JAPAN'S BID FOR TIME
SEELY, Lt. Comdr. C. S.
Japan's Bid For Time By LT. COMDR. C. S. SEELY THE Japanese are making a stronger stand in Leyte than was to be expected, but even so the fighting there must be considered only delaying...
...But we must expect the bitterest kind of fighting there, for Japan has no alternative...
...Unlike Hitler who has been greatly out-numbered ever since June 22, 1941, Japan now has very many more soldiers than she can use on the battlefield...
...It is beyond the bounds of probability that Japan has fortified the entire coast from Korea to French Indo-China...
...Many Places To Land In spite of our recent victories over important parts of the Japanese Navy it is not correct to say that we control all the Western Pacific...
...Only a very small percentage of Japanese soldiers has ever been discouraged by defeat...
...Luzon is the only one of these islands which the Japanese are liable- to try to hold at all costs...
...C. S. SEELY THE Japanese are making a stronger stand in Leyte than was to be expected, but even so the fighting there must be considered only delaying (rear-guard) actions...
...Japan, it is well to recall, has more well-trained soldiers than Germany ever had...
...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...
...There are dozens of places to land...
...She simply expends these garrisons at the highest price she can get...
...And obviously we will sooner or later control all the waters around the Philippines...
...Quick, victory in the Orient is entirely out of the question...
...It is much more reasonable to believe that she will sacrifice many thousands of men there to delay us just as long as possible...
...But the fact is Japan still controls the seas bordering the China east coast...
...In no case should we assume that Japan will finally withdraw any of her forces from Luzon to save them from annihilation...
...Islands which are not self-supporting (like Leyte, Samar, Bohol, Mindanao, and for that matter all the others in the Philippines) can always finally be taken by the power which controls the seas surrounding them...
...If it were we could establish a bridgehead on China and cut the Japanese supply line—we could by-pass entirely the Philippines...
...She must have it to prepare* the China coast for defense, and there is no better way to gain it than by fighting delaying actions wherever she has garrisons...
...Quick Victory Is Out Japan has plenty of troops to sacrifice in operations of this kind...
...We must recognize all this, if we are to avoid heartaches that come from over-confidence...
...It is time that Japan needs, and she needs all of this she can possibly get...
...and their morale undoubtedly is as high as German morale ever was...
Vol. 8 • November 1944 • No. 48
