Evening star., 1938-03-10
24-Hour War Mobilization
Of 375, 900 Planned by Army
But 1t Would Take About -Four Months
to- Put a Force of 100000 in the
Field-Arn,ing a SI0,v lob.

And how about equipment? There
admittedly is not enough equipment
on hand to arm fully the 375,o0o on
GERS and men Of the FIRST army" It
would, Army officers say, require $780,
100000 to equip this first army /eom-
pletely in every detail for battle serv-
ice. OF that s40O,0OO,OOO worth OF
equipment $3.50, 900 900 represents ma
terial which Is of non-commercial
character and which cannot be OBJ
tanned at once in the commercial
market.
Three Years to Arm.
The War Department, alive to the
importance of obtaining stores for
the use Of its emergency first army,
Is undertaking to accumulate these
military stores. At the present rate of
progress, even at the accelerated rate
OF the past year or two, however, at
least three years more will elapse
before the first army" OF 375,00O
men could be put into the field COM
pletely equipped for battle. The job,
Army officers say, could be done
within year under pressure from the
time funds were made available.
A start toward arming the first
army" however, has been made.
With an appropriation of $4,000, 900,
the War Department now is under
taking to provide such "non-commer-
cial" supplies as aircraft and the
tools, jigs and dies necessary to begin
the production Of machine guns, ar
tillery and other weapons
The industrial mobilization plan,
an elemental part of the Nations war
effort, has been advanced by the War
Department to the point of tooling
and training production personnel.
Tooling is the chief problem More
than 1000 special tools, jigs, dies and
gauges are required, for example, to
turn out machine gun. If these
tools are not available there will be
an inevitable time lag before produce
tion of guns can begin.
SS,000,00 Asked.
The War Department now is seek
ing to get tools. jigs and dies in the
hands Of the Army ready for issue
to production plants In case of emer-
gency. President Roosevelt has rec
commended that Congress appropriate
$6,000,oO0 especially for this purpose.
The War Department also is seek
ing to arrange for a system of SAM
pie" orders for limited numbers Of
machine guns. field guns to encourage
the "self-tooling" of industrial plants
and the training of craftsmen who
would be called upon to produce the
weapons In case Of emergency.
The first army" then. is available
but not yet fully equipped. On the
mobilization call this first army could
respond almost overnight. The Regu-
lar Army and Nationall Guard units
would assemble at once at posts and
armories with all available equipment
at hand preparatory to being assem-
bled into brigades and divisions.
Behind this first army is a second
army" built around the nucleus OF
the Organized Reserves. Reserve Off
GERS would be almost entirely in COM
mand of this second army, with only
leavening of regular officers. BY the
/ end Of four months approximately
l,250,000 officers and men would be
available under this plan.
War attrition of the first army
would have to be cared for by VOL
untary enlistments until a selective
service act or similar plan could be
put into effect.
Most National Guard outfits have
lists Of eligible reserves, most of them
trained or partially trained. who could
be called upon to bring the companies
up to strength or provide replace
ments, it was explained. The Regu-
lar Army, however, has no such list.
This is the only nation which de-
liberately wastes It's trained man pow
er," one high Army officer said. I'VE
keep no lists Of trained enlisted men
after they leave the service, as do
other countries. They just vanish"
(Copyrisht. 1898, by the North American
Newspaper Alliance. Inc)