Evening star., 1946-05-12
Air Base Pool 10 Aid
Defense Of Americas
Proposed by Board
BY the Associated Press

A common pool of air bases
throughout the Americas for mill
tary use of all their 81 nations was
disclosed yesterday as the main
feature of a master plan for West
ern Hemisphere defenses.
Existing civil air bases. which al
ready span the two continents, and
military and naval bases would be
pooled for use of all American ma
tions in the event of an attack by
an outside enemy.
The plan was drafted by the
Inter-American Defense Board, a
wartime agency composed Of mill
tary representative OF Western
Hemisphere countries. It's details
are outlined in a report which be-
came available yesterday for the
first time. They are based prima
rily on a wide outer ring of defenSes
in order to meet an enemy as far
as possible" from the Western
Hemisphere.
Coastal DefenSeS Set Up.
Should an enemy penetrate the
outer ring, the plan calls for an
immediate coastal defense to throw
back or hold the enemy until re-
serves can be brought up.
1t is this second plan in which the
common air defense figures, as we'll
as a combined use of navieS. ground
forces and overland transport.
The overall strategy was, approved
by the defense board last November
in the form of a confidential report
dealing with proposals for inter-
American military co operation
which has since been submitted to
the 81 American nations for their
study and action. Military men said
the plan formed the basis for PreSi-
dent Truman's recent proposal for
military standardization in this
hemisphere.
Follows L. S. Pattern.
The plan is primarily the same in
outline as the one being developed
by the United States for its own
protection and actually dovetails
with it. The Act of Chapultepec
requires all American republics to
90 Immediately to the assistance of
any of its members in the event of
an invasion.
The basic. strategic plan is stated
in the boards document on Doc
trine of Continental War" and as
quoted in the report on military CO.
operation states:
Il. Exterior defenses-The hemi-
sphere adopts the principle of dyna-
mic defense in distance, by virtue of
which defense will be carried out
first by naval and air forces, which
will maintain this defense as far as
possible from the hemisphere sup
ported by advanced bases.
go. interior defenSeS-InteriOr de-
fense will be made on the coast by
a combination of land naval and
air forces, to throw back any inva-
sion operation. or to contain in
vading forces until sufficient ele-
ment are brought together to destroy
them. Interior defense will be
supported by a system of military,
naval and air bases which can be
utilized on a basis of reciprocity for
common security
Military men familiar with the
details OF the plan said the Atlantic
line Of outer defense runs roughly
from Iceland, through England, the
Azores. the Canary Islands to the
Falkland Islands.
The Pacific line begins in the
Aleutians and would run roughly
through the Marianas Islands, the
Caroline Islands, thence to the
Manus Islands and Australia.
The United States still wants a
base in Iceland on which to hinge
its Atlantic line, although recent
attempts to negotiate for one met
with rebuff