re: #118 John Hughes

So, what’s the alternative?

A land war in Asia?

Not just *a* land war in Asia, but *the* land war in Asia.

In the middle of the fucking second World War!

How well is that going to go?

Part of it as well is that the logistics for pushing supplies into China were all awful by 1942.
1. Burma Road cut by the Japanese.
2. Via Cochin China/Vietnam cut by Japanese in 1940 when they occupied French Indo-China.
3. Chinese coastal ports occupied by Japan from 1936-1940.
4. Ledo Road eventually built. But took time and was an awful route.
5. Flying materials over “The Hump”. Which included the plane having to carry enough fuel to get back. (The attempted B-29 campaign from China previous to the Allies capturing the Mariana Islands in 1944 was a logistical nightmare.)

While China was tying down a lot of the Japanese Army the truth is that logistics and supplies being used elsewhere was probably more efficient.

And as an alternative to invading the Philippines there were advocates in the US Navy who wanted to invade Formosa (Taiwan) and try to liberate part of coastal China as well.