Evening star., 1946-09-15
US. Strength Still Wanes
AS World Tension Grows
Presidents Advisers Argue Whether Internal
Situation in Russia May Ease Strain and
Whether America Should Be Tougher
BY Constantine Broyn


inc Brown
hasty demobilization Of our forces has
placed this country in a dangerous po-
sition.
Should war break out We would have
to take it on the chin for several pain
full months.
We have in Europe today some 300,-
900 men-paper strength-which many
military men consider as hostages. II
the Red Army went on rampage, 1t is
doubtful that more than half their num-
Der could be evacuated.
Expert military men place less rel-
ance on the magic power of the atomic
bomb than the average optimiStically
thinking American. There are technical
considerations which are being kept as
top secret which lead them to believe
that the devastating power of the atom
missile might not be deterrent to what
ever aggressive plans the Kremlin may
be harboring at this time.
Nominally we have a total force of g.
100000 men in the armed forces. OF
IIlCSC dUOut 0OOUOu Oh III IllC navy hIu
100000 in the Marine Corps This brings
the strength of the ground and air forces
to about 100000 Those who are familiar
with modern war technique know how
many men it takes to service a single
plane and how many men are necessary
for an efficient tank regiment
The total combat strength of the 300,.
900 men in Europe consists of only three
divisions and some police brigades. The
rest are employed either as cemmunica-
tion units or are used to supervise the
hundreds Of thousands Of displaced
persons.
Air Corps Badly Crippled.
In the Pacific we have about 10000
men with combat strength not greater
than our Army in Europe In Korea, for
example, Gen. John r. Hodges army
corps is outnumbered by about to l
by the Russian Army across the 3sth
parallel-the dividing line between the
American and Russian zones Of occu-
patton. Gen. Macarthur is reliably said
to fear another "Bstaan" in Korea,
should the Russians decide to strike.
Within the United States the armed
forces are 'nuclear" and 1t Is doubtful
that Gen. Eisenhower could count on
more than five or six divisions with ac-
tual combat training
The aviation is as badly if not worse
of. We have at present the sum total
OF 81 groups. OF these some 20 are in the
United States. about II are in Europe
and the rest in the Pacific Redeploy-
ment has played havoc with the aviation.
There are instances where flyers in
Europe or in the Pacific have had no
flying time for weeks because there is
insufficient technical personnel to take
care Of the planes. ,-'.
The wholesale demobilization OF the
ground and air forces was only natural
last year after the Axis had been crushed
and we hopefully expected long period
Of peace. All major frictions which were
expected to occur between nations which
fought shoulder to shoulder for many
long months would be settled, We hoped.
by the United Nations. As after the First
World War, we decided to set an ex-
ample of good will to the world and we
proceeded with the utter dismantling of
the strongest armed force In the world.
Advice Disregarded.
Our leaders sincerely believed that the
indications of Ill temper from Russia
were only passing phase in Moscow
and that our disarmament would re-
move from certain minds in the Kremlin
the last vestige of suspicion against this
country. The mild warnings-in conf
dence-from our military men were dis
carded as inevitable 'tosh" on the part
of generals and admirals who hate to
give up large armies, navies and air
forces lest they lose their importance and
their jobs.
In spite of this demonstration Of good
WILL backed not only by disarmament
but also by a liberal economic policy at
the expense of the already overbur-
dened taxpayer, the Soviets made their
armed forces more efficient than they
were during the war.
While the American factories rushed
to reconvert their machines for the
manufacture of peacetime goods, the new
Russian five-year economic plan placed
great emphasis on the heavy industry in
tended particularly for the manufacture
of war implements. While the American
ground combat strengthen questionable
value-has been reduced to less than
20 divisions. Russia today has a mini
mum of $50 fully-equipped divisions
without counting in the satellite coun-
tries, where complete mobilization has
been ordered ever since their liberia
ton"
Two Viewpoints Compete.
There are few details about the
strength of the Red aviation inside
Russia except that We know Russia
possesses at least three B-2s Super
Fortresses. One Of them was seen re-
Gently flying over Tokyo.
1t can be assumed that the Red high
command is more air minded than it
was during the war and is paying
particular attention to aviation. We
know that there are at least 2,500
Russian combat planes Of all types In
Eastern Europe and in the Balkans.
This is not particularly bright pic
ture, so far as America is concerned.
Two groups of advisers are attempting
to influence President Truman, with
the distinct knowledge that he could
still make our position flrmer II he
desired, because he retains war powers
voted him by Congress for the dura-