14-J-1

ゴムは南洋の特産物

Rubber is a specialty product of the South Seas.

村野吉三郎大将に聞くると、日本が強剛無比にして不撓不屈の戦力を今日および明日乃至明後日に持ちつづけ得られるのも、ツマリは、旧蘭印の石油やその他の重要軍資材を押へたからである。

When asked, Admiral Murano Kichisaburō stated that Japan's ability to maintain its formidable, unyielding, and indomitable military strength today, tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow ultimately stems from its control over oil and other vital military supplies from the former Dutch East Indies.

したがって戦時日本としては、あそこはもはや南方の果てではなくして、大切な心臓部だからね。その心臓をやられたら、日本本土空襲どころの騒ぎか、忽ち呼吸の根がとまってしまう。その大切な心臓部

Therefore, for wartime Japan, that place is no longer the southernmost frontier—it's the vital heartland. If that heart is struck, it won't just be a matter of air raids on the Japanese mainland; the very breath of life would cease instantly. That vital heartland

（大日本青年　昭和十八年十二月号）

Great Japan Youth (December 1943 Issue)