The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-10-27
By Dre1U Pearson.

when he stepped out of his immediate role of military strategy into long-range planning. In recent ys.e his prophecies have been about 100 per cent Wt0nBs
 It was Marshall who made the serious error or giving the Russians about six weeks to last aLgeF the Germans invaded in 1941 It was Marsnan MlO told newsn1en just few days before Japan sotLe.s M dered and even after the atom bomb had peen dropped, that we would still need around SVvVVUV men to defeat Japan
 It was Marshall who didn't bother 10 teiepnone Gen Short at Pearl Harbor that the JapS were ApouE to attack, but sent him slow-moving, commefclaA cablegram. His judgment in this might pc 1orgyen: But his lack of organization inside the general ssan by which the cable was held up all night ana tnen delayed further until Marshall returned rom ms Sunday horseback ride seems hard to forgive.
 It was Marshall also who in 1940, one year after Germany started the war in Europe was SO gEouno, arniy-minded that his general staff recommended only six Flying Fortresses for the entire D. g. Army in the 1940 Appropriation Bill.
 It was under Marshall also that the general staff only this spring recommended peacetime air torce of only about l8OOO men, though simultaneously planning tremendous od-fashioned ground army. Eighteen thousand the size Of the air corps in 1936 Yet Marshall's general staff even In l94o, despite the atom bomb which they knew about, plus rocket bombs which nearly ruined England. was plan ming to go back to tiny air force with huge SLOW moving ground army
 Yet it is Gen. Marshall who has sold President Truman on the idea of peacetilne conscripton and
 400O OOOO-man Army just after finishing war which was to have brought peace to the world.
 Today, of course, Gen. Marshall is no longer the energetic young captain he under Pershing He is over-age has performed great things in the past and deserves a rest. But certainly if past recom- inendations are criterion, his current recommenda- ton for consrciption should be examined carefully
 Many officers inside the Army, including West Pointers believe it would be extremely healthy to have frank scrutiny of Army mistakes They point to the fact that records of the Civil War are still kept under lock and key because they would reflect on certain commanders The errors Of world War never have been taken out of the top secret category. And the tragic mistakes of this war some of them costing thousands of lives, are carefully locked up in War Department vaults.
 For instance, of the most significant items III Gen. Marshalls much-heralded recent report Is brief paragraph on page A. Referring to the Belgian Bulge, Marshall says: M
 "On 16 December Won Rundstedt attacked with force of 24 divisions He had been able because ot heavy fog which continued for days, to assemble his forces in secrecy in the heavily forested foreground
 With. those brief words, Marshall kisses off the tragic error which cost 6O000 casualties added bl- lions to the taxpayers war burden and very nearly let the Germans retake Brussels
 Those are the kinds of things taking place inside the Army today which need to be recfed and cleaned LID before we even consider building up big, new Army.