Evening star., 1946-10-06
By George II. Hall

will take part In the occupation Of Japan,
that arrangements can be made TO with
draw troops from Austria and italy and
that the United Nations will become
increasingly effective.
Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson
has said that one of the duties Of the
Army at present is presenting strong
military front in an unsettled world.
With these thin and scattered forces
that objective might seem impossible
were it not for the secret weapons to
which Senator Austin referred.
We have, of course, the atomic bomb
and the means of delivering 1t to almost
any spot on the globe. The importance
of this fact cannot be minimized, despite
the recent derogatory expression Of
Soviet Prime Minister josef Stain. The
bomb, however, might never be employed
for fear of reprisals, the same reason
that forestalled the use Of poison gas in
the last war. With this possibility IN
view, Army Air Force ordnance engi-
neers are working on the development
of new weapons and methods Of aerial
warfare and have in mind scrapping all
equipment used heretofore
Many New Weapons. r
1t Is known that great strides have
been made IN chemical and bacterio-
logical poison gas. which might well take
the form of surface application of the
tremendous radioactive cloud hurled
skyward iii the explosion Of an atomic
bomb. Army and Navy have intensive
programs for experimenting with jet
propulsion of aircraft, rockets and
guided missiles, looking toward "push-
button" warfare. The Army has two
bombers with ranges of 10000 miles and
has considered the possibility Of equip
ping some of them as flying aircraft car
riers to carry fighter escorts. The Army
talks of putting rockets on tanks to
hurl them over obstacles, and Of blowing
infantrymen up walls and cliffs by the
same method.
With these prospects, and q huge
budget for research (s730, 600 900 for all
the services, including Navy, AAF and
the Manhattan project, the Army does
not look as unimportant as its small size
might suggest. II there is complete
revision in methods Of warfare and q
new set of weapons, then 1t would be
necessary to train new men anyway. It
would be worse than useless to teach
large standing army how to fight with
outmoded weapons.
To make the best use Of It's resources
the Army is altering its organization
and plans. It sees the continental
United States as It's main base, with
ring of far-fiung outposts designed
both as springboards for fast-striking
forces and as buffers which would. in
effect, replace the Allies who have In
the last two wars held of the enemy
while we prepared ourselves.
Plan Six Armies.
For the defense Of the main base
six semi autonomous armies have been
set up, each with an assigned geo.
graphical area. One reason for this
division is to provide protection in case
one or more areas should be neutralized
by an aerial assault.
The Army Air Forces, which by next
summer will include nearly 40 per cent
of the entire Army. have been granted
greater autonomy and more say-so in
budget matters. Three major COM
mands have been set up, one to en-
body combat groups of the long-range
striking forces, another to defend the
continental United States and the
third to cooperate with surface forces.
The AAF has around 5000 combat
planes, about 10000 Of which are in
active status, but the rate at which these
planes become obsolete is fantastic.
About 1000 new planes are expected
this year. Total military plane pro-
duction for the first eight months Of
the year was 834, compared with more
than $4,000 in the same period OF
l945. In August los fighter planes were
produced.
AS to the outlying bases, negotiations
to acquire or strengthen them have
been under way for some time, not
without rumbnngs Of discomfort from
some of the nations involved and
changes in our own plans.
In addition to bases, the United
States apparently is engaged in work
ing out informal defensive agreements
with other countries. Closer ties with
Canada to protect the hemisphere from
possible attack through the Arctic are
.ervisioned The regent visit here Of
Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery,
chief OF the British general stan, Is
interpreted as having been for the plr-
pose Of further integrating British and
American equipment and training
methods. Those who should know OK
pect the inter-American co-operation