Evening star., 1925-06-07
GEN. HINES CLAIMS
HAWAIIAN GARRISON
INADEQUATE IN WAR
Troops and Aircraft Force
insufficient to Defend
Islands, He Declares.
BY the Associated Press.

Defense of the Hawaiian Islands
must be intrusted to an adequate mo-
bile force-troops and aircraft-and
the recent grand joint Army and Navy
maneuvers TO test that theory demon
strated that the present garrison is in
adequate in both respects. in the judg-
ment OF Maj. Gen. John l.. Hines. chief
Of staff and one OF the chief umpires
in the great war game.
A commander tot the Hawaiian
garrison) must not only have enough
troops to hold the essential positions
and to man his arma ment, but he must
have enough troops left to form an
adequate reserve" Gen. Hines said in
the first official explanation of the
joint maneuvers and their results to
be given out. "In this instance, the
commander could not do this, for his
force was not adequate for the task
assigned to it. He did all that he could
with the forces given him; he could
not do the impossible
In describing the operations and
strategic problem the commander on
each side had to face, Gen. Hines
pointed out that it would be difficult
to say what would have been the fate
of either landing operation on the Is
land of Oahu in actual war.
Considering the two cases on their
merits, ] am Of the opinion that the
landing on the west coast would prob
ably have failed in war, but that the
landing on the north coast might well
have succeeded" he said. There is no
doubt that highly trained, we'll led in
fantry can establish a beachhead once
the troops are ashore. The critical
period of landing operation is that
in which the landing troops are NOV
ing in boats from transports to beach. ;"
Objects OF Maneuvers.
Outlining the objects of the test ma.
reuvers and the plans of offense and
defense followed by the opposing com.
manders, Gen. Hines said:
THE grand joint exercise just con-
cluded in Hawaii was the biggest and
most interesting one ever held by our
Army and Navy. 1t had two principal
objects:
81. To test the project and plans
for the defense of Oahu, and
80. To train Army and Navy in joint
operations.
The following facts were assumed:
Il. That a state of war existed be-
tween Blue dhe United States) and
Black:
-. That the Hawaiian Islands were
a Black possession and were defended
by the existing armament the pres
ent naval district forces and a garri-
son of approximately $4,000 men; and
''3. That Blue was desirous of cap
turing Oahu, with the object of max
ing use of 1t as naval base.
THE Blue fleet, accompanied by an
eXpeditionary force of two divisions
of troops, was concentrated in San
Francisco and put to sea April Is.
Under the terms Of the problem the
transports accompanying the fleet
were not to be farther than 200 miles
from San Francisco at am, April
20. 1925, the hour and date when the
problem actually opened. The Black
or Hawaiian side was restricted to the
use of forces and means actually
available, whereas the Blue fleet had
two constructive divisions of troops,
represented by some 1900 marines
BLACK knew of the impending at
tack in ample time and estimated
that Blue would seize base on Lanai
one of the islands of the group, pre-
paratory to launching an attack
against Oahu itself Black was in a
difficult situation. No reinforcements
could be expected, and neither air
forces, subsurface nor. fast surface
vessels were available in sufficient
strength to permit Black to deny any
OF, the outlying islands to Blue.
''The arrangements made for de-
fense were, in general, admirable and
were efficiently carried out, the con-
duct of practically all forces engaged
being exemplary. Every one was on
Continued on Page IL, Column A.