BATTLE OF THE PACIFIC: World at Stake?

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"Be prepared," warned the London Daily Herald, "to learn from some military spokesman or semi-official syrup-dispenser that the situation in the Far East is scarcely relevant to the general trend of the war. Be prepared for the revival of soothing phrases about 'keeping a sense of perspective.' Be prepared for reminders that, my dear fellow, the real enemy is Germany, and for suggestions that the war with Japan is little more than an exciting side show."

These were typical of the angry, worried words which flew in the capital of the British Empire last week when it was learned that Singapore, farthest-flung fortress of the Empire, was in grave danger. But the warning was amiss. The Government dispensed no syrup. It appointed Alfred Duff Cooper, onetime Secretary of State for War, onetime First Lord of the Admiralty, onetime Minister of Information, who has been in Singapore for 15 weeks, to be Resident Minister for Far Eastern Affairs. He will have Cabinet rank, will be equal, if not superior, to Commander in Chief Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert Brooke-Popham.

This was reassuring to the British people, who were a little shaken on Sir Robert. He had given them an exaggerated sense of complacency about Singapore by saying, in the course of 1941: > "The whole of the East Indies and the Far East are in a high state of preparedness for any eventuality." > "We are in a position to handle any war situation that may arise." > "As long as we are awake and Japan sees it. I think the situation will remain as it is." > "We have had plenty of warning and our preparations are made and tested."* By contrast, Minister Duff Cooper's first statement was neither sweet nor soothing: "Let us not blind ourselves to the gravity of the situation or the seriousness of the task that awaits us. Let us frankly admit that so far the Japanese have been extremely successful." The Japanese were alarmingly successful: 1) Britain's great 19th-Century warrior and native-queller, Field Marshal Sir Frederick Roberts, once said that the history of the world would be decided at Singapore. By this week the Japanese had come within 300 miles of that decision.

The Japanese, big only in their fury, fought their way down Malaya on a miniature scale. The little men, in light shorts, open shirts and rubber sneakers, or with bare feet, were apparently insufficient targets for the British. As they had used tiny, steel-saving two-man subs at Pearl Harbor, they used in Malaya tiny one-man tanks and two-man gun carriers. The British even said that their doctors cut miniature Japanese bullets out of miniature British wounds.

Small though all the Japanese elements of attack may have been, there could be no belittling the results. In 14 days the Japanese had driven more than 100 miles through jungles which the British had complacently considered impenetrable. The enemy had isolated and driven the British off the island of Penang—not only a secondary naval base, but also the key to the narrow Malacca Straits, most direct route for supplies and reinforcements for Singapore. The Japanese had also established themselves in a number of nearby air bases.