Evening star., 1942-09-20

bled about the local government OF
country A, water supply, schools, politics.
Besides source books in the university
library, members of the sections have
access to Army intelligence reports.
Two sections working on the same
problem get together to discuss relative
merits of their respective plans. The
keenest rivalry soon develops, with these
interclass teams championing their own
solutions with all the fervor of intra-
mural basket ball teams in any prep
school.
Master Plans Prepared.
Some of the graduates of the first
class have stayed on and new graduate
sections are working on plans which
may be put into effect when victory ap-
pears assured. These graduate students
are not relying merely on source ma
terial. Part of their assignment is to
interview neWspapermen and diplomats
recently back from Axis countries in
order to get every scrap Of latest infor-
nation. The master plans developed in
this way will be submitted to the provost
marshal generals Office If they are con-
sidered of sufficient merit by the staff
of the school.
In an occupied country the command
ing general in the theater of operations
is ex off1cio military governor of the
area. But the commanding general
names civil administrative staff and
these staffs in occupied countries will be
made up of graduates of the Charlottes-
vile school, trained under the direction
of the provost marshal general. In ad-
dition, several hundred junior assistants
will be given a short course in military
government at the school at Chicka-
mauga, Ga, at which thousands of mill
tary police are being trained. These
junior assistants will be younger officers
Gen. Wickersham and the members of
his staff are we'll aware that much OF
what they do must of necessity be tenta-
tive--that is, the problem outlined In
the occupation of occupied country A
must be based on certain assumptions
as to what the state of that country
| will be at the end of the war and what
| the policy determined by top policy
makers may be at that time. Apart from
| these assumptions, inevitable as a start
ing point. the plans that the student
officers turn out are based on fact.
Many War Veterans.
The oldest officer in the first class was
SO, the youngest %, captain. The
school day is from $50 in the morning
to in the afternoon, six days a week
with the evenings devoted to study.
In the first class up to 80 per cent of al
the student officers had had experience
in the last war. Several were with the
Army of Occupation that went into
| CoblentZ after the armistice. A large
| proportion were either Reserve or Ma.
tional Guard officers, but among the 81
were few Regulars.
The present class, when it has reached
full strength, will include $50 officers
representing, as did the initial group
diverse backgrounds. Some of these vii
be officers recruited through the Army
Specialists Corps.
They work hard, these student officer:
who may some day make the vital deci
sions for whole peoples. In free period
and in the evening every desk in the Law
school library Is occupied. The four
month course is no snap. and those VIII,
receive their diplomas from the hands O
Gen. Gullion on graduation day realiz
that they have well earned them.