The Daily Alaska empire., 1948-03-26
} REPORTS ARE MADE
 FROM NAVY
By MELTON c. FAY

dR Military Affairs Reporter
 WASHINGTON. March 26.-4H- Alaska this country's guardian out pest against attack over the pole, is manned by only 1000 soldiers and perhaps fewer than 100 fight CT planes. The plan is to add 5000 soldiers.
 This was a part of the military picture sketched for Congress by the nations high command in its request for more men and more money to be ready If war comes"
 Not all the picture was dark. Sec- retary of Defense Forrestal said this Is no counsel of despair.
 But there were grim touches.
 Like Forrestal's declaration that "as a strictly military matter" America must halt Russian expan- sion.
 And like the assertion of Sec retary of the Navy Sullivan:
 Recently submarines not belong ing to any nation west of the iron curtin have been sighted off our shores"
 Sullivan didn't say where or whose submarines had been sight, ed. But his meaning appeared clear--Russias
 Sighted On Pacific
 And later another Navy official said that three had been reported seen in the Pacific. One was 200 miles off San Francisco, one off the Aleutians and third in an island group 800 miles west of Hawai- An American airplane-- whether military or commercial wasn't clear-made the report from 1 the Aleutians. Merchant ships re- | ported the other two instances. Tn the case nearest San Francisco, the Identification of the object sight, ed was not positive.
 Bombing Bases Secretary of Air Symington told the Senate Armed Services com mittee that B-29s. equipped with refueling service, could take off from such points as Alaska or La- brador bomb any part of Russia and return to American bases such as the Philippines, Okinawa, Alas ka or Labrador
 On the other hand. Secretary of the Army Royal said.
 In case of any reasonably pos- sible Var, no part of the Central Eurasian land mass could be eff iectively reached by strategic bomb ing from bases on or near the North American continent or from bases in the Philippines. Even from any of the Atlantic island nations or from Japan and Alaska, frequent and intensive strategic bombing could touch only frag- mentary parts oi Central Eurasia.'
 (There has been widespread spec ulation that Russia is moving big part of her heavy industry east of the Urals, in Central Eurasia)
 Symington added to his testi- mony about possible B-29 strikes against Russia that such attacks would not be decisive unless bases nearer the targets became available.
 Royal and Bradley both termed airpower major factor in war but they also said that a ground army of adequate size must be ready to move forward to seize and defend advance bases for air strikes against any enemy
 And the United States-in event of war--must expect the same strategy from the enemy, Royall emphasized
 He pointed to Alaska as being within easy reach of air or air. borne attack from other countries" and said from there and other land on or near this continent. an enemy could reach America by round-trip bombing
 Troop Deployment
 General Bradley presented this table to show the deployment of the 542,000 men now in the Army and how they would be deployed under expansion into 782 2,000-man Army:
 Present Recom'ed.