Evening star., 1940-06-16
War Shows Need
For Conseription
In i. s., Palmer Says
Returning Newsmon
Urges Immediate Stort
On Army Of 1000, 900
BY COL. FREDERICK PALMER.

After having been under censorship
for four months in Europe, there are
certain lessons, as result of what
saw at sea with the British Navy
and saw in Northwestern France,
which I should now like to bring
home to my own country. We should
have universal military service at
once and prepare an Army of g.
10000 men.
The Allies are aware of the sig
nificance of the lessons as we can
not be 5000 miles from the scene
and not actually in the war.
There is no preparing an Army in
hurry for the swift processes of
modern war, after the war has be-
gun. Conscription of man power for
combat service is then too late. In
spite of planes, tanks, anti-aircraft
guns and all the complexity of mod
ern mechanism, it is still the fighting
skill and spirit of the soldier and
sailor which count.
In example are the British Navy
and Army. In the navy you have
the symphonic orchestration of mu-
sicians who have long played to-
gether. Discipline seems literally in
bred. There is unity from the bridge
through all the crew. Ready for war
at the outset, the navy had eight
months of war duty to prepare it for
the marvellous protection of the
evacuation of Dunkerque in defiance
OF the German bombers.
COnscription Was Too Late.
Conscription came too late in Brit
ain. Glass after class was rapidly
called up instead of year after year,
for year or two years of training
in peacetime. Officers had to be
schooled in a hurry Stats had to
be trained in hurry, And army
'staffs direct in battle urgency the
coordination Of all the units from
food supply to the harmonious ac-
ton of every component on foot,
on wheels or in the air One staff
mistake can lose a battle.
To make army stats from divi-
sion to corps in hurry is equiv
alent to forming university faculty
on short notice by reaching out
into the lay world for men who
have some scholastic attainments,
or building the personnel of great
industrial plant out of scattered
men who have some mechanical
knowledge.
The point is not that the Briton
In courage and all-around qualities
is not the equal, man to man, to
the German. His stubbornness was
never surpassed in his recent re-
sistance in Flanders. The point is
that in the course of making big
army in a hurry, the B. E. F. in
France spent the winter in digging
in, preparing always for the defen-
sive.
French at Disadvantage.
However, the French had con-
script peacetime army with thor
oughly trained staffs. Otherwise
Hitler would have conquered France
before this was written. 1t isn't
that the Frenchman is not a soldier
equal, man to man, to the German.
He is more supple, with livelier
professional soldier intelligence in
adapting himself to any situation.
The point is that France, in the
face of the vastly superior numbers
of the ancient enemy, was COM
mitted to a defensive policy behind
the Maginot Line until such time,
at least, as the British should have
a big supporting army in France.
France had to await blow instead
>f -%r,fx ~
months the French soldier who is
naturally an offensive soldier, was
held in a defensive mood.
Meanwhile, day after day, in robot
precision for long hours which the
German soldier will endure, Hit
ler's hordes were being drilled, each
unit for its part, in conquerlng
offensive spirit. according to plan.
Sacrifice of robot lives was incl
dental in gaining an objective.
The Germans sent in obsolete
planes to drop as many bombs as
they could until expended in max
ing a barrage ahead of the tanks,
the artillery barrage and the ad-
vancing infantry. So the French
. Army, after the Flanders disaster,
was forced to open warfare and re-
treat when even the defensive could
not succeed without counterattacks.
The old maxim that the defensive
alone cannot win war still applies.
Two Million Needed.
Through the ordeal of recent
weeks, Gen. Pershing has often been
in my mind. No man better knew
the meaning of making an army in
a hurry. He fortified the natural
offensive spirit of the American SOL
dier with hardened skill.
Fortunately the Allied trench line
protected Pershing's drill ground in
France. After initial training, he
put divisions into quiet trenches,
then into active and still more &C
tive trenches. 1t was eight to 10
months before his pioneer divisions
satisfied him that they were shock
combat divisions.
We talk of an army Of a million
men. That is a small army for
these days. Make 1t two million
and universal service Immediately.
Train the men thoroughly, have the
officers and staffs ready, so they
will not have to stop to read text
book, but know just what they have
to do and how to do it when the
word is given and minutes count
In case of war we are not going
to sit and wait for the blows to
: come. This has not been our way
For example, suppose Mexico asks
for help or Canada is in danger
That would call for an expeditionary
force.
should like to see the experiment
tried of transporting two divisions