Evening star., 1953-04-04
The Rdgwoy EvoIuotion

General Matthew RldgWay, NATOS supreme
commander in Europe, voiced a timely and ap-
propriate warning on the second anniversary Of
the SHAPE headquarters when he reminded the
Western nations that the Soviet threat has not
diminished one iota."
For General Ridgway, beftting his capacity,
was speaking of the military power of the Rus
sians and their satellites that could be directed
against the allies in western Europe. The fact
that Moscow is currently engaged in series of
markedly conciliatory political maneuvers on
virtually all of the cold-war fronts has no i'm
mediate bearing upon this military potential
While the NATO defensive strength has ap-
proximately doubled in the past two years, the
Communist bloc not only started that period
with wide superiority in ornaments but it has
increased and continues to increase" its mill
tary power.
If the Russians are sincere in their cur
rently peaceful tones, the threat which they
hold may not be employed. It is not the func-
ton Of military commanders however, to at
tempt defnitive evaIuations of an opponents
political intentions or strategy. General Ridg-
way did not make such an attempt in his an
niversary statement; instead, he gave soldiers
evaluation Of the military stuation-what
might happen if the enemy did strike, what
still needs to be done to prepare for such an
eventuality, and what the greatest shortcoming
is at the present time.
In his opinion, the Western defense forces
would prove gravely inadequate" If put to the
test now, and our losses would be heavy in life
and arms Without spelling out the exact nature
or extent, he believes that the governments
concerned have the duty of providing the requi
site military strength "even at the possible cost
of temporary curtailment of some of our ma
terial well-being." Significantly he emphasized
that SHAPE Is not seeking to match the Com
munist strength plane for plane and division
for division" The planning is being directed,
instead, at the training and equipping of the
forces on hand, plus the creation of reserve
strength which could be mobilized with relative
speed and on level Of effectiveness.
That such program may cost, temporarily
at least, some of our material well-being Is OBJ
vious, and it is on this point that the political
and military aspects of the overall security
problem overlap. For one reasonable appre-
hension about the current Soviet "peace offen-
Sive" is that its goal is to undermine our politi
cal determination to continue the military
build-up. Clearly, such result would be to the
Soviet advantage and would nullify to q danger
Gus degree all the Western rearmament effort
of the past two years.
As compared to this more long-term respon-
sibility, General Ridgway imposes upon the
continental West European powers the most
pressing of the immediate tasks, namely, the
ratification Of the European army treaty and
the creation Of West German force within
that army. The approach to this objective is q
political one, the need for it is military one.
It is estimated that Is months will be needed,
after ratification, to bring trained and equipped
German units into such composite force It
is acknowledged by most that a dangerous
vacuum exists in West European defense plan
ming without German contribution. The West
European political leaders, particularly those of
France and West Germany, should weigh Gen
eral Ridgways words carefully. What these
political leaders do in the next few weeks may
have great bearing on whether the Russians
= really mean to continue peaceable.