck apace from oiit*rl*\ mutton...
...Third, whether China can function as an effective air bast when our nsval forces light their way through te th* China coast...
...Simon Ukrtm in Philadelphia, Hana Koenen in Port cheater, Miidred Borleman in Chicago...
...But there is no vulnerable point at which China could be dealt a knockout blow...
...The time for such an operation was tha spring or summer of 1942...
...The speeding up of Japanese sggressive military action in China is of more potentiel importance, although hero again space is such a vast protective cushion that one can scarcely fear or hope for spectacular decisive results, in one direction or the other, within a short period of time...
...4__ ____FROM TMff imITOM FoR the paat three weeks, we have baea writing thee* Memo* From the Editor*, about the prtutnt aita-utiou of the paper...
...7 aad we ahail place them on the mulling I Mat tor tour montka...
...The time of ending of th* war in th* Orient wrll depend largely on three factors: First, the attitude which Stalin take* after th* end of the war in Eur...
...Motrin Be...
...u roast towns of Faerhow which have escaped permanent Japanese occupation, but ar* exposed to periodic J a pence* raids...
...Seeoad, the possibilities of air and naval power (out-elves sad the British) deployed at immense distances against strongly entrenched land power (Japan...
...Th* great majority of the Indians would havs resumed passive, like the .natives of Indo-China, Malaya and the Netherlands Indies, indifferent to the prospective change of one overlord for another.* But the essential condition of a Japanese invasion of India in fore* has not been and most probably cannot be realised •t the present time...
...A careful observer who recently returned from the Orient estimated that a period of six months would have to elapse after the defeat of Germany before th* increased weight of Anglo-American offensive power would begin to be felt in the Orient It is a tobtriag reflertion that in the third year of th* Far Kaatera wsr, Japan he* lost practically nothing of its vest conquests in 194Z: the Philippine*, Malays, the Netherlands Indies, Burma...
...To be sure, the position of Chiang Kai-shek's regime is weak in various respect...
...So one aaay turn to aurvey the Far Eastern front, where the spaces are much greater, the forces in combat •mailer and the possibilities of coming to a swift decisis* much slighter...
...We know you want to help apvoni tha influence af The New Louder...
...His friendship itntlt it out ef our prouittl potattaiona...
...We woul4 Ilka to have your tritnin y --^ aa readers af tha paper...
...Memo—No...
...There is the cleavage between tbe ruling party, the Knomin-tag, and the Communists, who have created a sort of "state within a state...
...The recent landing on Saipan and the lone;-distance bombing of the Yawata steel works by giant B-29* are distinct, although not aeeessairly decisive, scores for sea, snd air power...
...Roads have to be hacked through fever-ridden jungles and extremely rugged mountainous territory, much of it very imperfectly explored...
...Bat we wuli Ilk* ta regard tklm memo as a aert of "breath*!* aad make acknowledgment ta tha baa-eVeds af poraonn who bare clipped the Uttl* coupon in the corner af thia hex aad eontributcd to The New Leader Sustaining Fund...
...Here nature itself is a powerful enemy...
...work, plana, and influence of tbe paper we tkimk you might bt interested ia knowing...
...We intend keeping up thee* Memoranda fer a wkilo bocauat there are a number of Iking* about the make up...
...la circles that are critical of British policies in India, there was a natural tendency to raise the specter of Japan sweeping into India and capitalising on th* nationalist resentment of the Indian people...
...One can distinguish three moves on the vast Asistk military cheasbeard...
...Nor is a swift ending of the war in the Orient indicated by the developments in North Burma...
...I SUSPECT there has been s tendency to ezaggerats the Importance both of the Japanese raid into north-¦asten India aad ef the counter-move against Japanese positions la North Burma...
...Now the Anglo-American technical superiority in modern weapons is too great The Japanese raid into a remote corner of India may be expected to peter out without any very explosive consequences...
...In the Chinese Northwest, a fairly specified area is under Chinese Communist administration, and a larger •nd much more vaguely defined region, parte of which pass from hsnd to hand, in the usual fashion of regions in guerrilla, warfare, ia under local Chinese administration, which is strongly influenced but not completely dominated by the Communists...
...Aad if Chiaag Kai-shek snd his associates held out during the gloomy years when Chine was receiving • win'rT- ef foreign aid, they would certainly a** eemm t* terms with Japan at a time when the tide *f war ia the West has turned against Germany and who* much laager force* will be released fe- action agai.it Japan aa soon as Germsny it defeated * e * What stay happen, however, it that China will bt gravely weakened by the preaen' Japaaese offensive, and that ultimate victory on the Far Eastern i,,mX will be poetponed...
...Both these operations were undertaken by small forces, operating in difficult jungle territory aad without good or assured routes of supply...
...There has been some quickening: of the languid tempo ef the wsr on the mainland in Asia during recent months, and American air and naval superiority has been making itself felt over the island studded expanse ef the southwestern Pacific...
...The Japanese, with lines extended from the northern border of Manchuria to the eastern border of India, simply do not hsve enough troops to occupy and garrision the whole of China...
...Chiang Kai-shek's regime retains a hold on th* generally mountainous West snd Southwest of Chin*, together with • kind of checkerboard hold on soe** regions as far as the southeast...
...man in Plaaaautrillt, Sidney Hollander in Baltimore...
...The number of men who csn be used for military operations in this neglected backwoods area is necessarily' limited...
...Bat our readers are as muck a pert ef the paper aa the contributors aad tba editors, and it waa only fair, we thought, tn ntnto tha situation plainly aa regard the papor* plana aad tnnncta...
...It is impossible te ae-knowledge publicly the gitta of all thoae who have cont ributed, bat picking at random through the ahtot of lottera aad bltta, we are atruck by tha tact ikmt theae contributors com*} from tuny aectiona ot tbe countrv...
...It is not an especially good omen that Japan, following ite oil aad fisheries agreement, has fait able te with* drew tome of its bettor unite from Manchuria...
...AkS accurate map of the political division of China at present would show the Japanese and their dependent Chinese government, hesded by Wang Ching-wei, holding long narrow strips of country along toe lines of communication, including the immediate neighborhood of many lsrgs towns...
...Clip the coupon —today...
...Seed aa Ire °'* ? Ar dollars aad the namta af Mr* trianda...
...Had the Japanese been able to penetrate India with large, well -equipped land and naval forces, an embittered minority ef insurgent nationalists would have probably risen up te greet them, arms ia their hands...
...China has loat ite porta and industrial areas, aad baa been weakened by a disastrous snd uncontrollable inflation...
Vol. 27 • January 1944 • No. 27
