Evening star., 1938-03-10

COHtIy J" IupSU HtOOHtSuttOU " It's
armed forces. Here in series of
tpo articles, OF Uhtch this is the
first. Is told what the War Depart
n,ent Is doing to meet an emergency.
BY JOSEPH S. EDGERTON.
Should the United States be plunged
into war tomorrow what would hap
pen in response to the Presidents
mobilization orders?
How many soldiers could the Ma
ton put into the field within "a
hours? How many could be thrown
against an invading enemy at the
end Of 30 days? How long would it
take to raise an army of l,000,0
men?
How many men can be supplied
and equipped for the field. and how
long can they be maintained with
existing supplies? Where will re-
placements for decimated shock regi-
ments come from while the Nation is
raising its second and third line
armies?
In other words, just how substan-
tial a machine Is this national de-
fense mechanism upon which our
people must rely in case of emergency?
The story of mobilization is one
which chiefly concerns the Army.
The Navy always stands mobili1ed.
ready to put to sea at once. Its
mobilization effort would be devoted
largely at first to adding SUFFICIENT
personnel to round out battle crews
and provide requirements and later
to man new vessels after the yards got
into production.
Only . Nucleus.
With the Army, however q differ
ent picture presents itself. Except
for the general headquarters air force,
which stands in somewhat the same
position as the Navy, the Army is
only nucleus. American tradition
opposes large standing Army. This
country always has relied on citizen
soldiers modified after the outbreak
of hostilities.
But past experience has not been
happy. The Revolutionary War, the
War Of 1912 and the Civil War provide
discouraging pictures Of unsuccess-
full. expensive, inefficient and unfair
methods of providing men for service
in war. Volunteer methods. encour-
aged by bounties, proved dangerous.
The draft and substitute method was
found to be full of pitfalls. Reduc-
ton of morale at home and in the
field resulted from both volunteer and
draft methods.
The World War system provided an
efficient means for procuring citizen
soldiers in lalrge numbers and will
form the basis for all future large
scale mobilization efforts. But how
about the immediate emergency, be-
fore such a plan could be put into
full operation and begin turning out
trained, armed men?
First Army Is 375,0OO.
"M-day," the day Of mobilization!
Whate happens?
Under the present plans of the War
Department the first army in the
field will be composed of the Regular
Army and the National Guard. 1t
will number in all approximately
375 900 officers and men and theoreti-
cally should be able to take the field
at once. within a. hours.
Here, then, IS the Nations immedi-
ate striking force In event of "over-
night" emergency-its first line of
ground defense. But is it "24-hour"
force? The Regular Army probably
could place It's combat forces in the
field at once, given only the time
necessary to rally them from scat
tered posts. But the National Guard.
it is admitted, is not so well equipped
and not 50 well trained IS the Regular
Army and should have . few days
Of training before being used IN the
battle line. at a minimum.