Evening star., 1951-05-29
Their Objective Is Peace

The American troops who have just landed
at Bremerhaven are the first elements of the
additional ground forces that the United States
has decided to send to Germany for integration
in the Atlantic Pact army being organized under
General Eisenhower to defend the Western
world against the threat of Red aggression.
Numbering only 1,1o0, the newly arrived
troops constitute the vanguard of the 4th
Infantry Division, the whole of which will have
been transferred to German soil by the end OF
next month. Thereafter, as rapidly as possible,
three other divisions of our Army will be sent
over to complete the reinforcement project before
the year comes to close.
Coupled with the troops already on occupa-
ton duty, the reinforcements will increase our
ground strength in Germany to total of six
full divisions. AS General Bradley told Congress
some months ago, this force, though relatively
small, has been planned as highly efficient,
combat-ready army unit trained and equipped
to take care of itself under almost any condi-
tionS, given the adequate air and sea support
of which we are capable Beyond that, according
to testimony by Defense Secretary Marshall, the
arrival of this American power should con-
tribute greatly to the morale of our European
Allies, to their determination to stand fast to-
gether against aggression, and to the effective
build-up of the far bigger land forces that they
hower's ver-all command.
In welcoming the new American arrivals at
Bremerhaven, French General Alphonse Pierre
JUN has restated a point that cannot be re-
stated too often answer to MoScoW'S cease
less propaganda about how the United States
and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are
preparing to unleash an all-out shooting con-
fiict. The point is simply this: That the forces
we and our Allies are building in Europe
threaten no one but are designed solely to
safeguard the West from attack. In other words,
to quote from Secretary MarShall's testimony
before the Senate Armed Services Committee
early this year, our common aim, our only OBJ
jective, 'is primarily to deter aggression if that
be possible and to defeat aggression if, in spite
of our efforts, the actions of the Soviet Union
or its satellites should precipitate another
world war"
Stated another way, additional American
troops are being sent to Germany to join with
allied forces in an unprecedented history making
effort to preserve peace by making clear to the
Kremlin that if it strikes against free Europe, it
will strike against a mighty wall of resistance
and run into fire of the deadliest kind. There
was time not very long ago, when Soviet
forces might have been able to march to the
English Channel with relative ease, but that
time has now passed. Although we and our
be properly prepared the Stain dictatorship
knows that today, despite its huge land armies
and our current deficiencies in that particular,
it cannot move against the West without inviting
devastating retaliation and finding itself in a
total war. at
Of course, regardless of all this, regardless
of the fact that western powerfully and
effectively mobilized-wou1d be far superior to
Russia's in a protracted struggle, the men Of
the Kremln may choose to accept the risks of
war at any time. Yet, assuming that they are
sane, they must feel more than little inhibited
by our common allied front.
That is why there is still good reason to
hope that if we and the whole Atlantic COM
munity keep on growing in unity and defen-
sive strength, the Soviet Union will abandon
it's policy of aggression. In that sense the
sending of additional American troops to Europe
may well take its place in history as one of the
great peace-p preserving actions of our time.