Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-11-12
BY Nelson M. Shepard.

BY Nelson M. Shepard.
AS total war is the greatest enterprise
in modern history; 50 Is the Army Of the
United States, after nearly three years
since December I, 1871, the biggest busi-
ness in the world. In fact, It Is q group
Of the biggest businesses and the Army
Service Forces is that branch OF the
Army which operates those businesses
"a gigantic holding and management"
company operating on $4,000, 900 900
budget for this year alone.
This war dwarfs all our previous con-
ceptions of "bigness,' as applied not only
to the scale Of military operations on
$4,000 miles OF global fronts, but to the
extensiveness OF human and industrial
mobilization. Feeble In comparison was
our national effort in 1915.
Cost Is Staggering
Compared with the total cost Of
our first World War. the expenditures
OF Our Army, alone, from 1910 to 1914,
simply stagger the imagination. For
that period the Army program called for
the expenditures Of more than $3.50, 000,-
100000 Of which less than Sis, 200, 0O0,-
900 has been spent, the savings being
directly related to our victories in the
various fields which have reduced total
requirements.
Until Napoleons time, armies gener-
ally lived of the country and fought
with the arms they could carry. In total
war. as we know it today, the full mobil-
ization Of national resources is the prime
factor. That Is because the struggle
now is one group Of nations against an
other group Of nations, industry against
Industry, skills against skills, civilians
against civilians-the whole of a people
against the whole Of another people.
At this time no better single example
OF the totally Of modern war can be
offered than the all-embracing activi-
ties OF the Army Services Forces, which
Is the supporting pillar of our own
Armies In the field. Every conceivable
transaction involving the filling of hui
man wants, needs and desires can be
found in listing the activities of one or
more branches of the Army Service
Forces-which is one of the three
main divisions of the Army. The other
two are the Army Ground Forces and
the Army Air Forces,
Building an Army
These things must be done before
any army can fight. 1t must be trained:
1t must be supplied; it must be admin
istered
These primary tasks are performed
for Gen. George C. Marshall, ARMY
Chief OF Stan, who is in effect the
chairman Of the board of directors of
this great business of war, by three
commanding generals
1t. Gen. Brehon Somervell, command
Ing general of the Army Service Forces,
administers, and supplies the entire
army with everything but aircraft and.
certain equipment peculiar. to the Air
Forces. He also directs and trains the
Army Service Forces which include all
tbs, specialized services. ,ns,. sn.,,
Gen. H. H. Arnold, the only 4-star
general among the trio, trains and d.
reefs the AAF, greatest mobilization of
aircraft in history. He provides sup
plies peculiar to the Air Forces and per-
forms certain Of the Air Forces admin
istrative functions.
1t. Gen. Ben Lear trains the Army
Ground Forces, which include all the
ground combat forces He succeeded 1t.
Gen. Leslie L. McNair, who was killed
in France in July, 1914.
Magnitude of Task
In his biennial report on the progress
OF the war, September, 1913 Gen. Mar
shall epitomized the magnitude of the
Army's supply problem in a closely
dotted map revealing that more than
100000 American soldiers are deployed
overseas in AZ foreign bases along Sc 900
miles of global front. Since then bases
IN France and Germany have been
added. AS Of today, Undersecretary of
War Robert P. Patterson revealed on
November that Of the nearly 5000, 900