Evening star., 1940-06-02
Ry John LEAR.

copyrisht, 1910. by the Associated Press
There is evidence in the files
Of the Federal Government that
a substantial part of the plans fo1
Adolf Hitler's blitzkrieg were "bor-
rowed' from the United States.
These plans would answer the
most interesting question of the
war in the Low Countries and in
France:
How have the Germans been able
to strike such repeated sledge-
hammer blows without serious in
terruption over so long a time?
For these plans are America s
plans for mobilization in event we
60 to war, and they gear up men
and machines and every other re-
source of the Nation to win war
as swiftly as possible.
The M-day plans are plans for
total war" They cover every con-
ceivable factor in preparation for
battle. Nothing approaching their
efficiency had been devised any
where in the world before the
organizing genius of the United
States began drawing them up 20
years ago.
. No treachery-not even clever
espionage-is responsible for the
fact that the Nazis were aware
of them.
The plans were available also
to the English and the French, who
did not borrow them.
Studied by Nazi Attache
I cannot name the source Of
the following information, but I
can vouch for the fact that it is
both official and reliable.
Cd Within a year after Hitler
came to power in Germany in 1888,
the Nazi military attache here be-
gan studying the American war
mobilization blueprints. The attache
had the right to do so under ordi-
nary diplomatic procedure. He
spent six months making his exam
lnation.
20 Not until year after he COM
pleted his study was the first of the
Nazis' national defense laws passed
on May 81, 1885.
t3) The war mobilization system
which took shape in Germany after
that was a striking parallel to the
American plan in all it's principal
characteristics. Agents from this
country, working in Germany, de-
scribed it as conscientious imita-
ton"
t4 The similarity was sharply
illustrated in the Nazis' very first
conquest-the "anschluss" with Aus
tria. Immediately after occupying
Vienna. the Germans made a census
of Austrian industries and allo-
Gated their respective share in sup
plying war needs-in identically the
same way as the same step is out
lined under the American plan.
Resources Concentrated.
90 Then came the invasion of
the Low Countries, and the repeated
overpowering blows against the
<hihCS "ll1Iii lllillUdI Ilcil agree CdIl
be explained only by highly concen-
trated resources poured into the
fighting front through ultra efficient
lines of communication.
This method of winding up" for
a "haymaker" punch and following
through with all the strength the
nation can muster is the very es-
sence Of the American mobilization
scheme. 1t starts by teaming up
all the factories where munitions
and machines are made, integrating
the roads and railroads over which
they must travel, allocating fuel
and electric power to vital points
and keeping men flowing up to the
front while putting those behind
the lines into jobs where they will do
the most good All war plans must
follow this pattern, but this one
operates on an exact timetable from
start to finish.
The first question that came to
mind when I first received this in
formation was: Can this plan make
that much difference in a land al
ready highly organized by a dicta-
torial government?
Greater Striking Power.
The answer given to me was that
Italy and Russia have authoritarian