The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1942-06-04
THROUGH
n E L
YES
o
BY
HEEL Br=nnon

In the current issue OF The Am
erican Mercury Col. Hush G. Knerr.
former -hicf of st.f. of the General
headquarters Air Corps. charges
that u war effort today is still
being hampered by the split respon-
sibility and army-navy struggle for
command which caused the tragedy
at Pearl Harbor.
To support his contention he points
out that Gen MacArthur's supreme
command" in the southwest Pacific
has been partly nullified by a navy
order putting New Zealand under an
admiral. One glance at the map will
show the accuracy Of this.
The Navy has also split the Pan
anna Canal defense command by taxi
ing patrol of the windward Islands
out of the hands of 1t. Gen. Frank
M. Andrews, Col. Knerr said, and
similar splits in unified commands
exist on both coasts of the USA.
Col. Knerr should know what he
is talking about. He spent four years
in the Navy, six in the Artillery and
% in the Army air force. He is now
military adviser to Sperry Gyroscope
Company. When he says that the
emergence of air power in this van
has precipitated a battle of the brass
hats for authority and command and
that 1t has not been settled by the
creation of separate overall com
mands in our chief defense zones, he
is making a charge that is extremely
serious, if true.
To illustrate how the split COM
mand is still in effect in the l.. S.
war machine Col. Knerr chose the
Panama Canal Zone defense COM
mand.
"For purely tactical reasons /.
was wise to give full responsibility
at the canal to an airman, he said
"Since the canal is likely to be at
tackled only by carrier-borne air.
craft its defense is essentially a
problem for a commander conscious
of the capacities of air power and
equipped to use the techniques OF
air power. Proper air and sea recon-
Nuisance a spot a carrier before
it gets close enought to launch It's
light bombers and heavy bombers
can blast it out Of the water"
An examination of the maps will
show how important the area around
the windward Islands, extending
from Puerto Rice to Trinidad, Is to
the defense of the canal. 1t is
through this area that a carrier
s~neaking up, from the Atlantic side
would have to pass in daylight IN
order to get close enough during a
nights run to attack the canal at
dawn.
obviously, this is the area that
anyone responsible for the defense
Of the canal would like to know is
being ~patrolled most carefully, but
Gen. Andrews at this writing has no
authority to direct the patroll!ng,"
Col. Knerr continued. "The Navy has
taken the command of operations
in the windward Islands ANY, from
him ard given it to the naval district
commander
A similar Navy stratagenA, knerf
said placed New Zealand un.er OF
ficer responsible to Adm. Chester
Nimitz at Pearl Harbor, although
Macarthur was named to Supreme
Command by President Roosevelt
and the United Nations representa-
tives.
It does not take great knowledge
of military affairs to understand the
folly of split command. We nave
seen what it did for US at Pear
Harbor. Over 5000 Of u fine young
men have gone to their graves Pc
cause Of it. The remarkable thing
is that our military leaders will let
it continue to exist. Perhaps we wa
have another disgracefhl Pearl a
Dor written on the pages OF u ms.
tory before we do anything about
it. VIC.
Col Knerr said that the USA
should first define the theaters o.
operation and then give absolute
authority to one commander IN each
area over sea, land and air forces.
His suggestion makes sense. Inc
snectacle of brass hats in Washing
ton and elsewhere letting petty pol-
tics and ~iealousies interfere with Ell
ficiency in the war effort is DIS
graceful and has gone on toe long
already. All branches of the armed
forces are fighting for the same
country and it is time for them TO
start acting like it.