The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-03-02


 movement, equipment that has be been discarded in undreamed- quantities. The result has been tt eat heavily into reserves.
 Take overcoats. Men going into action don't want to be encountered by unnecessary clothing They dis card overcoats which become tramp led in snow and mud, are lost, ano eventually have to be replaced witt new ones
 Take walkie- -talkie radios. Soldiers diving for fox hole fall on their equipment and break 1t. Replace ments have been as high as 100 per cent in some units.
 COUNTS ON "LIMITLESS
 QUANTITIES.
 You can't say this critically, but the truth is the American soldier is in some ways a spoiled boy in hay ing been led to believe that there are limitlesS quantities of everything to back him up.
 Take the matter of heavy artillery ammunition expenditure. The Ruhr industrial area into which U s. Armies are now advancing is Q dcnsely populated region of small Industrial towns, any one of which can be seen from the next. The Ger man defense is to make every vil- lage fortress. No town can there fore be by-passed. Blasting the NaziS out of these fortified towns can be done only by reducing them to rubble. It takes more ammuni- tion than anyone had figured on.
 Different phasing of the war &C., counts for no small percentage of Increased requirements. The Paci- iic war is perhaps six months ahead of schedules anticipated a year ago, and the European war is some months behind the optimistic expec- tationS of last summer. That has thrown double burden on war pro- duction, supplying two wars. It has greatly advanced production sched- ules for supplying the Pacific war, which now cant wait
 The speed of advance against the Japanese has made difficult the pos- Sibllity Of transferring large amounts Of supplies from the Euro pean theater to the Pacific. Every thing that can be moved will be moved but additional contracts have had to be let to supply replacement equipment for the remaining Paci- fic battles.
 Furthermore, many weapons used In Europe aren't suitable for jungle operations. If troops are moved out of Europe to fight against Japan, they will leave their old unservice- able equipment in Europe and get new.
 REPLACEMENT RATES
 INCALCULABLE
 The rates at which equipment has worn out and has had to be replaced have been incalculable, having varied for each new operation - Africa, Italy. France, New Guinea, the Philippines. Only now, says Ma Jor-General Leroy Lutes of the Army Service Forces staff in Washington. do the ASF believed they have ac- curate factors for rates of repIenish- ment on supply of heavy equipment to Europe.
 For instance on the heavy-duty trucK tires. a new and unanticipated cause of damage has been sharp frag ments Of f1ack buried in the mud. | It cuts tires to ribbons in DO tinle at all. This has made necessary the sending of additional tires to Eu- rope for manufacture in reopened French plants. The shortage has been met insofar as Europe has been concerned. but 1t has been done by shipping barefoot trucks with | out tires to the Pacific. A part of the increased reuuire- ments are to build up reserves which every military commander believes | are necessary. Lieutenant General Brehon Somervell, Army Service | Forces commander, has stated that | there are no combat items in short supply. But shortages in reserves do exist.
 The way the supply generals play. It, If strikes or submarines should | stop the supply line for weeks at a time, the generals in the field must still have enough to win their wars.