December 1943: The Pacific War – Assessments
The fighting in Europe spread to a new battleground in December as German and Soviet forces entered the newly belligerent country of Romania from the north and south, respectively, attempting to establish position. Trying to fend off a sudden offensive from the rear, German and Hungarian forces attempted to push inward from Bessarbia and Banat. The Soviets poured troops into Romania to protect its new ally and threaten the German army in the Ukraine, with thirteen divisions arriving in the first weeks to battle with the Hungarians. Another forty-five divisions were in Varna. As winter descended, however, the battle lines in Europe remained static.
Europe – December 1943
In Asia, Japanese forces reached Bangladesh in their attempts to cut off Commonwealth forces at Imphal. Strong counterattacks from Calcutta and from the north prevented a decisive victory, however, and South African armored units were able to link up with the embattled divisions in eastern India. Australian troops counterattacked and drove the Japanese out of Broome and Darwin, only to suffer defeat to the east, as Japanese forces captured Charter Towers. Their columns were now dangerously close to Brisbane and the vital east coast of the continent, where most of Australia’s economic potential lay.
The Pacific – December 1943
U.S. forces completed their redeployment of forces to strengthen home coastal defenses. With the Saratoga suffering damage from a torpedo hit off the Aleutians and laid up in drydock, there were now five operational carriers in the Pacific, two – Hornet and Lexington at Pearl Harbor – and three – Enterprise, Ranger, and Yorktown at San Diego. Japanese landings at Midway, Johnston, and Palmyra, in the meantime, were being continuously thrown back with heavy enemy losses. Newly appointed Navy Chief of Staff Admiral Cook confidently reported to the administration that enemy losses would possibly permit a return to offensive operations by spring 1944, pending the deployment of new divisions and ships to free up more resources for the Pacific Fleet. The overall Chief of Staff, General Frank Andrews, rejected requests to weaken the Home Fleet. Admiral Cook was told to wait for new ships to be completed before he could expect reinforcements.
As the year ended, ushering in the presidential election season, the major political parties began posturing for the coming election. The Democrats were quick to begin trying to capitalize on the lengthening Pacific War, with its lack of military success and especially the recent Japanese attack on Los Angeles. Accusing the Lindbergh Administration of ”gross inadequacies in preparation”, newspapers sympathetic to the Democratic Party began a campaign of criticism against the Republicans and Lindbergh for ”only recognizing the need for due vigilance after the violation has occurred,” one Pennsylvania paper charged. Not even acknowledging the existence of the National Party, the Democrats were focusing on the President himself. They called him everything from ”another Landon” to a ”secret friend of Germany”. Some Democrats even hinted that the poor U.S. performance in the Pacific was designed to ”take it easy on the fascist Japs.”
A few names were being bandied around as possible candidates, though no one knew who the firm candidates were. There were long-shot candidates such as “Jumpin’ Joe” Ferguson of Ohio, state auditor and popular home-state rival to Robert Taft. Cordell Hull, the prominent Senator from Tennessee was another possibility. A few Democrats dreamed of bringing former President Roosevelt back for another run at the White House, but it was whispered in high circles that he was not in a condition for a hard campaign against a wartime President. There was also a rumored to be a candidacy by the Southern leader in the Senate, Richard B. Russell of Georgia. Governor Earl Warren of California, whose state had suddenly acquired such prominence, was also mentioned.
The Republicans had decided early on that an electoral alliance with the Nationals in 1944 was incompatible with party strength. With Lindbergh suffering the first political jolts of his term due to international troubles, the party saw an opportunity to break the Nationals and their incumbent president. Republican leaders, however, still faced the key decision they had had to make in 1940, namely, would they support an interventionist or isolationist position with regards to the raging conflicts. There was a strong vocal minority in the party that voiced the opinion that the war in the Pacific was going nowhere. ”Having acquired itself a majority position in the affairs of the Americas, the United States can ill afford to be neglecting its paternal duties by fighting overseas on distant shores in a war that has been unwinnable for two years.” Braver Republican pundits were starting to call the Pacific a ”repeat of Mexico”. Whether this meant more aggressiveness or an early settlement was not yet decided, though there were many prominent candidates on both sides. Thomas Dewey, elected Governor of New York earlier that year, looked to be making another attempt for the nomination. There was also mention of Harold Stassen, Governor of Minnesota, who had recently decided against resigning and joining the Navy, choosing instead to further his political ambitions, possibly at the highest level. The isolationist school would likely be represented again by Robert Taft of Ohio. Another rumored candidacy was that of Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. of Massachusetts.
The Lindbergh Administration continued trumpet its swift action on the home defense issue. With the strong Hearst media empire behind them, the government was able to continuously push its position that every necessary step was being taken and that President Lindbergh, the man who had brought victory in Mexico in 1941, was the man who would ultimately bring victory in the Pacific. With the Republicans looking to run a candidate of their own, Hearst newspapers began gleefully going on the offensive, reminding potential voters that ”this is the same party that wanted to abandon the fight in Mexico at the moment of our triumph.” The Democrats came in for even more scorn, ”the party of me-toos and as-wells” and a party ”that still wished to waste our resources across the Atlantic in a war that does not involve this country.” With Lindbergh as the obvious candidate for the Nationals, the only real decision would be for his Vice-President and the legislative races. With the alliance with the Republicans now over, all bets were off and the National Party planned to contest as many Congressional and Senatorial races as possible in 1944. In an editorial of December 20th, the San Francisco Examiner, the Heart flagship paper in the city, called for ”a more thorough investigation into the leftist tendencies of this state’s longshoremen unions.” The paper went on to call for a reinstatement of the special House investigating committee on Un-American Activities, which had been allowed to lapse in 1939 through the influence of President Landon.
Whoever the President would be in 1944, he would have to contest with more crisis in the Western Hemisphere, as Colombian and Venezuelan troops clashed along their border in inconclusive engagements that favored neither side. Ominous reports of Brazilian troop movements were heard as U.S. mediation attempts continued to be ignored by both combatants. Tensions were spreading in the continent. Peru and Ecuador, two countries which had waged a border war in 1941, were threatening to resume their incessant conflict. Bickering over a disputed region near the Río Marañón in the Amazon Basin, Ecuador had came off worse in the border war, particularly as Peru had made us of paratroopers. The Protocol of February 1942 was an ineffectuve settlement, however, and Ecuador especially looked forward to a resumption of the conflict and assertion of its claim to the territory. In late December, the Argentina government issued a note expressing its dismay at Chile’s election of Radical President Juan Antonio Rios Morales the previous year. Argentina’s own government, which was far more rightist, had seen the recent shift of power with the resignation of President Pedro Ramirez and his replacement with Edelmirro Farrell. Farrell, who shared real power with his Minister of Labour and Welfare, Juan Peron, was clearly being opportunist with the United States so completely distracted by overseas conflict. The removal of U.S. oversight from South America was lifting the lid on old turmoil in the region.
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