Evening star., 1949-12-11

III tlldt dlcd W lUlStG Ulu JCd1ol
hinder the planned defense of We
to Bolshevik aggression.
This conclusion is bound to
server who spends no more thai
two months in Western Europe
listening and talking to person
in all walks of life-prominen
physicians. top-ranking militar!
men, white collar employees, fac
tory workers and foremen and til
lers of the soil.
The greatest difficulties have
been overcome in Western Europe
The only exception is Great Brit
ain, where the determination o.
the Labor government to intro
duce Socialism-in spite of the
obvious impossibility of achiev'
ing such an objective when rea
peace has not yet been established
yet-is a great stumbling bloch
to progress.
Marshall Plan assistance ano
the willingness to work harder
than they were doing Immediately
after the war has enabled the in
habitants of continental Europe
to bring their standard Of living
nearly to what it was before the
war.
Century.Old Antipathies
Even Germany-the most raw
tshed country on the continent
is making rapid strides toward
economic recovery, despite the
severe handicaps under which its
people work. Smoke belches from
the stacks of old OF reconstructed
factories. There is much activity
in the fields and under a new pol
icy of free enterprise rather than
strict government control-which
was introduced Immediately after
the end of the shooting war-com-
merce is prospering.
The problem today, however
transcends mere economic recov-
cry. The political body of Western
Europe Is still very Ill. The
malady Is not difficult to diagnose
but so far no cure has been found
for the centuries-ol antipathies
of peoples who live SO close to
each other.
We have gone further than at
any time in our history in at
tempting to bring even temporary
relief from this mental rather
than physical ailment. We have
become partners with Western
European nations in the Atlantic
Pact ard have offered to provide
Western Europeans with the nee
essary military equipment to per-
nit them to organize q defensive
force to protect themselves against
eventual Russian aggression,
But no matter how many bill
lions we are willing to spend in
that process a military force cam
not be organized If the various
members of the new alliance con-
tinue to suspect and distrust each
other.
The 10 nations which form the
European end of that coalition
must rely on each other in order
to utilize profitably the equipment
which we are going to send over.
But for the time being there is no
indication that this will be the
case.
AS the French See 1t
The French suspect the British
and the British have no conf
dence in the French. This is ap-
parent to anyone who has taken
the trouble to look into the ac-
tivities of the Western Union gen.
eral staff at Fontainbleu. where
France, Britain and the Benelux
countries are represented by then
top ranking officers.
The British general staff. lack
ing confidence in the continental
European armies, has decided to
devote it's principal efforts to de-
fense of the United Kingdom
Only 10 per cent of British all
power which we have decided to
strengthen in the course of the
next four years will be devoted to
the defense of continental Europe
The rest must remain in Britain
Only two British divisions will!
be created to support the forces
on the Rhine or wherever the
chiefs of our overall strategy de-
eide to make stand against the
Red armies. The balance o1
British manpower must be USED
In industries and in the mainten-
ance of home guard to defend
the islands against possible para
chute invasion.
The French say that is nothing
but a repetition of 1940," when
the British air force did not want
to risk its waning power to create
an air umbrella for the French
ground forces. The British are
not interested in actively collab-
Grating with Western Europe. They
are too selfish and will '1eave us
to our fate" This I have heard
repeated not only by French mill
tary men but also by the man on
the street."
The French feel that we have
placed too much of a burden on
their manpower and ability to
fight. We have assigned them
the role of creating at least seven
tank and armored divisions in the
next four years. Under the pre-
sent setup. when compulsory mill
tary service exists for only II
months. it is almost impossible &c
create such units with recruits
who come from villages or town.
and who have no mechanical ex-
perience Of any kind.
To show this lack of under
standing of anything mechanical
the following unpublicized Incl
dent from the last war was related
to this reporter by one top mill
tary man in Paris: Gen. de Lattre