The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-07-22

70 A1ABGA0oos
 London dispatches report vital conferences in progress and some slight upsurge of hope that the Roosevelt Churchill pledge of June 27 soon may be translated into ac- tfcn.
 President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill con- cluded their last Washington con- ference on that date with a state- ment which included the following commitment:
 while exact plans. for obvious reasons, cannot be disclosed, it can be said that the coming operations which were discussed in detail at our Washington conferences, be- tween ourselves and our respective military advisers, will divert Ger man strength from the attack on Russia"
 Whether the British American conferees contemplate 8 limited or an all-out effort in the western European theater apparently re- mains to be decided. Military ex- perts said 8 limited diversion pre- sumably would consist of scattered and hard-hitting operations on 8 large commando scale.
 Get No FOOthOldS
 Such scarcely could develop per- manent footholds on the German held continent. But the United Ma tions might, under such plan, hit good many places simultaneously and could cause considerable dis persal of enemy strength if carried out effectively. It would be 8 costly operation in life and, perhaps, in equipment.
 But the fact that London is per- mitting news of Brittsh-American second front conferences to pass through the censorship was &C., cepted here as sufficient evidence that some move to aid the Soviet Union is under consideration.
 Second front speculation is in- creased here by the unmistakable evidence in dispatches from the Soviet Union that the Red army expects such help and expects 1t quickly
 The United States now has ground troops and air force personnel in Great Britain. And it is remarked that so far the United States air force has been inactive except for token operations in which 1t ap- peared our crews borrowed planes from the Royal Air Force.
 Great Britain, however, has a tremendous army based at home. The most difficult problem is under stood to be transport across the from various points on the con- waters separating Great Britain tinent
 In estimating United States chances of large-scale participation in any second front operations, 1t is recalled here that our military organization in Great Britain only now is being put on for-the-dura- ton basis.
 Our Conveys
 The first United States troop con- voy was revealed on Jan. 26 to have reached northern Ireland. Three subsequent convoy arrivals were announced on March 4, May IS and June 13, respectively.
 On June 25 the war department announced establishment of a Eu- ropea ntheater of operations with Lieut.. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower as commanding general.
 On July IA it was announced that Maj. Gen. Carl Andrew Spaatz had arrived to command the U. s. army air force in the European theater and it was only last week that Maj. Gen. Mark w. Clark was named chief of ground forces and Maj. Gen. John c. H. Lee chief of ser- vices of supply.
 It is not revealing military in- formation to assume that an ex- peditionary force for which the top organization has been set up only in the past three or four weeks is one which is not yet ready to under take large scale operations against the enemy.