The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1952-07-03
HAL
BOYLE
SAYS
ev HAL BOYLE

BY HAL BOYLE
NEW YORK R-The ghost OF
many an American soldier. gazing
down from the Valhalla Of heroes,
would have looked with wry envy
at a U. S. Army ceremony this
week.
1t was the demonstration OF the
mighty new Patton 48 tank.
Gee, that was the kind Of tank
I used to dream of before ! was
killed in Tunisia," you can imag-
inc one soldier saying.
yeah, we talked about having
tank like that before ! died In
the Battle of the Belgian Bulge,
replies his spectral buddy. boy,
look at that gun it packs-and its
low silhouette"
"Yep," says the first soldier,
''it's got almost the same lines
as the German tank that am
pushed the crate got hit in back
in 1912"
And if the heroic dead bear any
ill-will. one couldn't blame the two
spectral tankmen for resenting the
fact their countr7 gave them no
such tank to fight in when they
were among the living.
Army Secretary Frank c. Pace
hailed the powerful new Aston Pat
ton as ''the finest medium tank
in the world"
If battle tests prove this claim
true, it is encouraging. For many
veteran tankmen hold that Amer
| lean armor was inferior in design,
crew protection. and hitting power,
as compared to both German and
Russian armor. in World War u.
But this brilliant new weapon
is still to be put in real mass
production, and !. soon will be II
years after Pearl Harbor.
This situation points up the dam
ger of two civilian legends that
have long hampered American
military power-and cost US need
less casualties:
I'D The squirrel gun legend
"If war comes 10 million Amer
leans will grab grandpappy's old
squirrel gun off the mantel. and
repel the invader"
CD The know-how legend-fWe
are the most inventive people In
the world. and we can turn out
newer and better weapons faster
than any possible group OF ene-
mics"
Both of these legends are relics
of Americas bold frontier past,
but neither holds true In the mid.
die half Of the goth Century.
No civilian nation can spring ia
arms with squirrel guns any more
and win a modern war. 1t is a
perilous tradition. this 18th Cen.
fury hangover in our thinking that
we can hold off an enemy with
ut-of-date weapons while we
quickly gear up and turn out bet.
ter ones. Wars today move toe
fast.
AS to the legend that Americans
| are the most inventive race, the
facts simply don't bear ii out
at least on the battlefield. The
Germans produced the best sub
marines, tanks and all-purpose ar
tillery guns in the last war. They
put the first jet planes in the air,
the first guided missiles--rockets
and buzz bombs.
Our real genius has been In the
field of mass production. But TO-
day the Russians have more and
speedier JET planes In Korean skies
than We have. proof that their In
dustrial revolution has gone along
perhaps as fast as their social
revolution.
| The greatest military enemy the
American people have is their own
complacency. the habit Of low-rat
ing the capacity of other lands
We have Jagged in both research
and production of new weapons.
| The bitter penalty for this fool
ishness is paid by our own soldier
and airmen. They have found ir
korea--as they did In Tunisia--
that combat bravery cannot i'm
proyise a sturdier tank. Q faster
airplane.
But they so on holding the line
with what they have until the peo.
pie at home shake the nonsense
out Of their system and get dowr
to creating and building them the
tools they need to win.