Evening star., 1944-06-02
Our Army Abroad

the Axis, when they struck at us in
December, 1941, ever thought that
America would be able to swing into
total war fast enough to prevent
them from winning. Today they
know better. The story of the half
miraculous expansion Of our Navy is
as familiar to them as it is to us, and
as for our Army, they are learning
to their sorrow how swiftly it grew
and how strong it is and how for
midably it has been deployed for the
crucial battles ahead.
This deployment, as Secretary
Stimson explains, has followed a
definite strategical pattern. Thus,
two years ago, when it was possible
to send only skeleton forces abroad,
the Army's task was to join in the
Allied efforts to stop the Axis from
further gains. A year ago, with
1,466,000 men overseas, its task was
to help smash the enemy's outer
defenses and prepare the way for the
final phase. This phase-the period
of decisive action-is now at hand,
according to Mr.. Stimson, and. to
exploit it fully, the Army already
has $685., 900 troops poised in key
combat areas to strike victory
winning blows against Germany and
Japan"
Our overseas Army air forces,
service forces and ground forces
thus exceeds by more than 100000
the entire American Expeditionary
Force of the First World War, and
by the end of the year, says Mr..
Stimson, it will number over 500O,-
600 men, with approximately 2,000,-
600 additional troops in readiness in
this country for shipment abroad
when and as needed. There has
been nothing comparable to this in
our history; indeed, it represents an
accomplishment of such magnitude
that most of uS-like the Axis lead
ers themselves-would have been
inclined to laugh if anybody told us,
before Pearl Harbor, that so much
could be achieved in so little time
in a period of only about two and
one-half years.
We can better appreciate the
mammoth nature of this achieve
ment when we keep in mind that
building up an army and sending it
overseas is not simply a matter of
training men and putting them on
transports. The project is far more
complex than that. It involves the
most painstaking kind of planning
and organization, the equipment
factor alone being almost too COM
plicated to be described. To supply
such forces as we now have abroad,
for example, to keep them fed and
properly armed, almost 100000
tons of Army cargo went across the
oceans last month-more than four
times the peak monthly tonnage
shipped in support of the AEF in
1918. In this war, quite obviously,
we are dwarf1ng all our past military
efforts, and that we are doing it so
well reflects an immense amount of
credit on those directly responsible
for it, civilians and soldiers alike,
from Secretary Stimson and Gen.
eral Marshall on down.
Taken together with our vastly
enlarged Navy, this mighty new
Army of ours-which includes the
strongest air force in the world
has given America a unique place of
power among the nations. How that
power will be employed in the long
future-whether wisely or unwisely
remains to be seen, but there can
be no doubt that with the armed
strength of Russia, Britain and
China, it has made the downfall of
the Axis only matter of time. They
knew we were potentially strong, but
the Hitler and TOTO war machines
did not realize at the time of Pearl
Harbor that we could hit back so
hard and so quickly. Their miscal-
culation should serve for generations
to come as an object lesson to all
aggressors.