Evening star., 1946-04-21
Merging of Armed Forces
By DiCtat0rs Fatal Move
Military.Minded Hitler Overlooked Carriers and
Landing Barges, While Jap Army Chiefs Used
Warships for Supplying and Moving Troops
Bv Constantine Br0wn

admirals to the growing importance of
aircraft carrier with the result that
Germany had only one such ship when
it started to fight the rest of the world.
Under our present system the various
services are flexible and mistakes in
every branch can be quickly remedied.
Not SO in Germany. The submissive
German admirals never brought home
forcefully the Importance of the land
ing barges which later enabled the
American armies to invade Normandy
and the "impregnable" japanese is
lands. 1t is fair to assume that had the
Germans possessed several thousand
LISTS in the summer of 1910, the his
tory of the world would have been
different They could have invaded
Britain which was utterly unprepared to
oppose the landing of 10 German divi-
sions But these the Germans did not
have. Hitler did not believe that those
small sea-going units could be of much
consequence. He concentrated on de-
fensive ships - submarines - which he
believed the most adequate answer to
starving Britain into submission and
preventing any eventual effective Amer
ican support in the European war.
But Hitler was the head of the COM
blned armed forces-a job he created
not so much because he believed in the
efficiency of the consolidation, but
which was essential for him to control
personally his generals who were not
all Nazis. The chief of staff of common
defense in this particular case was a
mere instrument in the hands of a
politician without scruples. Field
Marshal Keitel testified at the Nuern-
berg trials that he had been a tool in
Hitlers hands and that his principal
job was to put his signature on the
various decisions his Fuehrer was taking
Russia Building Up Navy.
No such situation is likely to happen
in this country. But there are no suffi-
cient barriers which can be placed in the
way of a politician who might climb to
the position of secretary of the common
defense department and then forget his
oath to the constitution. Such things
have been seen in other countries in the
past and We are living in a world too
much troubled by conflicting ideologies
to take the slightest risk.
Another country which has single
department for national defense is an
other dictatorship-the U. S. S. R. The
Russians have never been navy-minded.
Even under the Cars the Russian Navy
was lamentable. After the revolution
the organization of the Russian forces
proceeded from scratch and it was only
in 1888 that a navy department was Gre
ated. V. M Molotov declared then that
Russia should have feet equal to it's
great mission and Immediately AFTER
ward the department was established.
power was placed in the hands of the
Russian supreme commander, Joseph
Stain, to whom were subordinated all
the nations wartime activities.
Until its surrender, Japan had sepa-
rate army and navy departments. But
since the invasion of Manchuria in Sep
tember, 1881, the politically minded army
had been dominating the professional
navy. And We must give thanks for that.
The japanese general staff had under
its thumb not only the Emperor, the
cabinet and the great industrialistS, but
also the sister service, the navy. While
in theory they were equal, in practice
the naval staff had to take orders from
the army general staff.
Army Ruled Jap Navy.
From the summer of 1912 to the fall
of 1914 the japanese ships could have
come out and given battle to the still
incomplete American feet and Japan's
submarines could have played havoc with
our lighter task fleets and our shipping
But Tokyo would not give her admirals
free hand. The army command, which
! had overexpanded, demanded that the
vessels, particularly the cruisers, de-
/ stroyers and submarines, play nurse to
! the various army units extended from
! Guadalcanal and Bougainville to New
Guinea and the Philippines. They car
ried requirements and supplies and
! served as transportation for the various
| generals who wanted to seek safety when
things began to get hot. The result
was that Japan overlooked the task for
which the ships had been built and their
crews trained. There was no merger of
! the services in Japan. it was only the
submission of the other branches to the
Japanese general staff.
These considerations are being care
fully studied by the Senators on whom
lies the responsibility of approving or
rejecting the bill presented on April 9
by subcommittee of the Military
Affairs Committee. The first feeling
of many of the Senators is said to be
that the bill is premature and that we
should wait until the international
horizon is not so clouded. The second
feeling is that while the bill may have
some advantages-particul regarding
the consolidation of the medical serv-
ices, the purchasing of supplies for the
armed forces and other such activities
it has not yet been fully demonstrated
that it would increase the efficiency of
Americas national defense.
The chief objection, however, is said
to be in the creation of chief of staff
to the Secretary of the Department of
Common Defense, who, "by law" would
be senior to all other American officers
on active duty. He is already being de-
scribed by many legislators as the Man
on Horseback" and would be in effec-
tive command of all American armed
forces. And no one wants to place all
the fighting forces of this country at
the discretion of one military man. The