Evening star., 1951-03-28
II. S. Aid Fills Gap While French Reorm

/ Sherman with the high-velocity
rs nm. gun. and the French troop
ers were very proud Of them.
Sergt. Picavet, tall youngstel
who'd just returned from course
at the United States Army's Ar.
mored School at Fort Knox. Ken
lucky, stood beside me in the colo
bright sunshine as the leading
tanks of the Third Squadron came
around the bend of the road. "Tha'
squadron might have been short
a tank this morning" he said
But the kids wouldn't stand fol
it. Broke a part in the clutch at
drill yesterday. No spare. So
those four types-the tank crew
a corporal and three privates-
they borrowed a jeep and drove
As kilometers to the Tank Main
tenance Depot at Glen. They got
their spare, came back here and
worked all night to get their tank
ready. They'd heard an American
newspaper man was coming this
morning. and they said they
weren't going to have you write in
your paper that they didn't appre-
ciate the beautiful tank you Amer
leans had given them. See-there
they are now, the second tank
in the column"
That's esprit de corps-or CUTS
or whatever you like to call it.
Anyway it's the stuff Of which the
soul of armies is made.
Dangerous Situation Possible.
OF course, it's also the sort Of
incident which shouldn't have
happened. In war, an accumula-
tion of such incidents could well
be dangerous. On the other hand,
1t might we'll be dangerous for all
sources of French arms supply to
be on the same continent with the
Russian army-until the French
army and its allies grow strong
enough to protect those sources.
So the present program is bal
ance between the immediate ne
cessity for some protection and
the future necessity Of large-Scale
French rearmament.
This means, necessarily. a mix
ture Of French and American
weapons. and presiding over every
plan and every project is Old Man
Standardization. For, II 1t is mill
tarily dangerous to have to bring
spare parts across the ocean. it Is
likely to be militarily disastrous to
have a mixed-up supply system in
wartime. with the virtual GER
tainty that the wrong kind of
ammunition will arrive at the
front at a critical moment.
So I'm happy to be able to tell
you that some encouraging prog
ress Is being made in standardiZa-
ton as the parallel programs of
American arms supply and the re-
building Of the French arsenals
go ahead. I visited several ar
senals and maintenance depots
saw prototypes Of Frances new
weapons. and finally had a Ions
talk on the subject with France s
able Minister Of Defense. Jules
Moch. Boiled down, here's what
France Is doing about new weap-
ons plus Standardization:
Rifles: The French semiauto-
matte rife MAS 1914 is being re-
modelled as the MAS 1949 and
chamhered to carry the same am
munition as the United States
MI rife (the famous Garand)
Guns: The new French l05-mrn
and 1851 nm. howitzers will
carry the same ammunition as
United States guns of these cali
bers. The los Is going into pro-
duction at the Bourges arsenal
(where I saw it) and is o honey OF
a gun.
Tank Production Rate.
Tanks: A very good light tank
Us tons) is being produced at the
Issy-les- -Moulineaux arsenal. I'll
have so Of them in the parade ir
Paris on July IA (Bastille Day.
Mr.. Moch assured me. land l,00t
by the end Of next year." There
lis also a 50-ton heavy tank which
Mr.. Moch asserts is the superior
of the Russian Stain tank II
armor, range and speed. This
tank, however, is at present hardly
more than a gleam in Mr.. Mochs