Evening star., 1953-09-17
A-Guns for Free Europe

Although it can accomplish no magic the
deployment of numbers of our giant 28O-milli-
meter atomic guns to the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization will add significantly to the de-
fensive strength of Western Europe. The move
openly announced by Army Secretary Stevens,
will not go unnoticed in the Kremlin, where it
will be well understood probably decried-
as part Of NATOs continuing effort to build up
as much deterrent power as possible against the
threat OF Red aggression.
AS explained by Mr.. Stevens, several" bat
talions of these guns (there are six to a
battalion) are scheduled to be stationed in free
Europe The first battalion, the first six, will
arrive there shortly with specially trained
forces to man them. They will be integrated
with one of our American divisions in Western
Germany and will join in allied maneuverS as
a new supporting element in the NATO Setup
under the supreme command of General Gruen-
ther. In due course, judging from Mr.. Stevens
statement the Atlantic alliance will have at
least "a of them-and perhaps many more
available and ready for action in the European
theater.
What all this means is that our allied forces
in that theater are now moving toward time
when they will be equipped with highly signif-
cant new magnitude of f1repower for both
defensive and offensive purposes. For the 28O-
millimeter cannon, as demonstrated last May
at the Nevada proving ground, packs wallop
unprecedented in the history of artillery-an
atomic wallop contained in a moderate-sized
SHE'LL whose destructive force is equivalent to
about 10000 tons of TINT or possibly much more
than that, even though it is purposely tailored
to be less devastating than an A-bomb of the
small" type that shattered Hiroshima and
Nagasaki.
In the course of its development, this gun
which also fires a conventional, non-atomic
shell-has been criticized as foolish and un-
necessary military luxury in view of the fact
that light fighter -bombers like the F-84 Thun-
derjet can deliver tactical A-weaponS much
farther than the biggest and costliest piece of
artillery. But our top defense authorities
apparently have satisfied themselves that the
Army is right in holding that such criticism
is shallow and that the atomic cannon will
endow our ground forces with tremendous
extra punch that can be thrown against targets
20 miles away in all kinds of weather, day or
night, with accuracy far excelling drop from
plane.
Moreover, our weapons evaluators appar-
emily have been convinced by special tests that
the 280-millimeter gun, despite weighing about
IS tons, is highly mobile and maneuverable and
that the Army's basic argument for it is sound
namely that it is the deadliest field piece of its
kind for action against military concentrations
and that it can be relied upon as a constant
support factor in critical moments when ground
commanders might not be able to get air
backing on time. and when a swift atomic
bombardment could spell the difference between
victory and defeat in some crucial battle.
All things considered, therefore, it is reas-
suring to know that our allied NATO armies in
Europe are to have several battalions of these
cannon. Since there is ample reason to believe
that Russia lacks such weapons at this time,
and probably will not have them for the next
two or three years, the fact that we are equipped
with them can do much to Offset the numerical
superiority of Soviet land forces. Which is
another way of saying that it can do much
to discourage the Kremlin from unleaShing war
against the free West