FACTS WE FACE IN THE PACIFIC
SEELY, Lt. Comdr. C. S.
Facts We Face In The Pacific By LT. COMDR C. S. SEELY EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the first of a series of four articles by Commander Seely on the difficulties we face in the Orient. The others will...
...It surrounds all land and sea within the area which includes the four islands of Japan proper and a strip of the East Asian coastline, averaging 200 miles deep, running from the Siberian border to Shanghai...
...This line encloses all areas within Line 1 plus French Indo-China, Siam except the part south of Bangkok leading to and on the Malayan peninsula, all of Burma north of Rangoon which lies east of the l^iiilma Road, Hainan Island, and an extension of the mainland strip to French Indo-China...
...Japan's Critical Defense Line Line 2. Second line of defense (working outward, of course...
...Line 4. This line encloses all areas within Line 3 plus the Bonin Islands, Guam, Yap, Palau, Mindanao and Celebes...
...is becoming stronger by the hour...
...We must face theh'fe facts, and certainly no good can come from our present trend toward ignoring the difficulties facing us in the Orient...
...The others will appear in early issues...
...THE OPTIMISM concerning an early defeat of Japan, now developing as a result of our recent successes in the Solomon, Gilbert, Marshall and New Britain Islands, is totally unwarranted...
...Line 3. This line encloses all areas within Line 2 plus all of Manchuria, Karafuto, the Kurile Islands, Formosa, Luzon, Borneo, Java, and Sumatra...
...This is Japan'** critical line of defense, and desperate, all-out, resist- ance is certain to be encountered all along it...
...Its southeastern parts including the Marshall and Caroline Islands, and New Guinea are nothing more than a series of far-flung outposts meant only to delay attacks on the other lines...
...The mainland strip varies greatly in depth, and in the river valleys and other vital areas it is much deeper than in less important regions...
...Resistance here will be great, but it will not match that at Line 2. Should a serious attack be made against the Southeastern part of this line before, say, about 1946 (before Japan gets all the oil she feels she needs from the East Indies) it is possible that Japan will sacrifice most of her Navy—her larger ships—to hold it...
...Those successes are not great victories which weaken Japan to any appreciable extent...
...Note: In this outline land areas separated by water are connected by the shortest possible lines...
...This line will be defended at all costs, and Japan is doomed if it is broken...
...Considerable resistance must be expected all along this line, but its southeastern part is not especially strong...
...They are merely the opening incidents—the prelude—to great battles that must follow...
...Japan has not less than five lines of defense, and while only the Japanese themselves know exactly where these lines are, the following assumptions are based on good information, and cannot be far wrong: Line 1. This is Japan's main and last defense line...
...The opinions and assertions expressed above are the private ones of the writer and are not to be construed as official or reflecting the views of the Navy Department or the naval service at large...
...To date we have only tested Japan's outer defense (skirmish) line, and from the sea side we are still far from any strong Japanese position...
...Japan will retreat from the southeastern fringes of this line as her inner lines are strengthened She must not be expected to make any considerable sacrifices of men or material to hold any part of the area enclosed by this line which lies outside Line 4. Obviously Japan has geography on her side, has established a very strong system of defense lines, and...
...Geography On Her Sido Line 5. This is the outer defense line, and it encloses all areas within Line 4 plus all other areas Japan now holds...
Vol. 7 • December 1943 • No. 52
