Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-06-02
u. S. Faced
With Job of
Catching Up
Army Due for Complaints
Despite Good Job
BY HUGH S. JOHNSON

THE war department is in for
Il a barrage of criticism for
building another old style mass
army" and not taking advan-
tage of the German examples of
motorized small forces and
slashing, combined armored air.
planes and armored land attack.
The rumbling has already
started and ii is going to get
louder. Says Rep. Ross Collins:
"The Germans who broke the
French line at Sedan pushed
fingers OF steel TO the sea, cut
off British and Belgian forces
In Flanders and almost In one
stroke conquered Frances army
OF 100000 soldiers, did not ex-
coed 10000 men,"
That is the kind OF argument
that starts public resentment
and suspicion. Mr.. Collins is in
a position on the military affairs
committee TO know his facts.
As this column has done. begin
ming even earlier, he has been
insisting on motorization. mod
erniZation and mechaniZation
for many years-pven before the
Germans started IT,
OUT 10 jump from the proved
- soundneSs of that position
10 any conclusion that The army
has been wrong in planning an
army now of about q million
and a half with provision for
expansion to four million if
necessary, or in adopting con-
scription, or in providing in adj
dition 10 panzer divisions, plenty
of old-fashioned infantry and
artillery, is something else
again.
It must be admitted that some
bad mistakes have been made
throughout the years since Hit
Ter began. The record Of the
general staff itself is not too
good.
1t didn't insist on the vast APP
preparations necessary 10 mod
ernie our own equipment. II
wouldn't have done any good.
because this administration was
TOO h ghly concentrated on
spending billions for other pur-
poseS-or lack OF purpose.
The general staff understood
this, but they could and should
have made a record and backed
it with what experiments at the
infantry laboratory at Fort Ben
ming had discovered about these
new tactics as early as the Ger
mans did.
The Recovery Act OF 1888
made almost unlimited millions
available for "mechanization and
motorization Of army tactical
units" They were not used for
that purpose. but the army did
not howl.
TT WAS a groteSque mistake
Il also to conScript men for only
one years service when il was
a certainty that. within that
year. there would be no suffi-
cient equipment 10 train them
in modern methods of war--but
the Congress made that mistake
NOT the war department.
O. X. all that is water over
the dam. The new attack will
he on what the war department
is doing now. 1t is moving 10
mechaniZation. motorization and
panzer divisions Just as fast As
the industrial capacity OF the
country and the policy OF our
government to ship most of our
newly made equipment overseas
will permit
1t is terribly handicapped in
not having enough OF these
highly technical machines 10
train troops. But that is not 10
say that it was wrong in begin
ming military training OF just
as many hundreds of thousands
of men as it could accommodate
just as fast as il could get them.
TT IS not 10 say that il Is
L wrong in providing as many
traditional infantry and artil-
lery units as il can organize and
educate. GerInany's great head
start was not merely in making
modern munitions. II was also
process. years long. but now
accomplished, of making soldiers
out Of millions of young CT
villains.
We were just as fast asleep
and are Just as far behind in
that manufacture as in the
manufacture of arms. 1t is a job
OF physical hardening and men
tai realignment.
Even though these boys do
not. in their years training.
have a chance TO handle these
new weapons. not a moment
and not a dollar will be lost by
giving them this basic training.
Finally Mr.. Collins is wrong
in thinking that we can rely
solely on a small group of pan
ger divisions. They are one
necessary weapon for our ar
senal, but only one. The Ger
mans have perhaps Ia panzer
divisions and hardly less than
200 other and old-fashioned di-
visions. Even with all their con-
quests. the distance and area
they have to defend, compared