Evening star., 1953-04-26

O1VChPItS. ouL Geu. van c16et
cracked the Red offensive.
Did Gen. Van Fleet shoot too
much? Some Army men say yes
some say no. Even men who
fought under Gen. Van Fleet
disagreed on that point.
But the main point was, this
increased shooting ate UP the
stockpile at a faster clip than
anticipated. Production couldn't
meet the demand even of the
guns in Korea. And here it ap-
pears from the testimony that
there was no effective system for
warning those in higher author
ity to what was happening in
Korea.
Senator Smith, Senator Byrd,
Senator Cooper. Republicans, of
Kentucky and others took the
view the civilian secretaries at
the Pentagon should have had a
system which would have alerted
them to the ammunition dan
ger that was developing.
The new Army Secretary, Rob-
ert T. Stevens, has assured the
Smith committee that he has
taken steps to insure advance
warning in such situations.
System Called Obsolete.
One Army witness testified the
people behind Gen. Van Fleet
did not realize for some time
that Gen. Van Fleet was shoot
ing ammunition at such a rate,
although ammunition officers
made daily reports to Tokyo on
the rate of consumption and the
amount needed for resupply.
But these reports have been
described as being merely
routine reports that went
through channels" and did not
reach the top echelons of the
Pentagon.
In this connection, Mr.. Lovett
testified: "The Army system, the
ordnance system, the Ga (sup-
ply system. is complicated, OBJ
solete. time-waiSting and the
accounting system is so inaccur-
ate that it is extremely difficult
to determine the facts"
Mr.. Lovett insists there is
need for some overhauling of the
Army's technical services and
the Army says it is studying ways
to simplify the system.
The amount of money provid-
ed for ammunition by Congress,
witnesses agreed, was enough to
do the job. This totals SGT bill
lion since the war began, and the
Army hasn't been able to spend
this sum entirely.
Army men say that by hind
sight they can see where more
money spent sooner in expand
ing ammunition production would
have solved the whole problem.
But again they say the psy-
chology of early war days did
not demand such all-out effort.
Danger Point is Past.
Did the civilian secretaries
have the authority to do the job
or was the massed weight of
Pentagon brass too great to get
quick results? This is a matter
of dispute.
Senator Byrd insists the uni
flcation act gives the Secretary
of Defense all the powers that
were needed to get the job done.
But Mr.. Lovett and Undersec-
retary of Defense w. j. Mcneil
took the position the situation
just couldn't be solved entirely
by directives.
"You can delegate duty and
authority but you can't delegate
responsibility" Mr.. Lovett said.
And he noted that he had pro-
posed to President Truman
overhauling the Army's techni-
cal services. AS an example OF
the need for reforms. it was
pointed out the Army has 33
different accounting systems in
various compartments.
The story jumps from October,
1851, to August, 1852. when Mr..
Lovett decided to put a civilian,
Hugh Dean, on the job to expe-
dite ammunition production. Mr..
Lovett said this was done be-
cause he finally "lost patience"
with the Arrny's performance.
But it wasn't until last Novem-
ber that Mr.. Lovett finally de-
cided to take the most dramatic
action that had been taken up
to that time. He ordered the
production of ammunition put
on an all-out war mobilization
basis. New and greater authori-.
ties were given to the Army,
along with overriding priorities
on machines and materials.
Now, after almost three years
of war, the Pentagon witnesses
say production is starting to hit
stride. They say ammunition is
rolling out faster and faster.
From their testimony, there is
every indication the danger
point is safely past and the
stockpile is being replenished.
But the evidence leaves no doubt
this country can thank its
lucky stars the Korean war
didn't explode into a world con-