Evening star., 1953-02-15
Slash In Number
Of Troops Abroad
Urged By Senator's
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separate services in implement
f1ig the broad policies Of the
Joint Chiefs.
si4. The subcommittee recon-
Eiended an investigation Of the
need for the number of Amecican
troops in Europe. The report
also described as excessive the
number of Americans stationed
at Newfoundland, Labrador
Greenland and Iceland.
After pointing out that the six
divisions committed by this ma
ton to Europe would amount to
approximately 100000 men, the
report continued:
.':Yet we find that already there
are approximately (flgure de-
leted for security reasons) in
Europe"
Although not giving the num-
ber. the report questioned
whether more than half of that
number are necessary" The De-
fense Department has publicly
announced that the United
States has 250,0O0 ground troops
in Europe.
The report suggested that,
unless the trend is reversed.
'tthere may soon be additional
hundreds of thousands of men
stationed in that area" The
subcommittee argued that many
of the functions performed by
American troops, such as cook
ing, driving and repairing auto
mobiles, could be furnished at a
saving by foreign civilian labor.
Mobility Emphasized.
The subcommittee contended
that mobility of American re-
serves is a better answer to the
threat of Communist aggression
at remote points than an attempt
to station and maintain enough
American boys at sparSelyl set
tied outposts to defeat a major
enemy assault upon such points" ."
The report cited Iceland as an
example. Again without giving
the number there now. the sub
committee said lit would be
more in the national interest
that this country should main-
tain no more than several hun
dred airmen and an even lesser
number of soldiers at the same
installation and that this
country should have plans which
would enable the United States
to rush thousands Of reserves
to this outpost by sea and air
in the event an enemy attempted
to capture it."
The entire Armed Services
Committee began last week going
over the subcommittee's findings
with Pentagon officials. and will
resume the discussion with Air
Force officials in CLOSED session
tuesday.
sPentagOn Told to Hold Back.
LAST October the Senate COM
mittee directed the Pentagon to
hold up work on a list of over
seas bases pending further study
Since then it has released a few
where Defense officials advised
tie delay would waste public
funds.
Senator Byrd, Democrat, of
Virginia, a member of the full
c&hmittee, said it was all right
I'll investigate, but added, "of
course, we can't interfere with
tie defense effort" He des-
ctbed the air bases as "very
essential to our welfare and as
valuable as anything we are do
ing"
Another Senator, who asked
not to be quoted, said the sub
committee complaint about con-
centration of planes on parking
aprons ought to be worked out,
but he pointed out that dispersal
increases the number of fields.
He suggested it might be feasi-
BILE to build parking aprons near
municipal and private airfields
Commenting on the objection
of military men to keeping the
bulk of the personnel in this
country for quick transporta-
ton to trouble spot, Senator
Long conceded that they could
say as military experts that the
present numbers are needed at
overseas bases. He said he could
ten them from his experience
tint "the American people will
not stand for keeping that many
overseas as long range prop
o&tion, assuming the Korean
WIS is brought to an end.
THE subcommittee report men.
tibned one unidentified remote
baSe where American forces are
sharing the facility with an AL
lied nation. The report said the
other nation had $50 men on it.
side of the field, while the Unitec
States had $500 men. The report
suggested the American opera
ton could be brought down tt
that Of the ally.
"Yet. American planning viii
require an enormous increase o.