O'hara's Choice - Leon Uris [119]
The United States has made it known she will annex the Hawaiian Islands. Does this not say that the United States has already drawn a line in the water at the international date line where Japan is to be stopped? . . .
The Japanese are already engaged in “peaceful” emigration to and setting up of colonies all over the Pacific, including Hawaii . . .
When one studies Japanese military potential, one must come to the conclusion that when Japan breaks out, she will encounter very feeble opposition in conquering everything from the international date line to 10° South latitude. Within that bag are Manchuria, Korea, the Chinese mainland, the Philippine Islands, the Dutch East Indies, French Indochina, Singapore, Burma, Thailand, and Cambodia . . .
No European power can match the Japanese in a land war in Asia. Japan will conquer without major losses. No combination of European sea powers will be able to go halfway around the world and defeat the growing Japanese naval power; not Germany, Holland, France, Portugal, Spain, or Russia . . .
Only Britain can stop a Japanese challenge to conquer Australia, India, and New Zealand.
That brings us to the evolution of a historical partnership unique in human history—that between England and the United States . . .
These two nations, without contentious borders, speak the same language, are driven by democratic ideologies, have a similar religious base, and share an integrated history and heritage. The United States and England have fought their last war against each other . . .
The recent naval protocol between America and England is a precursor to a power alignment that will dominate the world in the next century by recognition of each other’s spheres of vital national interest (particularly the isthmus) . . .
The Anglo-American alliance will be the only force that can defeat Japan in Asia and the Pacific . . .
Japan is aware of this condition. Therefore, watch Japan seize, without opposition, an array of Pacific Islands. The Solomons, the Gilberts, the Marshalls, the Marianas, by stealthy immigration and colonization, will be garrisoned and fortified, creating a Pacific ring of steel . . .
The United States and Japan will inevitably go to war over domination of the Pacific Ocean. It will be the greatest naval war ever engaged . . .
In order for the United States to defeat the Japanese empire, she must conquer this belt of fortified islands spread over thousands and thousands of square miles . . .
The basic Japanese doctrine will be a theory that the United States will not spend the blood and years needed to conquer these islands. Thus, the war will end in a stalemate with a Japanese empire intact . . .
During the intervening years of peace, the American military must be aware of these island fortresses and develop tactics to invade them from the sea in the future . . .
These tactics can be developed only by a Marine Corps working quietly on suitable islands away from prying eyes in the Caribbean, namely the Amnesty Islands . . .
What can be developed is an intimate coordination between the naval force and the landing force; meaningful joint maneuvers . . .
Unless the United States is willing to cede mainland Asia and the Pacific up to the international date line, we must enhance our understanding of amphibious warfare through a Marine Corps . . .
A lone fly broke the silence as it buzzed around near Fitz Donovan’s papers and suddenly the wall clock went boom, boom, boom. A worry they had all kept hidden was suddenly exposed. Whatever time in the future something like this could happen would be well beyond their watch and probably beyond their lifetime.
Yet the warning had been issued in the highest place, and peace in heaven would be ruined if the Americans were caught unawares.
Yet . . . how could this seem so predictable?
“Now, then,” Porter