U.S. War Department (June 1, 1942)
General MacArthur’s Headquarters No. 45
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The Pittsburgh Press (June 1, 1942)
5,000 PLANES TO RAID GERMANY
Berlin bloc urges bombings of U.S.
Germans make desperate efforts to prevent 2-front war
By Frederick C. Oechsner, United Press staff writer
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Cologne ruins still aflame, RAF reports
American fliers take part in great attack on Rhineland city
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LATE BULLETINS!
Washington, June 1 –
Frederick Vincent Williams and David Warren Ryder, publicists, today were found guilty of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The two were charged with being “frontmen” for the Japanese Committee on Trade and Information, San Francisco.
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U-boats sink 6 more ships, Navy reports
3 U.S. vessels among new victims; weekend toll mounts to 10
By the United Press
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Three Jap subs sunk after penetrating Sydney Harbor
Pearl Harbor-type raid fails
By Brydon C. Taves, United Press staff writer
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Welles blueprints world New Deal in ‘historic’ talk
Death of imperialism, with liberation of all peoples and end of race, creed and color discrimination included in Roosevelt plan for future
By William Philip Simms, Scripps-Howard foreign editor
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Hurricane ship serves
Melbourne, June 1 –
A schooner used in the Dorothy Lamour movie Hurricane is now on active service with the U.S. Navy in the Southwest Pacific, it was revealed today.
Domestic economy proposals stiffen spine of Congress
New spirit of legislative curiosity, currently shown in protests against nationwide gas rationing, promises trouble for Henderson
By Thomas L. Stokes, Scripps-Howard staff writer
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Leahy returns from Vichy with diplomatic exchange
Admiral rushes to capital but others describe conditions in Axis-held countries
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Chinese open counterpush
Drive against Jap bases west of Shanghai
By Robert P. Martin, United Press staff writer
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Background of news –
A new Pacific front?
By Editorial Research Reports
If the United Nations should open a second front against Germany in Europe, it is possible that Hitler might prevail upon Japan to open a second front against Russia in the Far East.
In fact, there have recently been recurrent reports that the Nazi dictator already was applying pressure on Tokyo to launch an attack on the Soviet Union in Siberia. Moscow’s reaction was expressed by an article in the official Communist newspaper Pravda on April 13, first anniversary of the signing of the Russo-Japanese neutrality and non-aggression pact, sharply reminding Japan of her obligations under that treaty.
Should Tokyo consider it advantageous to attack Russia, the non-aggression treaty is not likely to stand in the way, any more than the similar Nazi-Soviet pact stood in the way of Germany’s attack upon the USSR last June. An eventual Russo-Japanese clash has long been regarded as inevitable, for Japan’s ambitions in East Asia will not be achieved as long as a great European power remains entrenched on the Pacific, maintaining air bases within easy bombing range of the whole Japanese homeland.
The Tokyo government cannot be expected to stand by until Russia, as a result of victory in Europe, is enabled to strengthen her position in Asia. Conversely, it cannot be expected to let Germany, by knocking out Russia, place herself in a position to extend Nazi influence to the Soviet Far East. Tokyo would see to it that Japanese troops were already on the spot or in the process of getting there. The cards thus seem to be stacked for war either way as soon as Japan is ready to take the leap, or when Russia, convinced of her intention to do so, seeks to gain the advantage of the initiative by striking first.
Entrance of Russia into war against Japan would end her present anomalous status as a member of the United Nations – allied with them in the war in Europe but a neutral toward their enemy in the Pacific. While involvement of the Soviet Union in the conflict in the Far East would place an additional strain upon her manpower and resources, opening of a new front in the North Pacific might have advantages for the United States. American airmen already have made a token raid on Tokyo. If they could use Russian bases in Kamchatka and Eastern Siberia, sustained air attacks on the centers of Japan’s industrial and military power would come within the range of possibility.
With Russia as an ally in the Far East, Alaska would at once assume large importance in the strategy of air and naval operations in the North Pacific. The Aleutian Islands, stretching westward in a long chain from the tip of the Alaska Peninsula, reach to within 600 miles of Russia’s Kamchatka base of Petropavlovsk and lie close to the shortest (Great Circle) route between continental United States and Japan. The Navy now has an air base at Dutch Harbor on Unalaska Island in the eastern Aleutians. At Petropavlovsk American bombers would be 1510 miles from Tokyo, at Vladivostok only 665 miles.
Japan has a base at Paramushiro in the Kurile Islands, only 235 miles from Petropavlovsk. Crippling of that base presumably would be required to make Petropavlovsk secure as a base for direct operations against Japan and as a way station on the route to Vladivostok. If that were done, American air power could be directed against Japan proper, and it might eventually be possible to launch an invasion attempt by way of the Kuriles and the island of Sakhalin to the main Japanese islands. Control in that sector would have to be established also to enable troop transports to reach Vladivostok.