TIME RUNS AGAINST JAPAN
SEELY, Lt. Comdr. C. S.
Time Runs Against Japan By LT. COMDR. C. S. SEELY THE Japanese certainly will make their last stand on one of the islands of Japan proper, in all probability Honshu, and not in Manchuria, or...
...If this be true, and we control the sea—as we elaim we do—it is not clear why we have not established at least a small bridgehead on this part of China which is so vital to Japan's defense...
...Obviously it would be far easier to occupy an area which our Allies hold, and which Japan—according to the reports—is running away from, than it would be to take some island which Japan will defend to the last man...
...However, air and sea fighting can continue with no loss of tempo...
...GROUND fighting, except for small mopping-up operations anywhere south of Hong Kong, will be most difficult, if not impossible, during the next 2 months...
...If we do not soon land on China, the reports that we control the seas along the south-central China coast and have cut the Japanese supply lines to the South will be discredited...
...It is far too late to do this now, even if it were desirable—and of course it is not...
...Apparently clear weather is all that is needed for air bombing...
...C. S. SEELY THE Japanese certainly will make their last stand on one of the islands of Japan proper, in all probability Honshu, and not in Manchuria, or anywhere else on the Asian mainland...
...Also these reports say that what few Japanese were there have lately been leaving as fast as they can...
...This, of course, she will do in both Japan proper and on the Asian mainland...
...The heat is too enervating...
...ACCORDING to persistent reports the Chinese are now holding an area at least 300 miles long and at least 200 miles deep on the China coast in the Swatow-Amoy-Foochow-Ningpo region...
...The best she can do now with her war industry is to continue to decentralize it...
...Neither heat nor cold seems to interfere with it, as with ground fighting...
...Japan cannot spare shipping for this sort of work, even if she had the time for it...
...No doubt they have a great army on the mainland, but this force will be used to delay our advance northward...
...Clearly we do not yet have the full story of Japanese strength in the Swatow-Foochow-Formosa area...
...They must be expected to hold the Yangtse River line at "all cost...
...Probably not more than 25 per cent of Japan's war manufacturing plants are located on the Asian mainland, and recent reports that war industry is now being moved from the homeland to Manchuria are little better than nonsense...
...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...
Vol. 9 • July 1945 • No. 30
