Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-11-17
U. S.. Urged
To Face Job
And Do It
Exhorted to Ioaueurote
Doom Of Hitler
BY HUGH S.. JOHNSON

bE1OmEo Nicdlti cNCiy
day that, if Hitler and
nazism are to be destroyed. we
are the ones who are going TO
have TO do il. If we are going to
do the job, we should face it for
what it is. To destroy Hitlerism,
we must destroy or cause the
destruction of the German
army. How may we do this?
The traditional method is to
put our army in the field and
by direct action to destroy the
enemy's army. This is plain old
war.
Another method is so to
starve the enemy's economic
system that it is incapable of
supporting its army in the field.
This is economic warfare.
A third method is boring
from within" the enemy's eco
nomic and military system. by
the use of propaganda and SUBJ
versive organizations, until it
collapses. This is fifth Column
warfare. y
A fourth method is "all-out"
bombing Of the enemy's civilian
population and economic nerve
centers. This is aerial warfare.
TOTAL war contemplates the
Il co-ordinated and timely use
OF all of these methods. Since
we are frankly preparing for
fetal war, we should frankly
examine our chances of success
in prosecuting each of these
methods.
To put an American army
into the field at a time and
| place that it could reasonably
be expected to defeat the Ger
man army constitutes a stupen-
dous feat. To maintain and sup
ply such an army at the dis
tances il would have To operate
from any practicable base ap-
proaches the realm of Buck
Rogers and Superman.
Yet. this we must do. il other
methods fail What are their
chances of success?
If the German army DESTROYS
the Russian army, we may very
well find ii in control of Arch
angel. Gibraltar, Suez. Basra,
and Vichy Africa. An attempt to
besiege and starve out a power
holding all these cards might
well prove TO be a case of the
besieger besieged.
WILL the fifth column of the
w victims of Hitler's conquests
blow Germany up from within ?
Over-extension OF the German
army is an encouraging factor.
But, the number of troops
that would be freed by the de-
struction of the Russian army
and the ruthless methods OF
mass civilian murder which Hit
Ter has used to suppress I'll re-
volts IN date are hiChl = X{tCotr.
aging.
Certainly. nothing which can
be done 10 aid and abet such a
blow-up should be left undone
but, just as certainly, we must
not and cannot rely on this.
There is absolutely nothing in
the history of aerial bombing
TO date 10 warrant any one in
believing that Germany can be
reduced by this means alone.
/ AM very much afraid that
L. after we havs given all pos
sible aid TO all pAssible allies, -
after we have exhausted every
possible means of ecpnomic war
fare, after we have done every
thing possible TO abet the
internal explosion of Germany,
after we have rajned every pos
sible bomb on the heads of the
German people. our army must
some Gay. somewhere. somehow
meet the German army in the
field and destroy il.
If this is what we must do.
there is very little in our pres
ent organization for so-called
defense" or in its plans. policies
or actions TO indicate that we
are going about il in any way
which presages success. We all
must face this job now and
do il.
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