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ALASKA: U. S. VM FRONTIER
ALASKA sitting high on the globe, is a place of
great, potential military importance. Whether it is
best fitted for offense or defense is a secret closely
: keDtbv U. S. militarv leaders. But nrnhaWv nn man '
. ' can completely foresee the vast potentialities of Alas-
! ka as a defense Jbastion of the future. One' glance at -the
distance lines radiating from Fairbanks, however,
; will give even the novice an idea of Alaska's place in -
tne world of the future. As the range of bombers
increases and this occurs at an amazing oace- more- f Hawaiian is;
- vv anu mute vi uic wunu is uiawn imo uie AiaKil
is. , orbit.' Militarv vnprtn havp Ktatotf that Via Aav I
in sight when three-fifths of the world's land area
, t , and most of its metropolitan centers will be within.
- Alaska has served America well it may some day
i save it. " , . " ' it j
' , , The Territory is at the top of the world where -.
distances seem strangely drawn in, on the map.-This
map shows most of the northern hemisphere, looking
down UDon tne world irom a ooint directlv above th -
North pole. While this projection will appear strange
to most people it is a comparatively good picture of
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- the northern world and with relatively littl HiotiSr. '
. . ' tion above the equator. Compare the size of Greenland and the United States x.'.'Jti ths same
areas on the world map in this atlas. Alaska's true position in relation to the kr.i ari cf the;"
' world is best seen on' this, a polar projection. .. . ". , v!-
The Aleutians point like a dagger at Japan. Attu, the westernmost islar-i, h I'zt 2.CC0
.miles from Tokyo.1, By seizing ,the islands Japan could point the dagger tt l 3 hart of
1 America. Congress has belatedly appropriated millions to arm Alaska, but hew C.3 money .
. . is being spent, where the men, the guns and the planes are being dispersed ar.l Cj baes are
oeing wcatea is a secret wtucn tne japs would Uke to know. The reccrd-fcrtiLLts tme in
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which army engineers rushed to completion the new Alcan highway a military road of ines
timable importance attests the value placed upon Alaska by military authorities. It is possible .
that you may one day drive your car over this road to the shores of Bering strait and cross
by ferry to the vast Siberian wilderness of Russia. Only 56 miles of water separates Alaska
and Siberia at this point, and only 16 miles separate the .Russian-owned Big Diomede island
from the United States' Little Diomede island. Aside from the military importance of stra- 1
tegic Alaska it is hard to conceive what giant industrial empires the Soviets and the United
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