Evening star., 1939-08-27

of the National Guard divisions of the
District of Columbia and the Atlantic
seaboard States and is finding them
good, but in need Of additional personnel,
equipment and training before they can
achieve their intended status as an "ini-
tial protective force"
More than $4,000 officers and men OF
the National Guard and Regular Army,
constituting the whole of the peace
time 1st Army, have been called into
the field for two-way battle exercises
Stimulating the defense of the Eastern
United States against an enemy inva-
sion from the Atlantic.
Seventeen thousand National Guards
men of the 28th and 29th Divisions
the former wholly from Pennsylvania;
the latter from the District, Maryland,
Virginia and Pennsylvania-and nearly
1000 Regular Army troops have con-
cluded in nearby Virginia the opening
phase Of defense problem involving the
northern half of the Atlantic seaboard.
The second and larger phase, involv-
ing more than $4,000 Guardsmen and
Regulars, has just ended at Plattsburg,
N. Y. For sheer realism and effectiveness
OF training, especially the training of the
higher commands of both Guard and
Regular services, there have been few, if
any, similar exercises held in the United
States to compare with those in Virginia
and New York
The entire 1st Army has been COM
manded in these maneuvers by It. Gen
Hugh S. Drum, and it is the first field
army actually organized under a single
command in the United States since the
Civil War.
Umpiring Is Resort.
Obviously, the lack of bullets and shells
INTRODUCES false element into the exer-
cises, but this is unavoidable, naturally,
since it is certain that no exercise can
duplicate the effects of actual warfare,
not even the most meticulous re-enact-
ment of an actual battle, since the effects
Of changes of morale and combat
strength under actual fire cannot be
reproduced.
To compensate for the lack of fire
and its effects upon the troops, it has
been necessary to resort to umpiring.
The umpires, however, have undertaken
to carry on their work in a manner
which will not interfere with the judg-
or their commanders, from non-com-
missioned officers on up. If a company
commander makes a tactical error, for
example, his error has not been: corrected
but has been noted and its probable
effect upon the tactical situation evalu-
ated. If the enemy has been able to
detect the error and turn it to his
do So
The results of this freedom of choice
on the part of commanders have been
evident throughout the course of the
maneuvers. There have been encourag-
ing displays of individual initiative on
the part of subordinate commanders in
meeting tactical emergencies. The higher
commands have been given an oppor-
tunity to work out tactical theories, some
of which have proved sound and will
be the subject of further development.
1t is because the commanders have been
free to create these surprise situations
and to exploit to the fullest the tactical
fortunes coming their way that the pres
ent maneuvers are successful as training
exercises
Games Have Other Values.
The exercises, however, are of far more
value than the mere tactical training
they afford. The purposes of the ma
neuyers, as outlined by the War De-
partment, are to train the zone of the
interior in mobilization, dispatch of
forces to the theater of operations, sup
ply of troops in the theater of opera
tions, organization of concentration
areas and zone of interior disqualification
and rehabilitation and to train the corps
in concentrating in the theater of op-
erations, supply in the field and field
exercises for the training of divisions
and corps from the viewpoint of tactical
and logistical methods.
Even more valuable, however, in the
light of efforts to build up and equip the
United States Army so that it truly can
function as an initial protective force,
have been the results of some of the exer-
exercises, had the choice of assuming
that he commanded a field army built
up to actual war strength and equipped
with the full quota of modern armament
in accordance with mobilization plans, or
of using exactly what troops and arms
he had He rejected the first plan in the
face of the recommendations of strong
group of his advisers, on the ground that
such an assumption would create an un-
real approach which might mislead the
public as to the real state of our defenses
and which probably would destroy much
OF the value of the maneuvers for the
participating officers and men,
Il have deemed it BETTER" Gen. Drum
said, ito be realistic and have a more
practical approach by directing that the
Army enter these exercises exactly as it
stands in peace-under situation where
an emergency has come upon us sud-
denly as it may-where we have been
called into the field for active operations
without delay. This is the basis of the
War Department initial protective force
plan.
This is real-such a conception must
bring home to us some of the actualities
and chose Molototf to inaugurate more
nationalistic policy.
Like Wilhelm I and Prince Bismarck,
der Fuehrer and Won Ribbentrop have led
Germany through series of brilliant
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