Evening star., 1951-02-05
Collins Says Army Can Handle
Superior Numbers ofRed Troop.
General Cites New
Weapons, Techniques
And Atomic Prospects
By the Associated Press

By The Associated Press
! Gen. j. LaWton Collins declared
today it is not necessary to match
Russia division for division be-
cause with new weapons and
techniques the United States
Army could deal with" hordes of
men and masses of tanks coming
across Europe.
One of the new weapons, which
the Army Chief of Staff cited as
being mot many years" away, is
a guided missile with an atomic
war-head.
In a copyrighted interview
with, the magazine U. S. News and
World Report published here, Gen.
Collins summarized some of the
new weapons and lessons learned
in Korea. His appraisal of ef-
fectiveness of the new weapons
was highly optimistic.
| In effect, Gen. Collins outlined
a new battle pattern based
strongly on new weapons and
techniques, but still far from be-
ing a blueprint for so-calleo
"pushbutton" warfare.
Its theme, as he outlined it, i:
that the new Army can Outright
a far larger force not similarly
equipped.
In backing his contentious
Gen. Collins disclosed that the
Army Is working with the Ali
Force on the business Of having
enough transports of the proper
types, so that we can move one
division approximately $4,000 to
10000 mem by air in one lift.'
In preparation for possible use
of such a huge air movement. the
Chief of Staff said, We're train
ing our infantry divisions in what
we call air transportability.'"
Gen. Collins disclosed that the
first American troops flown into
Korea to meet the Communist in
vasion last June consisted of only
two rifle companies. one mortar
platoon and four los millimeter
guns.
"It fought off an entire Com
munist division from 8 o'clock in
the morning until o'clock in the
afternoon" he said.
With air transport training, he
explained. regular foot troops
with everything except heaviest
equipment" could be moved quickly
and easily to an airfield seized by
advance paratroopers. Then. he
added. other transports with
fighter cover could bring in the
heavy equipment and-"you're
there"
Discussing possible technique in
halting mass attacks of tanks and
men, Gen. Collins said:
Making proper use of land OBJ
stacles, bridges, mountain ranges,
streams and things of that char
acter, in conjunction with planned
demolition-that combination of
factors together with highly
mobile forces, adequately equipped
with modern weapons, can go a
long way toward making it pos
sible."
In this connection, he said he
thought wed be making colos-
sal mistake" if I'VE were to try
to match the rumored 10000
Russian tanks, tank for tank"
The Chief of Staff explained
that in the battle between armor
and guns" the balances swings
back and forth"
Either the armor or the weapon
is relatively obsolete at any given
stage of the game" Gen Collins
said. What we have gone after
is to improve both our tanks and
our antitank weapons.
He said the United States now
has, in addition to the 3.5-inch
bazooka some military men credit
with stopping the early tank. led
drive in Korea, several other new
weapons capable "of knocking out
the best tank that we know of
in the world
Progress on Guided Missiles.
He described a tank grenade
fired from a launcher attached to
a rifle. a new recoilless rifle, the
los. with an effective range up
to 1000 yards. and new antitank
ammunition fired from normal
field artillery at a range up to
10000 yards "or more
Gen. Collins said the Army
would have within 18 months"
some guided missiles which can
seek out their target at night or
in bad weather. And he added:
THE guided missile also will
eventually carry an atomic war
head, which will be q great asset