Evening star., 1951-08-15


fred M. Gruenther, Gen. Eisen-
mowers chief of staff, to regard
the buildup of Western Europe's
defense forces as vital to the Sc
curity of the United States.
i A comprehensive picture of
what has been done to date and
what may be expected if adequate
funds are continued, was given to
the Senate late yesterday by
Senator Lodge. Republican, of
Massachusetts, in the form OF a
QUESTIONABLE he submitted re-
Gently to Gen. Gruenther.
i Senator Lodge recently visited
Gen. EisenhoWer's headquarters.
Highlights of Gen. Gruenther's
answers to the Senator's questions
were:
! l. For every dollar this country
spends to help equip European
forces. four or more dollars would
have to be spent to build up Amer
Iican forces having the same con-
Itribution to United States security
in Europe"
2. In terms of numbers of
formed units the North Atlantic
countries ARE now at about one
half of what we would like to see
under our defense plan in the
forces that would be immediately
available to meet an enemy
attack"
3. The United States foreign
aid program for fiscal 1852 seeks
to remedy the difference in ratio
in which European ground forces
have increased 20 per cent, while
United States ground forces have
doubled. The rate at which Eu-
ropes part will expand is gov
erned by the equipment which
can be delivered to Europe.
/. 4. Some economic as well as
military aid should be continued
to enable the European partners
to carry out their part of the
program.
5. Western Germany should be
permitted to rearm within the
framework of the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization, but not with
a German national army or a new
German general staff.
Following is a partial text of the
interview:
Senator Lodge-What amount
of effort is going into the mill
tary build-up of the European
countries, and what has been the
military progress In land, sea and
air forces? What commitments
and actual preparations for the
future have been made?
General Gruenther-. Eval-
uating the aggregate European
effort as a whole, we obtain a pic
ture about as follows:
A. In terms of military budgets,
there has been an overall in
crease of rs per cent over the
past year. These countries have
now come up to 95 per cent Of the
target figure they should. On the
basis OF present United States es-
Inmates of their economic capa-
bllity, try to meet during the COM
ing year, according to the prelim-
mary targets proposed by the
United States.
B. In terms of length of con-
scription period, there has been
an average increase of IS per cent
since June a year ago. All coun-
tries except Portugal have in
creased their terms of service in
the last year. We regard "a
months as the figure that should
normally be met. Over all, as
a weighted average, the European
countries are at IT per cent of the
IA months figure.
Munitions Production.
c. In terms OF mutations pro-
Iduction. the information has been
pretty hard to pin down, but it
seems to indicate that there has
been an increase of 70 per cent
overall and that the present total
target for the coming year is at
about 80 per cent of what our
United States agencies here would
like to see the countries try to
meet as preliminary objective for
next year.
| D. In terms of military units
(for example, divisions, there has
been an overall increase in num-
Der of units and numbers of men
assigned to such units of some 40
per cent in the last year. Of
course, many of the last formed
of these are at low levels of train
ing and equipment. In terms
of numbers of formed units, dis
regarding present state of train
ing and equipment, we are now at
about one-half of what we would
like to see under our defense plan
in the forces that would be i'm
imediately available to meet an
enemy attack. The present situa-
Ition is one in which the speed of
shipment of military equipment to
fill their screened deficiencies is
one of the chief factors directly
governing the rate at which these
formed units become combat eff
Ifective.
E. In terms of the effectiveness
of the military units, these have
been doubled or trebled in their
effectiveness. 1t is hard to say
mathematically what remains to
be done. but it is probably fair