The greatest tribute which can be paid to the courage and fighting ability of these splendid soldiers in Italy is to point out that although their strength is about equal to that of the Germans they oppose, the Allies have been continuously on the offensive. That pressure, that offensive, by our troops in Italy will continue. The American people--and every soldier now fighting in the Apennines--should remember that the Italian front has not lost any of the importance which it had in the days when it was the only Allied front in Europe. In the Pacific during the past year, we have conducted the fastest-moving offensive in the history of modern warfare. We have driven the enemy back more than 3,000 miles across the Central Pacific. A year ago, our conquest of Tarawa was a little more than a month old. A year ago, we were preparing for our invasion of Kwajalein, the second of our great strides across the Central Pacific to the Philippines. A year ago, General MacArthur was still fighting in New Guinea almost 1,500 miles from his present position in the Philippine Islands. We now have firmly established bases in the Mariana Islands, from which our Super fortresses bomb Tokyo itself--and will continue to blast Japan in ever-increasing numbers. Japanese forces in the Philippines have been cut in two. There is still hard fighting ahead--costly fighting. But the liberation of the Philippines will mean that Japan has been largely cut off from her conquests in the East Indies. The landing of our troops on Leyte was the largest amphibious operation thus far conducted in the Pacific. Moreover, these landings drew the Japanese Fleet into the first great sea battle which Japan has risked in almost two years. Not since the night engagements around Guadalcanal in November-December, 1942, had our Navy been able to come to grips with major units of the Japanese Fleet. We had brushed against their fleet in the first battle of the Philippine Sea in June, 1944, but not until last October were we able really to engage a major portion of the Japanese Navy in actual combat. The naval engagement which raged for three days was the heaviest blow ever struck against Japanese sea power. As a result of that battle, much of what is left of the Japanese Fleet has been driven behind the screen of islands that separates the Yellow Sea, the China Sea, and the Sea of Japan from the Pacific. Our Navy looks forward to any opportunity which the lords of the Japanese Navy will give us to fight them again. The people of this Nation have a right to be proud of the courage and fighting ability of the men in the armed forces--on all fronts. They also have a right to be proud of American leadership which has guided their sons into battle. The history of the generalship of this war has been a history of teamwork and cooperation, of skill and daring. Let me give you one example out of last year's operations in the Pacific.