Evening star., 1949-07-11
Devers' Appeal 10 AT
On Troop Support Held
Pointing Up Disunity
Writer Says Army Is Not
Reody for Action, Due
To inadequate Air Arm
Bv David Laurence

The sad story Of disunity in
the armed services and the tragic
effects OF creating separate Air
Force-constituting three services
now where there were only two
before-has been revealed mad
vertently by Gen. Jacob L. DeverS,
commander of the Army field
forces.
For several weeks. the head Of
the ground forces has been beg
ging the Air Force to pay more
attention to what is known as
tactical" air support Of troops.
The Air Force has put its en-
phasis on what is known as "stra-
tegic bombing" which means
long-range flying at high alti-
tudes over industrial targets far
from military operations OF an
army.
What the ground forces need,
and have always needed, accord
ing to Gen. Devers, are planes
that fly at low attitudes to bomb
enemy pillboxes. tanks, transport
vehicles and communications.
A relatively insignificant num-
ber of planes has been allocated
for this purpose. If. during the
acute stages of the "cold war, "
1t had become necessary to con-
slider the transportation OF
ground forces to Europe as a
preventive or protective measure.
there would not have been avail
able the necessary tactical air
support properly trained to work
with ground troops.
Army Lacks Effective Air Arm.
1t is no exaggeration to say
that, while the Navy Is a force
in being" ready for instant ac-
ton. the Army is in no such state
of readiness and lacks an ef1ec-
tive air arm.
The main reason for this is the
obsession which the Air Force
enthusiasts have developed with
respect to strategic bombing" !"
Most of the money and the atten-
ton of the Air Force has been
devoted to this instead of caring
for the needs of ground troops. 1t
is becoming increasingly apparent
that, when the Army chiefs con-
sented to a separation of the Air
Force from that service, they lost
an important component OF
ground army operations.
The United States Army is to-
day in the same fix as that in
which the British navy found it
self in 1899. All air forces had
been transferred to the Raj,
which concentrated on home de-
fense. A sufficient number of
planes were not allocated for
training in carrier operations.
Only toward the end of the war
did the British navy get an effec-,
tive air arm of It's own.
Gen. Devers has been begging,
the Air Force these last few weeks
to give him air support. After
many conferences he has been told
finally that attention will be given
to his requests.
What we have now" he says,
ARE assurances. not guarantees.
But I think If we keep after them
keep bouncing them-things will
be all right"
The British navy kept after the
RAF and got assurances" for sew
eral years. Today the United
States Army is similarly at the
mercy of the United States Air
Force.
Added Expense Seen.
Instead of unifying the armed
services and bringing them closer
together, the net effect to date of
creating a separate Air Force has
been triplication and disunity and
added expense. Not only are the
ground forces of the Army with
out a trained tactical Air Force
but the effectiveness of the naval
air arm also has been diminished
by the veto exercised by the Air
Force
Because the Air Force is con-
centrating its money and energies
on strategic bombing" it wants
no sirplanes made available to the
Navy of longer range apparently
than those which closed the last
war. The Navy's progress in avia-
ton to control the seas has been
stopped by the suspension of the
large carrier it planned. This was
not really an issue over the build
ing of ship as such. 1t was an
issue over the use of heavier
bombers that could be launched
from the deck of a carrier SO as
to permit more effective control of
the seas in off-shore protection
to the landing of troops. The
Navy provided tactical air sup
port for ground troops in most of
the operations in the Pacific In
the last war.
The Air Force policy to date,
therefore. has cramped the naval
air arm and brought about the
neglect of the tactical air arm
for which the Army has been
clamoring. Perhaps the solution
lies in giving the Air Force COM
plete responsibility for long-range
strategic bombing" and giving
the Army tactical air groups of its
own so that they become an in
tegral part of the ground forces
trained constantly with infantry
and artillery and tank battalions.
The United States is spending
Sic. .000, 900 900 for defense, but the
inside story is that America is
not getting the defense it needs
and all because of a failure of
L.