Evening star., 1944-05-01
lnopportune Hearings
Capitol Hill Action to Stir Row
Within Armed Services
BY Dapid Latcrence.

BY David Lovrence.
The makings of frst-class row be-
tween our own armed services and per-
haps even irritations between Britain
and ourselves are wrapped up In the
hearings on postwar military policy"
which have been so inopportunely be-
gun on Capitol Hill.
Not only must the inside stories of
inefficiency and lack of coordination
as well as failures now be explored-at
q time when the energies of everybody
should be on winning the war-but
jealousies between the armed services
must apparently be revived in order to
satisfy an academic eagerness to write
q paper organization for the conduct Of
the next world war.
The controversy will center around
the desire Of the airmen for an inde-
pendent air force. Although this OBJ
jective is submerged In plan for
single department Of defense, neverthe-
less the idea is to make land, sea and
air separate. On its face, this looks
innocent enough, but in practice 1t can
mean the tearing up Of the naval air
forces and the combining Of such forces,
with the Army air. 1t can mean the
emasculation Of the Marine Corps and
Its absorption by the Army. It can also
mean the abolition of the Seabees ana
their absorption by the Army Engineers.
Esprit de Corps at Stake.
This is no time to destroy the esprit
de corps of these units and to take
away their traditions by merging them
into single unit in which they must
necessarily lose their identity.
Worst of all, the controversy forces
into the open things that had better
been left unexplored for the time being
at least. It compels the American naval
spokesman, for instance, to speak out
frankly and tell the world that the
British Navy today suffers because it
has had no control over Britains
separate air force-the Royal Air Force.
American people of the fact that the
British Navy is unable as yet to assist
in the Pacific and has been unable to
do the job its glorious tradition makes
it capable Of doing-all because 1t has
been deprived of its own air forces.
Vice Admiral r. g. Edwards was very
cautious and restrained in his testimony
before the Select Committee Of Con.
gress on Postwar Policies. Speaking as
chief of staff to the commander in chief
of the United States Fleet, he said:
"The present organization Is produc-
ing effective results and it would be q.
grave mistake to introduce at this time
an experimental reorganization which
could interfere with the progress OF
operations "s*
This war has demonstrated that the
armed forces necessary for securing and
maintaining control of sea commune
cations and denying them to the enemy
must be composed Of thoroughly inte-
grated ship and air elements. The
lessons of the war indicate that this
development of forces devoted to the
accomplishment of sea objectives re-
quires years to become effective Such
development has taken place in our
own Navy, and in the Japanese Navy.
In the British Navy the procedure fol-
lowed was to develop separate air
service and later to graft it on an es-
tablished surface Navy. This process
would probably have met with results
serious to the British Empire but for
the fact that the American Navy en-
tered the Pacific war as an ally of
Great Britain at the same time that
the japanese Navy became an enemy"
Points to Experience.
Admiral Edwards significantly pointed
out also that in the United States the
Army Ground Forces and the Army Air
Force each constitute separate service
In single Department Of War.
"The extent to which this method"
he says, has provided o successful CO.
ordination of tactical air with ground
forces is, consider, question for the
exploration now going on"
Admiral Edwards appears plainly
doubtful that either America or Britain
has been successful as yet in achieving
"the tactical coordination attained IN
the German Army and the Russian
Army-at least in the early years Of the
war" He declares that the so-calied
strategic bombing has been q success,
"but drawbacks of this organisational
setup when 1t came to meeting the needs
of the naval air arm have been serious,
almost fatal
These are strong words, but back Of
them perhaps lies the unpublished story
Of series of blunders and casualties
which only by q lifting Of the veil Of
censorship can be fully explored by the
Congress and the public. We shall know
some day how many American and
British boys have lost their lives be-
cause of the stubbornness of the school
of thought which insisted on an inde-
pendent air force for Britain. But this
Is not the time for 1t. This is the time
to continue the present unified COM
mand and win the war.
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Eric Johnston