Urgency in the Aleutians

As the Lightnings steadied for their runs they could see the great black rock that is Kiska. The Lightnings struck at the rock, and on top of the rock, as they flashed across, the pilots saw a swarm of men working--blasting, scraping, cracking stones. When the pilots pressed the buttons of their guns, and the tracers hurtled down and ricocheted off the rock, the men did not even hunt for cover on the coverless place; they just went on working.

Thus did the U.S. Army find the Japanese at work building an air strip in the Aleutians. Until recently the Japanese had depended on floatplane Zeros. Now they were apparently trying to bring in their best fighters, to defend--or perhaps offend --against the growing air strength of the U.S. in the Aleutians.

The work, as the taut indifference of the strip-builders indicated, was urgent. How urgent was further pointed up this week by a Navy announcement that U.S. naval vessels had intercepted two escorted cargo ships headed for the Aleutians. The two merchantmen were not particularly significant. Their escort was. It consisted of no less than four cruisers and four destroyers. Such an inordinately heavy shield suggested that the Japs wanted to be sure those ships got through.

Light U.S. forces engaged the convoy, which skittishly turned and fled. It was a safe bet that during the next heavy fog the Japs would be back.

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