BACK FENCE OF JAPAN

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 190, 10 May 1944, Page 5

BACK FENCE OF JAPAN

Effort To Plug Holes DEFENSIVE STRATEGY IN CHINA ‘ The war situation in China has been described as serious because of the growing threat in the province of Honnh. It has been suggested that successful Japanese operations in this area would open, iip an historic invasion route to the Chinese interior, with Chungking as its centre. In order to comprehend Japanese strategy in China it is necessary to appreciate what parts of China are occupied by the Japanese. The Japanese have been working to a schedule for Asiatic domination planned some 50 years ago as part of their grand strategy of expansion. The plan envisaged, for one of'its stages, the spreading of a vast Japanese occupied area round Japan through which any enemy must pass before he could get within striking distance of Japan itself. This plan, as originally conceived, failed to appreciate not only the powers of Chinese national resistance but also that modern factor the aeroplane. For that reason the China schedule is a modern improvization attached to the main schedule as a sort of appendix. The land areas iu north China have been assimilated first. The whole of Manchukuo is at present under Japanese control. A. narrow strip of laud belonging to Russia steals round east of Manchukuo, but this is watched by the main Japanese army, which hopes to gob<le it up the moment Russia looks like declaring war. There are no loopholes left in the north for easy occupation by enemies anxious to’find a base from which to strike at Japan. To the south the pattern changes, specially in the area south -of Tientsin, which is itself due west of the southern portion of Japan proper. Vast enemy inroads have been made, but there are still big inland areas in the network not dominated by the Japanese armies. West of Shanghai two' Japanese arms stretca westward inland into China for several hundreds of iniles. Their western tips, however, are not linked. There is thus an area west of Shanghai starting some 200 miles inland which is not under Japanese domination. This area is some 400 miles Wide and 200 miles long from north to south. It would fit the North Island of New Zealand and the South Island if it were folded up beside the North. Immediately to the north there is a Chinese controlled “island” nearly as large surrounded by Japanese dominated areas. Farther south the Japanese hold only the coastal areas till French Indo-China and Burma, are reached. . Allied Threats. The recent operations are apparently designed to engulf the area west of Shanghai, throwing out tentacles north and south. The increased bombing ranges of aeroplanes has made it imperative for the enemy that this semi-?ncircled area and. the encircled area to the north be rendered harmless as soon as possible. Haste is imperative, because the mounting Allied strength has already given proof that rapid developments must not be discounted. Honan Province is situ ated less than 1000 miles from Japan proper.- It would afford an ideal operational base for the Allies right in the Japanese back fence. It is probable that the present Japanese operations have in view the closing of this gate. The fact that it opens up an historic invasion route Io Chungking is pjobably less significant. If that invasion route could be used by the Japanese - it could also be used by the Allies, which makes the operations in Honan now undertaken by the Japanese even more imperative. It is a tribute to the gathering power of Allied opera tions that the Japanese are now busy trying to close the holes in their own back fence. —E.A.A.