Evening star., 1951-01-14

The operations in Korea are
for far more important operation
today are less defended than the,
were six months ago.
According to the thinking o
some of our Strategists, Moscoy
ordered the Korean operation no
so much to probe our effectiveness
in action or to find out how ia
the United Nations would stant
together in the face of common
danger, as to obtain needed base
in South Korea for the invasion
of Japan.
If and when the Russians attacl
Japan. it probably will be three
prong attack from Sakhalin, from
the Vladivostok area and from
Korea. The Korean peninsula
offers the best bases for airborn'
operations against Okinawa ant
the main japanese island O.
Honshu.
= Soon after the aggression oc'
Cured against South Korea WI
committed not only all our force
of occupation in Japan-foul
divisions-but also most OF ths
available ground forces in the
United States. We moved int
Korea 7 of our 10 available divi'
SONS. These have been badly cu
up. Up to the present time oul
casualties have exceed $4,000 men
This represents three full divisions
Matter of Peace Treaty
The end of the struggle is mo-
IN sight yet in Korea. 1t is doubt
full that after the Korean conflic
is ended-probably with our with
drawal from the peninsula-wt
will be able to place in Japar
the same number of occupation
forces that we had early last June
The japanese have lived up te
the terms of the armistice 100 pei
cent. They have no army what
soever. They have no equipment
to arm even local militiamen IN
greater strength than permitted
under the terms of the armistlce
In face of this serious potential
threat not only to Japan but also
to our own security in the Pacific
there is a growing feeling in ad-
ministration circles in Japan
that peace treaty should be
signed as soon as possible. Even
if our British friends are not
willing to participate in such a
treaty, for fear of losing the
Friendship" of the Chinese
Communists, the trend of feeling
in Washington now is that we had
better sign a peace treaty permit
ting the Japanese to create their
own ground forces.
Diplomatic thinking, however
is always slow. Much time already
has been lost and every day
counts. The creation of Japa-
nese army must take at least an
other year, even if we were will
ing and able to provide it with
the needed military equipment.
The japanese forces were COM
pletely dissolved after the defeat
of the Tokyo warlords. The OFF,
GERS corps has dispersed and its
members have returned to private
life. They now are engaged In
business or in other occupations
which are in no way warlike. II
would take at least a year tc
gather the younger officers TO-
gether again and to give them
military refresher courses.
Few Arms to Send
After five years of civilian life
the best of officers forget about
command and the handling OF
troops, even on the company and
battalion level. The National
Guard in this country, for in
stance, undergoes annual train
ing. Yet when 1t is mobilized fol
war service it must undergo more
training of at least six months
before 1t is battle-ready.
After the japanese officer cadre!
have been remobilized the non.
commissioned officers and othel
enlisted men must be brought to.
gether and retrained in types O.
weapons which they did not ust
in the last war. The Japanese art
good, sturdy soldiers. But with
out proper instruction they will b'
Just loose bands-cannon fodder
We have definite, importan
commitments to rearm our OWL
armies, which are expected tx
reach 8 million men this year
We also are definitely committed
to rearm the potential divisions
of the North Atlantic treaty or.
ganization. Although our Allie!
have not created a single new di.
vision since the mutual defense
assistance program was enacted il
1948, several thousand tanks ant
self-propelled guns have reached
continental Europe. The trend i
to send much more equipment
lest we lose "the confidence ant
good will of our European AL
lies. Under these conditions ther
is little that we can send to Japan
even if we wished to do so.
Needs Time to Retool
japanese heavy industry ha
been broken up. It will take a
least two years before it can b
retooled to produce war materials
All these considerations must b
taken into account when we tall
about rearmament of Japan.
Japan can be counted as al