Evening star., 1942-07-05
Burden of War
Passing to America
Bu OUen L. Scott.

The main burden of this war, away
from the Russian front, is beginning to
shift to the shoulders of the United
States. This shift is inevitable as Amer
ican production and American man.
power tend to dominate the fight against
Germany and Japan.
War in the Pacific, even now, is largely
an American task. American forces are
beginning to play part in the Mediter-
ranean area. In the Atlantic the United
States Navy is bearing a large part of
the convoy burden. The American Army
and air forces are moving into England
in very large numbers. 1t Is not i'm
probable that they will outnumber the
British within the British Isles in
months to come.
Yet the American people are slow to
recognize what is happening. They
continue to feel that the British, Rus
slams or Chinese will carry the brunt of
the war. They are inclined to be critical
when the British suffer one defeat after
another or when the Russians are
pushed back or when the Chinese get
that, of all the so-called United Nations,
only the United States possesses the
power to defeat either the Germans or
the japanese or both together. This
country alone has the strength with
which to wage an offensive war.
A failure to recognize this fact leads
to increasing criticism of Great Britain.
This criticism is outspoken in Congress.
1t is echoed in very high quarters in the
executive branch of the Government
where the tendency of the British to
emphasize defense is decried 1t is so
widespread that even Harry Hopkins,
who lives at the White House, has felt
it necessary to take note and to answer
the criticism.
There seems to be something discon-
certing in the fact that the British, even
if given the tools, are not to be able to
do the job of winning the war In that
connection some rather simple facts
need to be understood. They are the
following:
1. The British Isles contain only about
44,0o0,000 people. contrasted with the
100000 of Germany and 40,000000 of
Italy. Those islands are self sufficient
only in coal. They must d1aw on the
rest of the world for nearly all OF the
materials needed for war making.
2. The 100000 British people must
maintain very large navy to police
their lines Of supply and to guard empire
ic hir off fOrt in
Then they must maintain an air force
of between 100000 and 100000 men.
In addition they have to maintain an
army of about 100000 men, That taxes
the manpoWer and the productive ability
of the British Isles to the limit and yet
it is not enough to deal with the enemy.
3. Britain always in the past has been
able to base defense of its home islands
and its empire upon sea power. Its navy
served as a means of destroying enemies
by the slow process of strangulation.
Now air power has risen to blast all past
ideas about sea control and about de-
tense of empires. The power of sea
blockade is badly bent, if not broken.
4. The British in the past have been
fairly secure at home. Now they are
subject to air assault that can interfere
with British industry and with British
supply lines.
All of this adds up to the fact that
Great Britain alone cannot have what it
takes to win over a continental power
as great as Germany. Except at home,
the British, of necessity, are spread very
thin. They simply do not possess the
manpower in their home islands to
create a mass army or the industrial
power to create arms enough for a mass
army or to build ships enough to carry
an army to the points that must be de-
Tended. AS a matter of fact, the Ger
mans in recent months have been sink
ing ships at a rate about six times as
great as British ability to build ships.
The inevitable consequence is that the
United States inherits the task of pro-
viding an offensive force great enough
to win the war.
Russians are withstanding German
blows and using up German manpower
and machine power. Soon they may be
doing the same with regard to the Jap
anese. The British are marrying the
Germans at home and are striving hard
to bottle them up in Europe. But it
remains for the United States to provide
the manpower and the machine power
to bring about eventual defeat of the
Germans and the japanese. Informed
officials hope that the American people
will become aware of this fact and not
be too disappointed in the showing of
their Allies.
This country fast is getting set for
the responsibility that lies ahead.
The air forces of the United States
will number nearly 100000 men by the
end of 1912, and are heading for a goal
of 100000. Congress has provided
nearly s50,000, 900 900 for use in furnish
ing airplanes for the Army and the
Navy. Planes are being turned out at a
rate above 1000 monthly and this figure
| will pass 10000 monthly during 1943. A
larger and larger proportion of those
planes are offensive bombers. When
| they really begin to strike in force, Hit
| ler's real worries will begin.
The Army of the United States is