Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-04-24
By HUGH =. JOHNSON

Il III aNtAui liliiiNhis 'utocAA'-
l. phe of Greece and the Bal
kans and the growing menace in
the Mediterranean should be no
occasion for blaming Winston
Churchill. General Wavell or any
other English authority for their
use of British troops to support
the Serbs and the Greeks.
There is still such a thing as
national honor. After encourage
ing these small nations to resist
overwhelming enemy arma-
mcnt. il would have been a black
betrayal not To come to their
aid with everything in the Brit
ish arsenal, even at the risk of
what has happened and what
from the beginning seemed in
evitable TO all well-informed OBJ
servers.
1t is a catastrophe, but it is
not of itself a British defeat. 1t
would not necessarily be Brit
iSh defeat if the whole Mediter-
ranean area were blocked out
by plugging up both ends at
Gibraltar and SueZ.
II would be a terrible disaster
TO British arms and economy,
but the lifeline of the empire"
has long been looped around the
southern tip of Africa-ever
since the Mediterranean route
became unsafe for commerce.
That adds 5000 miles TO the voy-
age and uses up a vast tonnage
of precious cargo-carrying ca
pacity, but it is not necessarily
defeat.
NO, IF THE blame for what
~ has happened must be as
SeSsed, we must go far back of
the decision to support Greece.
A much graver error was the
decision to encourage Poland TO
resist on promise of British
and French assistance when the
latter two countries were no.
able to defend themselves. much
less TO defend Poland by so
much as an ounce of military
effort.
That decision turned Hitler's
threat from East to West made
an ally for him out of Russia.
which would otherwise have
been an enemy, and thus de-
81, hfI
eventually nearly all the small
nations of Europe. which were
unthriftily encouraged TO resist
when they were utterly UMPIRE
pared to do so.
Over and over again through
the last six years this column
has repeated:
"To send men equipped only
with World War arm ment
against modern armOred, mechan-
lied. motorized equipment is al
most as futile. cruel and hopeless
as to send naked bow-and-arrOw
savages in canoes out to fight a
modern battleship."
The old military aXioms do not
change. A nation such as Ger
many. in a central position, even
if il does have TO fight on two
fronts. has a tremendous advan-
tage from its interior lines. even
against overwhelming Seapower,
over a nation which can only at
tack over long. circultous and
dangerous thanking routes-such
as the English attempt TO create
a new front in the Balkans.
4 MOTHER military principle,
"A proved by ages of expert
ence. is never to attempt a cam
paign with inferior equipment on
so wide a front or over so long a
distance that it is doubtful
whether YOU can support il.
Another is always To measure
your potential resources against
the probable cost of your effort.
Disregard of every one of these
principles is responsible in part
for the present unhappy out
come.
This is not 10 cry over split
milk. II is TO suggest that there
is a fateful lesson here for us.
We are not concentrating on A
strong military and naval posi-
tion in readiness on our own in
comparable interior lines. We
seem To be spreading ourselves
all over the face of the globe.
We are not providing for our
own defensive forces modern ar
mored. mechanical. motorized
equipment and mon trained to
use il with sufficient speed We
are sending il abroad.
We are not measuring our
material resources against our
assumed task. We are undertake
ing TO finance and equip wars
everywhere. and that is too
much for even the magnificent
wealth. income and potential
production of the United States.
Aid To Britain in the battle of
the Atlantic and the British
Isles is excellent defensive
strategy. but what business have
we in Eastern Europe. Asia
Minor. China anC Malaysia.
There is such a thing as butter
ing Our strength too thin.
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