CONFLICT IN ALEUTIANS

Evening Star, Issue 24324, 13 October 1942, Page 3

CONFLICT IN ALEUTIANS

SOMETHING OF A SECOND FRONT RUSSIA'S FORTUNES DIRECTLY AFFECTED NEW YORK, October 11. ‘ The Army and Navy Journal,’ an authoritative service publication, contends that the United States, in moving to reoccupy the Aleutians, is partly complying with M. Stalin’s wishes for establishing a second -front _ directly affecting the fortunes of Russia. The journal says: “Our drive to eliminate the Japanese from the Aleutians is connected with tho Soviet Union’s magnificent defence, for the Japanese fleet lies athwart Vladivostok, blocking the transportation of needed supplies from the United States to the Soviet European armies via the transSiberian railway. Roconquest of tho Aleutians will enable the United States to co-operate with tho Russian army should the Japanese attack Siberia.” “ Tho Japanese are beginning to suffer from lack of shipping,” says the Stockholm correspondent of tho ‘ New York Times,’ who quotes the Tokio correspondent of tho ‘ Hamburger Fremdenblatt.’ “To provide sufficient ships to maintain the supply routes to the South Pacific conquests the Japanese Government has decreed that shipments of coal, iron, and steel within Japan will henceforth be carried by rail instead of by steamers, resulting in the restriction of railroad passenger traffic. Cabinet members have warned the people not to under-estimate the enemy, and to prepare for aerial attacks on the home islands.”