Evening star., 1937-03-28

H. .'1 - -
in the World War AS much as Ger
many relied on the U-boats, and as
deadly as they proved in attacking
merchant ships, the German Navy
had not provided itself with nearly as
many as it hurriedly constructed
after it determined upon the use tc
which they were put. No nation was
well equipped with either deStroyers
or submarines when German forces
invaded Belgium.
If called upon to be prepared in
another war, the experience of 20
years ago would find all nations bet
ter equipped in the smaller craft, de-
pending more upon speed and quick
action than upon great guns or
dreadnaughts, important as experts
regard them. Indeed, one lesson OF
the last war, after the battle of Jut-
land, was that dreadnaughts had
proved a liability in a war of the
character of that struggle. Nearly all
dreadnaughts Of the British Navy
were locked up in Scapa Flow, re-
quiring that threescore destroyers,
sorely needed to fight U-boats, be as
signed to duty as protectors.
Twenty years ago, in the early
stages of the war. the European mill
tary strategists believed it not feasible
to lock up the hornets in thei- nests, "
to quote President Wilson U-boats
left Germany and had comparatively
easy access to the Atlantic Ocean,
where they played havoc with mer-
chant ships and sank a few trans
ports.
Suggested U-Boat Barricade.
President Wilson and the American
Navy officials. in the early Summer
of 1917. suggested that mine bar
rage across the North Sea should be
constructed to prevent the emergence
of U-boats from German ports, and
also the construction of like mine
barrages in the Adriatic and other
seas. That construction, done be-
latedly, proved that if mine barrages
had been laid down in 1914 the whole
sale destruction of merchant shipping
would have been greatly lessened.
With our entrance into the war in
1917, the Army and Navy found them
selves short particularly of the re-
quired number of trained officers. To-
day both arms of the service are better
equipped in that and other essentials
However they then had men of initia-
tive and ability, who provided these
needs more rapidly than either Ger
many or the allied nations deemed
possible.
In remarkably short time a quar-
ter million armed men, escaping the
vigilance of submarines, were landed
every month in France in time to end
the war a year before any European
general or admiral or statesman be-
lieved it could be achieved. The
Nays ferry kept the route over the
Atlantic open and safe to France and
the Army provided the preponderance
of brave soldiers whose valor turned
the tide and made victory of the
allies possible With the lessons
learned in the last war. and the en-
ployment of weapons devised in re-
cent years, the Army and Navy could
again, and more quickly, repeat the
great contribution to victory 20 years
ago.
In response to your request, have
thus given some expression of my view
as to "how war today would or could
be handled differently from the way it
was handled by the Army and Navy
20 years ago" In that war, perforce,
we followed in large part measures
already adopted by the allies and did
not have the opportunity to plan our
own strategy. It is quite certain that
in some respects We would have plan
ned differently if we had been in at
the beginning.
Need for Supreme Command.
For example. Immediately we would
have had a supreme command, as we
favored when Gen. Foch was placed
in direction Of all allied armies. We
would Immediately, upon the declara-
tion OF war, have laid mine barrages
across the North Sea and other bodies
of water 50 that U-boats could not
have reached the open seas. We would
have given early sufficient arms and
ammunition to Russia to prevent its
collapse. We would not have thought
war could be won by starving out the
civilian population of, enemy nations.
One thing is certain: Wilson would
not have favored entering the war If
he had not sincerely and fully believed
that he was entering "War against
war" It was incomparably his great
object to secure a league tina. would
prevent future wars. It was this high
vision that caused him, with deep dis
tress, to counsel war and that carried
him to Paris. II the goal of an end Of
wars had not beckoned him t" war
against war, Wilson would never have
counseled entry into the World War.
The same yearning caused his coun-
trymen to go with him.
The depressing awakening from that
dream hastened his dea for he died
Of a broken heart, the great casualty
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