Evening star., 1945-10-18

Single Defense Slogan
Linked to MiIitorists
Senators Starting Of on Wrong
End Of Controversy, Says Writer
By Dauid Laurence
The Senate Military Affairs Commit
tee has started of at the wrong end
Of the controversy over the single de-
partment Of national defense. Instead
OF examining into the efficiency or In
efficiency Of the Army, Navy and air
forces In the war just ended, It pre-
supposes that the system Of unification
which has been In existence has been
. success and that consolidation into
one department Is lesson Of the war.
Actually the truth has not been re-
yealed. Only . thorough investigation
Of the way the war was fought-the
top-heaviness Of the War Department,
the waste OF manpower due to the
cumbersomeness of the Army organtza-
ton and the vast amount Of duplica-
ton insisted on by the Army Air
Forces bring out the whole story.
The slogan widely publicized-name-
ly, the single department Of national
defense"-is only q cloak for the stud
led efforts Of high-ranking officers
and some Of their civilian allies to in
troduce in America form of military
dictatorship.
Breeder Of Suspicion.
The American people have never be-
fore been seriously urged or asked to
place complete control of the military
and naval forces in the hands of a
single individual. Wherever this has
been tried in the world, it has been
proved to be breeder of suspicion and
dfstrust. The Constitution of the United
States speaks of only one Commander
in Chief Of the Army and Navy. 1t
speaks of two seryices-the Army and
| Navy. There Is no constitutional right
to combine them or eliminate either
| one
! Most Of the talk about single de-
| partment plays on the idea that there
| will be a consolidation but actually
| what is sought Is a separation into
three major armed services-the ground,
the air and the naval forces. Each of
these is to be coordinate with the
other and one man is supposed to de-
eide how they shall be utilized-and he
! is not to be the elected head of the
| Nation.
| The public has been led to believe
tina. the system of an overall COM
| mander has been success. Secretary
Patterson speaks of Eisenhower, Nimitz
and Macarthur as successful supreme
commanders" Each of these men has
received q vast amount of favorable
| publicity and each is a conscientious
commander, but the mistakes made by
subordinates on the staff of their re-
| spective commands have not been re-
vealed as yet.
There has been tendency to hush
up the friction that went on during the
war. Actually the friction developed
when the Army and Navy and air
forces were employed on a large scale
In the Pacific. In Europe, Gen. Eisen-
hover, except for brief interval.
didn't have any responsibility for naval
! operations and in that sense really was
not commander of all forces. He
certainly didn't command the forces
in Italy or on the Russian front, and
it will be recalled that the British and
American naval staffs commanded the
naval operations during the largest
part of the war in the Atlantic and in
the Mediterranean.
Friction in the Pacific. -c-
As for the Pacific, the friction be-
tween members of Gen. MacArthur's
staff and the Navy is well known. A
thorough inquiry into what happened
| at Leyte would be enlightening. Like
wise the story of Okinawa has never
been fully told. Admiral Nimitz, with
chivalrous concern for his fellow COM
manders In the Army, assumed full re-
sponsibility for what happened there,
but in doing so he made serious mis-
take. For no naval admiral can tell
an Army general how to fight a land
war, and If the wrong Army general
Is selected for an assignment, that must
necessarily be the responsibility of the
chief Of the Army in Washington
rather than of any commander of COM
bined operations overseas.
The strategy of the war has resulted
in victory. Despite the blunders made.
Okinawa was won and SO was Leyte.
But the Congress ought to look into
what happened in the Pacific before it
decides that "uniication" was a great
success. 1t is polite and tactful for
Admiral Halsey and Gen. Macarthur
and others to speak of the teamwork
in the Pacific. In broad sense it was
there, but it is also true that the spe-
cialized Marine Corps, the specialized
Army Air Forces, the specialized Naval
Air Forces all played separate part.
To consolidate them is to forfeit their
special values and diminish the efficiency
OF our fighting strength To coordinate
them under United States Joint
Chiefs of Staff is to integrate the three
groups, but this does not need a single
military dictator or single depart
ment.
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