Evening star., 1948-03-28

Basic functions of the Army,
Navy and Air Force, including
the ALLEGATION of bombing jobs in
event of an atomic war, were
announced yesterday by Secre-
tary of Defense Forrestal.
The detailed assignments, long the
source of disagreement among the
Nations top military leaders, were
worked out at the recent confer
ences of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
with Mr.. Forrestal at Key West,
Fla.
Mr. Forrestal announced that:
l. Strategic bombing would be the
primary function of the Air Force,
but the naval air arm may engage
in it if, during campaign, it finds
it has surplus planes. However, the
primary function of naval aviation
is to support naval campaign and
such a campaign is defined by the
agreement as one intended to gain
or maintain control of the sea-"
2. The primary function of the
Marine Corps would be to develop
techniques and equipment for am
phibious operations. The agreement
added: The Marine Corps will not
build up second land army"
3. The Navy has been assigned
primary responsibility for antisub-
marine warfare.
General Accord Seen.
These were the principal points
over which there has been contro-
versy and Mr.. Forrestal commented,
Il believe that there is now general
accord on practically all matters
which were previously unresolved."
During World War II, rivalry
among members of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff included a quarrel over
whether Navy planes should be al
lowed to engage in the bombing of
war plants and other strategic tar
gets and they did, in fact, bomb
Tokyo and other inland Japanese
points. The Air Force maintained
that the Navy should stick to attacks
at purely naval targets such as
ships and docks.
That argument outlived the war
and continued until the announce
ment yesterday. 1t was learned that
this was the main issue argued at
Key West.
High Navy officers said they were
more than satisfied with the decision
and pointed out that if the Air
Force contention had been followed
to the ultimate that the sea arm
would be essentially a surface feet
once more.
Surplus Planes" Defined.
Surplus planes" was taken to
mean for example, that if the Navy
had an 80,000-ton carrier-the con-
struction of which Mr.. Forrestal has
approved-in fighting area and
needed only half its aircraft for
beachhead operations, the balance
would be thrown into inland fight
ing without quibbling.
The decision apparently gave to
the Air Force the job of dropping
any future atomic bombs. There
have been statements that the
Navy could do the job as we'll.
The decision to limit the size to
which the Marine Corps may be ex-
panded in war reflects a contro-
versy which started in World War
I when Marine units fought in land
campaigns in France and continued
in this war in some phases of the
Pacific fighting.
While the document did not
specify the size of the corps, it was
learned that the Joint Chiefs dis
cussed four divisions as a probable
maximum, although allowing for
variations from that figure if cir
cumstances warranted. The Marines
had six divisions in World War II.
The wartime strength of a Marine
division was about $4,000 men.
The Army had contended that the
Marines should be used only to
support naval operations involving
the occupation of small islands,
which would have effectively re-
stricted them to island hopping"