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                         -2-
 
in the hands of our own troops in order to make available those
badly needed weapons to your forces.
     In order to tide over until ground routes are complete from
India to China, American pilots are now flying a total of thirty-
four transport airplanes fourteen thousand miles for use on the 
air freight route into China. We are extremely short of air 
transports at this time, but are making them available at the
expense of our own forces, and in spite of acute shortages all along
the world-wide battle front.   We are planning to provide
approximately one hundred such planes when facilities are adequately
prepared for their operation.   We have withdrawn pursuit airplanes
from our own defenses for dispatch to China.
     Prior to our entry into the War, a number of Missions were 
established in Washington by democratic governments all over the
world which had entered into Lend-Lease agreements with us.   To
meet the requisitions presented by these missions, the production
capacity of the United States then converted to war purposes was 
taxed to the limit, and we retained for our own use only merger
training allotments.   On December 7, we were at war.   We were
immediately obliged to dispatch munitions to our own forces in
active theatres and to begin equipping our own forces to ready
them for the enormous battles that must come.   This created a 
sudden and new requirement for essential munitions and compelled
us in certain instances to secure equipment manufactured in Great
 
 
 
 
 
                              DECLASSIFIED
                         By Deputy Archivist of the U.S.
                         By W. J. Stewart    Date Feb 2 1972
 
 
 
 
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