JAPAN'S DRIVE TO BE INCREASINGLY DIFFICULT TO CRUSH, SAYS DE HAAS

Chances that the United Nations can stop Japan's march to the South Pacific are becoming less and less favorable each day," J. Anton de Haas, William Ziegler Professor of International Relationships, said in an address over the Crimson Network last night.

"The bases from which we can operate are becoming more and more restricted. Today Java and Australia are left. Tomorrow Java may be lost," de Haas emphasized. "We are rapidly losing the war. Surprise and treachery have played their part; lack of preparation has contributed its share.

"I cannot help but wonder," he said, "how large a part of our failure to date must be charged to the lack of vision, lack of intiative, and to the failure of the high command of the United Nations to see this war as a global war and not as a struggle for this or another piece of territory."

Asked if Australia would be a favorable base for a counter-attack, de Haas said, "Decidely not. Port Darwin is too far from the supply lines that Japan must maintain to keep her forces now in the Dutch Indies supplied."

"Our one hope," he stated, "is to cut these lines of supply, many of them 3500 and 4000 miles in length; but the farther south we move, the more difficult it becomes for us to stage any effective offensive action."

The chances of holding Port Darwin are poor, according to de Haas. "It is not a strong base to begin with, and it is separated from the industrial southern part of Australia by miles of trackless desert. Once Darwin is lost our only hope will be to defend southern Australia."

D Haas maintained Japan will not need to worry any longer about raw materials or about fuel oil and gasoline. "It is highly probable," he said, "that the accumulated reserves stored up in Japan and Formosa will last her until she can get the full benefit from her conquered territories. It means that we must defeat Japan, within the year. Or at least, we must so cripple her lines of supply that she will not be able to benefit from the sources of supply, she now has acquired."

"In the Pacific we faced a war of resources. Defeat in the Pacific may well deprive us of the materials without which we cannot win the war in Europe," he concluded.