Evening star., 1945-04-03
We Day
Continued From First Page.

the highest military, naval and civil
ian authorities.
A mother asks: when will my son
come home from Europe?"
A wife: Does my husband in the
Philippines have any chance for a
discharge?"
A GI in Europe: We're finishing
our show: why must we fight the
Japs. too?"
A CT In Luzon: when are they
coming to help us get this thing
over with?"
New York Manufacturer: will
we have to produce for the Pacific
war, or can we, on the East Coast,
reconvert more quickly?"
Housewife: When can I get a
new refrigerator"
Everybody: How long will it take
to beat Japan"
At this moment few of these ques-
tions can be answered exactly, But
as far as the answers can be given
now they will be presented in these
articles-against the background of
the greatest midwar job any coun-
try ever tackled.
Essentially this job is to "re-de-
ploy" the United States Army-to
withdraw this enormous fighting
force from Europe, to maintain its
morale at high pitch, to re-equip it
and to turn it against Japan in the
shortest possible time.
All evidence indicates 1t will be at
least six months after We day be-
fore the japanese begin to feel the
full weight of the shift. 1t will be
longer than that before men dis
charged as a result of the victory
in Europe begin to get home in large
numbers. There have been no short
cuts to victory. There appear to be
none to peace.
100000 in Service.
To understand how things will
happen from We day on, it seems
essential to understand why the
men on the military high command
want them to happen just that way
These men, subject only to the
authority of President Roosevelt, are
the joint chiefs of staff-Admiral
william D. Leahy, the President s
chief of staff; Gen. George c. Mar
shall of the Army. Gen. H. H. Ar
mold of the Army Air Forces and
Admiral Ernest j. King of the Navy
There now are almost $4,000 900
Americans in the armed services.
About 1000 900 are in the Navy, Ma
rine Corps and Coast Guard, and
1000, 900 in the Army and Army Air
Forces.
We day will make little difference
to the sea forces. The great bulk
of the Navy already is fighting in
the Pacific.
Some vessels will be moved west
ward from the Atlantic and Euro
pean coastal waters. but some will
be left for patrol and training
Everybody in the naval services will
have a job to do, Admiral King
says, and there will be no demobili-
zation until the defeat of Japan.
But what is to be done with the
$500, 900 men in Europe?
Four General Classes.
1t has been decided to break down
the forces in Europe Immediately
after We day into four great
classes.
l. Occupation troops. They will
mop up the last disorganized resist
ance and then occupy Germany
along with the other Allied armies
It probably will be one to two year;
before replacements make it pos.
! sible for them to come home ir
large numbers.
2. Troops to go directly to the Pa
cific. These will come mostly from
service units of the ground and all
forces and total hundreds of thou.
sands Of men. They will prepar,
bases for the combat soldiers whit
will follow. Some combat units alst
will go directly to the Pacific.
3. Furlough troops. Other hun.
dreds of thousands of men will head
for the Western Pacific by way Of
the United States, with furlough!
at home. How the men are to b.
brought home and when is a sepa.
rate story in this series.
| 4. Troops who will be sent home
and demobilized. In the frs
months there will be few of these
Then the number will increase q.
the rush to move men to thu
Pacific eases of. Finally, as thu
Army grows to the size needed te
wind up Japan, discharges will fal
l on until final victory.
Wounded to Return At Once.
/ In addition to these, there is an.
other, a special category - thu
wounded.
4 The Army hopes to have the last
wounded man out of Europe anc
.lheaded. back home within 90 day.
&