Evening star., 1952-08-11
Says Threat
OF War Is Still Big
And West Is Weak
NATO Leader Points
To Deficiencies, Citing
Loeistics Particularly
bv the Asxocioted Press

SUPREME HEADQUARTERS
ALLIED POWERS IN EUROPE,
Aug. 11.-Gen. Matthew B. Ridg-
way said today the threat of war
is still as big as ever, and there
are serious weaknesses in the
Vests buildup to meet this threat
The supreme commander of AL
lied forces in Europe told a news
conference there was doubt as tt
whether the Western Allies coulo
reach their 1852 goal of so di.
visions-25 active and Is in re-
serve-and 1000 planes.
Gen. Ridgway also said he
favored two years military serv-
ice-something European nations
are to discuss in Paris tomorrow
amid indications they will moi
adopt it.
Belgium has already been hit
by strikes protesting her two-yeal
draft term.
Deficiency in LOgistics.
Gen. Ridgway. former United
Nations commander in Korea
took over the SHAPE command
in May from Gen. Dwight D
Eisenhower.
"The most serious deficiency to
date" Gen. Ridgway said, is the
SHAPE buildup in the logistics
field.
The problem of building ware
houses, troop installations and all
fields is broad and complex, he
said. and II haven't had time to
go into the almost innumerable
details Of that program"
On the question of British and
French hints they may not be able
to reach their rearmament goals
because of economic difficulties
or failure to receive sufficient
United States aid, he said that is
"above this headquarters and al
IA governmental level"
He added, however, he felt the
question "can and will be adjusted
without damage to the SHAPE
program"
SuperweaponS Indefinite.
He said the new s,lnerweanons
being developed are exceedingly
difficult to evaluate and it was
very difficult to estimate whether
the number Of ground troops
could be cut down.
"The matter is continuously
under study, not only from ou1
point of view but from the point
of view of any enemy capabili-
ties" he said.
In a prepared statement OPEN
ing the news conference, he saio
some unobservant people are
quite prone to overlook the OBJ
stacles" in setting up an interna-
tional command.
For his part, he felt it "incred-
ible that such harmonious ties
had been formed in such a short
time.
The General said he found
progress had been made in pro-
Ividing troop leadership, but build
ing an efficient officer corps is a
long time project, and it is i'm
possible to do the job completely
in the short time that many ma
tionS have had since the war.
Threat Not Diminished.
There is no reliable evidence
known to me-" he said, that the
threat of aggression against the
West had diminished. In prepar-
ing the defense against such a
threat, he said, there were "seri-
GUS inadequacies in several vital
|categories," but all the SHAPE or
|ganization is trying its best to
meet these deficiencies.
The general said he was mot
aware Of anything like that" when
asked If the United States might
be shifting its basic policy of
making Western Europe defensible
in a reasonable period.
Since he came here from Ko-
rea. he said he was visited "a
little more than half" of the
NATO members and he intends
to visit the others just as soon
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