Evening star., 1943-09-12
General Marshall Builds
A Magnificent Army
BY John H. Cline.

By John H. Cline.
The biennial report which Gen. George
c. Marshall, Army Chief Of staff, has
submitted to the Secretary of War, tells
the story Of the development OF the
Army OF the United States and of the
military effort 1t has exerted around the
world during the past two years. But it
does not tell the whole story Of how
this Army was developed under the SUI
perior leadership of q man whom the
Nation was most fortunate in having
as Chief Of Staff during what probably
has been the most dangerous period Of
our national existence.
Gen. Marshall became Chief Of Staff on
July l, 1899. The beginning OF the Sec
ond World War was only two months in
the future, but we were still suffering
from the consequences OF carefully
nurtured propaganda to the effect that
the munitions makers caused the First
World War and that the way to escape
another conflict was not to have any
munitions. AS we look back, 1t is difdcult
to believe that this one bit Of silly but
insidious propaganda could have had so
much influence in shaping our own atti-
tude toward our own inadequate little
Army.
When Gen. Marshall took over, the
Army consisted Of about 10000 poorly
armed and improperly trained men, In
addition, there was a small National
Guard, whose training and equipment,
measured by modern standards, was all
most negligible. To make matters worse,
many of the Regulars were scattered all
around the country, broken up into gar
risons for Army posts Of no Importance
except in a political sense.
Under the new Chief of STAFF, however,
there was to be an expansion program.
AS reported In The Star Of June 80, 1899,
1t was to include the following:
Training Of 2,ls4 pilots and some $4,000
aviation mechanics.
Orders for more than 2.500 planes, in
addition to nearly 1000 contracted for
in the preceding two months.
Manufacture or purchase Of arms and
munitions costing about $1s6,000, 900.
Work on five new outpost airbases.
Inauguration Of the military depart
ment Of the Caribbean.
That was our estimate Of the military
preparation required by the United
States on the eve of the greatest war
in history. The propagandists had done
uEt ha
bugaboo.
Military Plans Ready.
Fortunately, the War Department had
not embraced the notion that the way
to end wars was to disarm the United
States and chase the munitions makers
out of the country. Lacking funds and
in the face Of constant disbursement,
it had gone ahead with plans for the
building OF real Army. A few months
after the outbreak of the war Gen.
Marshall scraped together enough men,
about 10000 in all-for field maneuyers.
If the results were enough to dishearten
a professional soldier. the maneuvers at
least had the virtue of demonstrating to
any one sufficiently interested to observe
them that the United States was lamen-
tably unprepared to defend even a mini-
mum OF It's vital interests. Then came
the terrible spring and summer of 1910,
when France collapsed and it suddenly
daWned on most of us that Britain might
go down and that the Germans might
become masters of the Atlantic ocean.
Things began to get little better.
The National Guard was called to active
duty and the Selective Service Act was
passed. Congress began to pass appro-
priation bills for sums OF money, which,
II available in the War Departments
famine years, would have given us a real
Army at fraction of the cost later re-
quired. But Gen. Marshall's troubles
were not over The distrust of all things
military was deeply rooted.
BY the summer of 1s41 we had an
Army of nearly 100000 men. It was
poorly equipped and inadequately
trained, but 1t was at least a creditable
beginning. Under the law as it then
stood, however, the drafted men and the
National Guard could not be kept in
service for more than one year. And
they could not be sent out of the West
ern Hemisphere. Thus, Gen. Marshall
was faced with the destruction of vir-
tually all of the progress made during
the preceding year.
In these circumstances he went before
Congress to urge that the Army not be
broken up and that it not be tied down
to the Western Hemisphere. Legislation
was needed and Congress was asked to
pass it. With the Germans at the peak
OF their victory stride and with Pearl
Harbor only few months away, one
might think that there would be few to
question the judgment of the Chief OF
Staff as to what was needed to insure the
security Of the United States.
Troubles Not Over.
But quite the contrary was the case.
There were many in Congress and
throughout the country who professed to
know better. 1t was charged that Gen.
Marshall was asking for another ex-
peditionary force to plunge this country
into war. Others suggested that selectees
had been deliberately sent to outlying
posts to put pressure on Congress to
extend their terms of service. There was
an organized effort to have soldiers petit
ton Congress against extending the
length of their service-a movement
which Gen. Marshall promptly and prop
erly denounced as "sahotaceD FipolIv