The Daily Alaska empire., 1948-04-16
BORROWED
 FORCES TO
 COME HERE
Training Assignment An nouneed in Army Siate-
 ment-Units Listed
By ELTON c. FAY

! foot soldier in Alaska today, is bor- rowing from it's mobile reserve to build up the garrison in that north ern outpost next door to Russia. Anti-aircraft and other ground combat units from the west coast and Hawaii will leave for Alaska shortly ito undergo summer train ing ir conjunction with air units the Army said.
 The effect of this summer train ing" will be to bolster the present 7,00c-man force now there pend- ing action in Congress on the pro- posal of Gen. Omar Bradley, Army Chief of Staff. to expand the per- manent garrison to 15,00O. To Borrow Troops The number of troops to be bor- rowed from the Hawaiian Command and from the 2nd Division at Ft. Lewis, Wash, was not disclosed. The Army announcement last night said only that they would establish a balance between air and ground forces in Alaska.
 The End Division is part of the small mobile reserve of some 54.0OO trcous upon whom the United States ooun5s to bolster overseas forces in event of sudden emergency 1 The Hawaiian Command is not l considered part of the mobile re- serve. but defense for the Islands
 Troops sent from here for training
 in Alaska are expected to be anti
 aircraft personnel
 1 The Army's admission that it has
 no combat troops in the Alaskan Command was by indirection.
 Training Assignment
 In announcing the training as- signment, the Army statement com mented that "at present about 60 percent of the garrison is air and the remainder army service troops. Service troops are personnel whose job is to maintain installations. handle supplies, load and unload cargo at ports-but not to fight. There was some uncertainty about how many troops and air force per- sonnet might be indicated in the Army's statement that 60 percent |of the garrison was air. A recent table given to Senate Commit tee by the Army indicated 1000 men were in Alaska. However, it was not clear whether this meant 1000 1 Army service troops or whether the figure included air. If the figure re- presented only Army troops, this indicated the air strength is about lC,500. If it is the overall figure. the air strength is 4,200
 Wants 15,OOO Men Army Chief of Staff Omar Brad ley testified before a Senate Com mittee on March 25 that the Alas kan garrison totaled 1000 men. He recommended, as part of program to expand the Army to at least min imum requirements. that the garri- son be built up to l5,00O men.
 The 4.200 air force figure indi- cated in the Army statement pre- sumably does not include air groups going to Alaska on rotation train ing missions. Those crews include
 B-29 Squadrons tten planes with about 200 mem and fighter groups of 75 planes with about 100 men.) B-29 training missions have been conducted for some time. The air force sent fighter group to Alaska for winter maneuvers and is repIac- ing that with another fighter group scheduled to arrive in the area shortly.
 Previous air force announcements have shown that one fighter group and one air rescue unit is on per manent station in Alaska.
 Strange Doings Denied
 Meanwhile, both the air force and the Alaskan Army Command denied reports of strange doings in the Territory These reports included an assertion by Rep. Margaret Chase Smith 1R-Me) that Russian planes had violated" Alaska by flying across the borders and a Ketchikan newspaper story that B-29 which crashed near Nome last December had been hit by Russian shell be- fore 1t crashed.
 The Air Force said:
 None of it's planes has crossed the border of Russia nor have there been any confirmed reports of Rus isian aircraft crossing the border of
 Alaska"