Press: //…December 7th, 1942…Source: Reuters
It being the anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the American people are found asking themselves, “where is the American Navy?” Just a year on from the unprovoked attack that saw the sinking of the heart of the American Battleship force soon followed over the next few months by most of the Navies carrier fleet, the American People are concerned that the war in Europe is taking too higher priority. While resources and troops are focused in Europe, the Japanese have had free reign in the Pacific and now seem to have cast a wide net or perimeter behind which all manner of evil is being perpetrated.
Criticism is not yet laid at the feet of the President, but politicians and public alike are looking for direction and leadership from the Pacific Command organization. The Port of Darwin is bombed almost every day even to the point now where manpower resources are being damaged; the Coral Sea is in the grip of the Japanese Navy and allied navel efforts appear to virtually non-existent. The supply route from the West Cast through Hawaii seems to stop at Fiji – and other than one sortie late in the Fall where American carriers struck home and sunk a few supplier vessels, virtually no other force has been reported or combat observed.
The Japanese have the Chinese on the back foot – the bulk of the Chinese army now pinned down in three cities. The British are likewise hemmed in India as Japanese troops have laid a cordon around the Burmese border. Overall, this first year seems to have gone to the Japanese – and the typical American is fed up to the back teeth of it.
As the inhabitants of the Pacific enter the second year of war with Japan, we all wait for positive action from the American Navy.
