Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-09-26


clearly its policy on defense is|
Great Britaill-and by doing
so the British scared the dick.
ems out Of their continental all
lies. The British policy state
ment seems to be the second
biggest defense worry In
Europe.
Two Points Of Worry
The first worry is that If the
West uses its retaliatory A.
weapons against the Soviet
Union, the West itself will be
destroyed in the resulting hoIo-
caust. The second worry is that
the British policy announced
earlier this year will make itI
increasingly difhcult for Europe
to develop a non-suicidal de-
tense.
The British policy was formed
when the new Macmillan gov
eminent took a basic new look
at Britain's position in the world
and decided to make her policy
square better with her resour-
ces. On defense. it was decided
that Britain could no longer
support an armed force able to
fight all kinds of wars all over
the world. 1t was decided to
concentrate on q force to deter
and resist aggression" and to
defend British colonies and
protected territories against To-
cal attack"
This was announced in 81
white paper" which also said
Britain's nuclear retaliatory
power would be strengthened
her conventional ground forces
would be cut. the British draft
would be ended and that Brit
ain could not be defended in
an atomic -age attack. anyhow.
Other Nations Shaken
Other continental countries
still are shaken by this an
nouncement. 1t Is believed
Britain win reduce its conven-
tional forces to the point where
she will be helpful only in a !
big, atomic war-the suicidal
war. After the White Paper,
Britain insisted she would keep |
q strong conventional NATO
contingent, but government of
ficials elsewhere are not con-
WINGED. They do not believe
Britain can afford two kinds
Of forces. and they believe she
has chosen to keep only the
nuclear deterrent.
Germans In particular fear
the new British policy will
weaken the European frontier.
AS a substitute for conventional
divisions, Germans say. Britain
will be able to offer more nu-
clear bombs-which the Ameri-
can Strategic Air Force has
plenty Of already.
British Spokesman reply that
the continental powers simply |
have not yet begun to under
stand the atomic age. Conven- |
tional defense is outmoded. |
they say. The only smart-and
economical-thing TO do is to
rely on the atom.
The White Paper seems to-
assume future wars either will
be deferred or will be big ones.
On the continent. however. peo-
pie believe small wars can start.
and they wish they had ground
forces to keep the wars small
and conventional.
The British also assume that
the American SAC will not hit
all the Russian targets Britain
would like to see destroyed in
time Of war, so Britain believes
it needs its own SAC" And
the British also believe that
world prestige and influence
tends to accompany atomic
power. They want their share.
Distrust British Course
The result of all this Is that
Germany, France and Benelux
distrust the new British course
Of action and fear it weakens
NATO.
The Germans feel they have
the biggest cause to worry, as
they assume any Soviet ag-
gression will overrun Germany.
There seems to be little agree
ment within Germany on a
defense, however.
The Adenauer government
presumably will use its new
election mandate to go ahead
with a strong. undetermined
defense force. But the OPPOSE
ton Social Democrats, with
one-third Of the country's
voters, wants a small, profess
sional conventional army. And
even government spokesman
concede that perhaps so per