Evening star., 1943-10-21

pOScOly ICSlolcO Ds'io AS"Fence.
by other units in the armed serv-
Ices, but the fact is that the COM
manders of other branches of war
fare have seen the air power en-
thusiasts present their claims for
recognition in such way as to de-
preciate If not disparage the i'm
portance of the other activities.
Many of our high officers are air.
minded, even though they are not
connected directly with air forces.
This is but another way Of saying
that the military planner Of today
recognizes air power as the biggest
and most valuable addition to war
fare in modern times.
The danger that lies in the ex-
tremist position is that an inde-
pendent air force is advocated
which shall rank with the Army
and Navy and not be subject to
the orders of either. This would
be a step backward. For it has
been evident for years that the
Army and Navy needed to be weld
ed together into a single military
operation, and this war has seen
the elimination Of that view In
what has been termed amphibious
warfare and in what has, at the
command level, been called uni
fed command"
If the air force were to be given
complete autonomy, it would mean
that instead of the problem of CO.
ordinating two services, the prob
lem would be increased to the ex-
tent of requiring a coordination
Of three separate services.
Greenslade Address Cited.
The setup of the future has been
forecast by Rear Admiral Green
slade, now on duty in San Fran
cisco, in an address in which he
coined the term "omnibian war;
fare He called for a single de-
partment of national defense In
which the land, sea and air power
units would be part of one mech
enism of war making.
This idea is more akin to the
German general staff conception
which has worked successfully in
tactical operations. In a sense the
unified command" idea of the
United Nations is an adaptation of
the German military theory. Thus
today the Army and Navy and air
forces are ordered into battle and
their movements are directed by a
single commander, who may be an
Army or Navy or air officer de-
pending upon what the emphasis
In that particular war theater hap
pens to be.
In Washington, there is in con-
slant session the chiefs of staff in
which Gen. Arnold, as a four star
general, sits alongside of Gen. Mar
shall, another four-star general, and
alongside of Admiral King, COM
mander in chief of the fleet, and
Admiral Leahy, who is acting as
chief of staff for the President.
Constitution Mentions Army, Navy.
There is no statutory authority for
Admiral Leahy's post though every
President has had a'naval aide and
1t would be simple matter for such
a step to be authorized if it were
needed. But under the Constitution,
there is no provision for an air arm
The Constitution speaks of the Army
and Navy. The President is author
lied to take national defense meas
ures In pursuance of authority
granted by Congress, and there is
no way short of a constitutional
amendment whereby separate
armed service analogous to the Army
and Navy could be formally Gre
ated. That is one reason why air
power must remain a part of the
Army and part of the Navy, though
the nearest thing to an independent
status has been given the Army Air
Force by the new regulatio promul-
gated by Gen. Marshall which places
the air force on parity with ground
forces.
The ideal solution would be the
creation of general staff of the
Army and Navy by authorization of
Congress, with provision that the
cir forces shall be represented on
such staff from the viewpoint of
both military and naval aviation.
Such general staff would be pre-
sided over by single commander
who would act as chief of staff to
the President, the constitutional
commander in chief of the Army and
Navy.
But the practical situation in the
present war is being met very salts
factorily by our present four-man
setup-namely, Gems. Marshall and
Arnold and Admirals King and
Leahy Some day when the lessons
of the present war ale studied in
the calmness of retrospect, the sug-
gestions of those who favor a general
staff to carry on "omnibian" war
fare can be thoroughly studied.
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