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northern end of the Japanese base. From here on the islands lie in unbroken sequence to Formosa. An island offers many advantages for an air station. It is easy to defend on the ground, easy to organize aeronautically and easy to operate from. Its disadvantage is that it is easy to find, easy to bombard from the air, and very concentrated, which makes it difficult to distribute the air unite over a sufficient area to minimize air bombardment attack. 
Any advance along the northern line by either Japan or the United States against the other can neither be flanked nor taken in reverse. An advance by the northern line on the part of Japan would completely turn the position of the Hawaiian Islands for instance. On the other hand, an advance on the part of the United States against Japan by the northern line, would completely turn the position of the Bonin islands. In both cases the line of communications would be shortened about twenty-five per cent. Turning from the south and preceeding west from Honolulu, the first land that we encounter is Wake Island, a distance of 1700 miles. This is owned by the United States. Three hundred miles south of Wake Island, the northern