Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-04-15

ponce chiefs, physicians, college p
from the United States and the Uni
In the ranks of the enlisted men
there are a half dozen doctors of
philosophy and an array of at
torneys, school teachers and civic
workers.
Altogether these men probably
constitute the most highly educated
body of soldiers on earth. A roster
of either officers or enlisted men
would read much like pages torn
from Who's Who" but none of the
names can yet be revealed for Sc
curity reasons.
The men are working about 10
hours a day. They receive both
routine military training-which is
likely to be very useful-and train
ing in the application of their spe-
cialties. They are being intensively
drilled in various continental Ian
guages. They remain under strict
military discipline. They look for
ward to no academic type of war
when the Allied armies invade the
continent.
Virtually Shock Troops.
A few months ago little group
of their colleagues in slightly diff
ferent kind of organization were the
first to enter Messina with shells
falling thick in the ruined streets
and I myself was pinned down for
two nights with them in a Messina
bank, under constant bombardment
from batteries across the strait. A
little later two of their officers prac-
tically captured Naples single
handed.
These lawyers and bankers will be
where the guns are shooting a good
deal of the time They constitute
the civil affairs arm of the armies.
They used to be known as Allied
Military Government. The name
has been changed but this does not
mean any great change in function.
except that good deal of their
work will be carried out as iaison
officers in friendly territory. The
men are about half-and-half British
fand American. The other Allied
governments have similar and closely
cooperating setups.
Must Salvage Local Aid.
The start of the invasion will find
units of these men attached to the
various fighting divisions, to the
corps troops and to the armies. AS
soon as town is occupied in either
friendly or enemy territory their
job will be to get it running in
normal fashion again, to salvage
whatever of local government can
be salvaged from the wreckage of
war. to see that available food is
equitably distributed, to superintend
the burial of the deal, to determine
the prospects of epidemics, to pro-
tect the local treasures and banks
against looting by fleeing Nazis, to
see that police and fire departments
are in competent local hands, that
hospitals and even schools are able
to function.
This requires quick action. Civil
affairs contingents often will be re-
quired to enter town with the
first troops and install themselves
while infantry mops up pockets of
resistance. They want to nip the
development of chaos before it
starts, to insure peace and order
among the civilian populations after
invading divisions have moved for
ward
No FavOritiSm Practiced.
This is an advanced training CEN
ter and dispersion depot. Many of
the officers are graduates of the mill
tary government school at Char
Ilottesville, Va. Others had prelimi-
nary training in special schools at
10 other American universities and
schools in the United Kingdom. A
majority were taken from the ranks
especially from officers training
schools. Others were recruited be-
cause Of special abilities but bank
presidents have received no favorS
They must be as military as infantry
officers, which some of them might
have been had they not been Sc
lected for this service.
The proposed tactics are described
as 'leapfro2ging" When d.
vision moves on from an occupied
town a small group of these officers
and men-the number depending on
the size OF the community-will be
left behind. Their comrades will
move ahead to the next town or
towns. AS soon as group is of no
further help it will leapfrog ahead
OF similar groups dropped along the
line of advance. Thus eventually
! they will reach occupied Germany,
where their duties will be quite
different and their stay in commu-
mites more prolonged
Will Protect Germans.
1t is not intended to set up a mill
tary government in any Allied coun-
try. 1t will be military govern
ment in Germany, but, from present
indications, quite benevolent one
Part OF the job of these men will be
to protect the German people from
the rapacity and skullduggery Of
their own ofncials, 10 rescue the IN