Evening star., 1946-05-26
Army Abroad Cut Till 1t Hurts
100000 100000 Scattered
Throughout Areas Where u S. Men Were Active.
The AsacnedR dResS

dwindled to point where "Yanks" in
khaki are objects of curiosity in world
capitals where once they outnumbered
even the soldiers of the host countries
The United States Army in the As
months between December, 1s41, and
September, 1945, shipped 100000 SOL
diers overseas and backed them up with
$3.50, 900 tons of equipment.
Today there are 35O,OOO officers and
GIs in Germany, 100000 in Japan and q
mere handful, possibly 250,0OO, scat
tered through outposts over the rest of
the globe.
The War Department says its aim is
to have by July l an Army of 1,550,000
men-797 900 of them overseas
Because the presence of American
troops enhances American prestige and
serves psychologically to maintain or
derly populaces and moderate govern
ments, the amazing exodus of overseas
forces in the last few months has
reached point, says one United States
overseas general, where it hurts
Few Combat Troops.
Combat forces abroad are few in
number. The American GI now is main
tanning communications, shepherding
soldiers brides" who are en- route to
their demobiliZed husbands, guarding
and attending to the thousand and one
business details involved in disposing OF
Army property, watching over displaced
persons and serving in other routine
peacetime occupations.
In England and Scotland, for instance,
where 100000 GIs once stood poised
on D day, there now are 4500 American
soldiers. BY June l there will be vir-
tually none.
Gone are the war days Gone are the
days when the Army's shrinking pains
were most acute. The booing, I'VE want
to go home" demonstrations that spread
from Berlin to Tokyo last winter are
hardly remembered. The United States
soldiery abroad now is chiefly of a pro-
fessional or semipermanent status.
Most of the great United States in
stallations in the foreign theaters have
been abandoned. In Great Britain of
73 American wartime hospitals is now
in use; of 1877 airields remains; % of
the 80 supply depots are closed
Billions in Equipment Scattered.
Equipment worth billions of dollars
has been scattered Some has been re-
turned to the United States; some has
been transferred to welfare agencies,
such as UNRRA, for distribution in
needy countries; some has been sold in
outright business deals in lands where
the material lay and some, rusted or
rotten or improbable to move, was
scrapped or abandoned.
This is what has happened to our
Army in the various theaters as report
ed by Associated Press correspondents
on the ground:
The General European Theater.
When Germany surrendered a year
ago there were 3,069,000 American SOL
diers in this theater. Today there are
fewer than 100000.
The United States Army in Europe at
its We day peak had 1900 aircraft, oc-
cupied $4,000 pieces of real estate, in
Guiding $50 airfields, 200 hospitals and
hundreds of military camps.
1t operated its own railroads, tele-
phone networks and pipelines, even car
ried its own bridges Its huge stock
piles, which required 160 depots, were
estimated at more than 100000 long
tons.
Stocks Down 5000, 900 Tons.
Now the United States Army in Europe
has shrunk to less than 5000 planes,
$4,000 plots or buildings, including only
ports, Is airields and so hospitals Its
depots hold only 100000 long tons of
stocks. Railroads and telephones are
back in civilian hands.
A million long tons of surplus stocks
in Europe were shipped out to the United
States or other theaters, with another
10000 tons yet to follow. This redeploy-
ment of goods represents $4,000, ,oOO, 900.
To handle surplus stocks having pos
sible resale value in Europe, the Foreign
Liquidation Commission was set up. Al
ready 2,248,000 long tons of stock worth
S1,518,300,000 have been turned over to
the commission, with 731 900 additional
long tons worth $743,2OO,OOO marked for
future delivery.
However, there were at least 500 900
tons of surplus stocks no one wanted to
buy, such as ammunition and obsolete
planes. The Army scrapped it. Among
the costly armaments sent to the scrap
piles were 1000 planes worth more than
81, 900 100000.
UNITED KINGDOM:
United States commanders plan to
close their remaining Army installa-
tions in the United Kingdom by the end
of June.
Where once huge Sherman tanks
rumbled over the cobblestones of French
streets on their way to Germany,
draymens carts and occasional automo-
biles have the roads to themselves
In the year that has passed since the
Germans capitulated, the United States
Army has concentrated on it's French
goal of "close out and get out"
At one time there were $4,000 troops
stationed in the area surrounding Paris.
Now there are less than 10000.
After We day 18 camps, each with a
capacity of $4,000 troops, were estab-
lished in France to speed soldiers to the
United States or to the Pacific theater.
All have been closed down.
The western base section itself, known
as the "close-out force" now has less
than $4,000 under its command. The