Arctic Defenses

Archive Report

Strategic Importance of Arctic Regions

Continuing advances in the development of extremely long-range aircraft have convinced the armed forces of the importance of immediately building on the experience gained in World War II to increase their knowledge of Arctic and sub-Arctic1 fighting conditions. Just as the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans have ceased to be effective obstacles to an attack upon the United States, so today the continent's northern approaches no longer “can be considered as guarded by ice, snow, and bad-weather barriers … [because] modern aircraft are becoming increasingly independent of such conditions.”2

Feasibility of Air Attacks Via Short Polar Routes

Gen. H. H. Arnold, former commanding general of the Army Air Forces, said on July 5 that polar defense would be the top problem confronting the ...

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