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Show ; Is This Where We Came In? j War Department Thinks Not 1 I I By BAUKHAGE fc AWs Analyst and Commentator f "Just now Washington isn't as warlike as it sounds. The r emphasis is on defense, not offense. However, there are con- : flicting views on what we ought to do . . ." That sentence just about reflects sentiment here as I write these I lines a sentiment that has changed rapidly in the last few weeks, days, . K, hours, and may change still more before these lines are printed. . ti That sentence also reflected the o sentiment in Washington eight years I ago. (I found it among my clippings ( 'N . of the column .which appeared ' early in October of 1940.) I had just come back from the war department depart-ment which then was located on Constitution a v e-nue. e-nue. There wasn't any Pentagon building then. I had been inter-vewing inter-vewing an officer on the subject of In case you have forgotten, the United States army, the greatest military machine in history, was "redeployed" out of existence and under such pressure from mothers and wives, and at such a breakneck speed, that in many cases it didn't leave a pile of scrap behind it to mark the spot whence it melted and dribbled away. The Red army didn't re-deploy. It is still largely deployed. de-ployed. And so here we are again! Panicky Outlook Is Not Justified One might become exceedingly pessimistic, one might grow panicky. But, as I think over the interviews, as I recall the faces of those men charged with our nation's defense, as I ponder the words, the tone of voice, I must say the net impression of the contacts is to make me feel more hopeful than I had felt before. "our new citizen army." "According to many letters I get" ! (I wrote) "what a lot of people want . to know Is why we need a citizen I army in peacetime?" A lot of people are asking that question again today. The answer . n ; which I reported to you in this col- H . limn eight years ago was this: I "Speed is what counts in an army today. We aren't calling out : these boys to fight anybody. We J are calling them out to train them j; so they'll be ready if we ever need ; them. The United States can al- j. ! ways raise a big army If war is ij ; declared. But neither we nor any other country can raise a trained I army overnight. And a lot can j! I happen in the night these days. j; What we want to do is to train mrmf ' these men for a reserve . . ." . It was a year and three months ;; after I wrote those words that some- ! thing did happen, not in the night, but in the early morning, over Pearl Harbor. We didn't start it. The i Japs did the deciding. They decided ;j that we had to go to war. 1 The Lesson's Over, cr No Time for Recess i I ! Today we have more to say. We 1 i : - have learned a great deal since i j: December 7, 1941. We have learned K , j, how to fight a global war and win , 'i j it. The question is will we do the p ':' : things which will prevent 'a global 'i) j war? 1 -1 - ! ' That will be something if we do. J , Meanwhile the wheel seems to ; 3 ! have made the circle and some of ; the boys who were learning squads V right in 1940 are wondering if this ) is where they came in. I had a f V . chance to think about that on another t trip back from the war department ( ""V recently, or I should say the depart- "S ' ment of national defense. It's a , : longer journey now than it was to the '. old "temporary" World War I build- J ing on Constitution avenue. The j ) Pentagon sprawls geometrically over 1 310 acres across the Potomac in - " y j ! Virginia. The message I breught 7 back was very much like the one I - reported eight years ago. I j j " It was a reassurance that the ! I i request for three billion more dol- It was only three years ago, in April, 1945, that t!iis high point op Russian - American camaraderie was reached when Rlaj. Gen. Emil F. Reinhardt of the U.S. first army greeted the major general commanding com-manding the Russian 53th infantry division at a meeting of American and Russian units at the Elbe river in Germany. I had been pretty depressed when I began the round of calls in the various var-ious little cells that open onto the endless corridors of the Pentagon offices, large and small, with maps on the walls, the men in uniform or civilian clothes at desks. When I left, I had the feeling that here were men who were looking at the task before them coolly and calmly, neither obsessed with a certainty that they were moving into another inevitable conflict nor indifferent to the possibilities that such might be the case. "We anticipate no belligerent or provocative move on the part of the Russians. We don't pretend to be able to say what their plan is, or whether they have one. In any case, it is not our move. Whether there is to be peace or war depends upon the men in the politburo. We have no way of knowing what their next step will be. We doubt if they have made up their minds . . ." And then one official came back to the remark I quoted before: "Personal";'," he said, "I do not think Russia wants war. I am certain cer-tain that we do not." As I say, I went out past the reception re-ception desk, through the high doors and out to where the quiet river holds the city in its tranquil embrace. em-brace. It looked no more turbulent, I lars for national defense is what the military men say is the minimum mini-mum peacetime expenditure to prevent war. In other words, defense, de-fense, not offense. It was pointed out that if it were necessary now to prepare for actual conflict, the cost would run closer to 50 billions i than three. j j I was most heartily assured that the United States did not want war, ! j : i that no encouragement whatever was j ' ! being given those few persons who P : urged "preventive" action. With less j ; certainty, but advanced as an honest f ; opinion, was the statement that Rus- sia did not want war, either. I "There is no reason, as far as j 1 we know now," one official told ' mc, "why war cannot be avoided, I ; provided a reasonable balance is I I established between the military I forces of the two countries. Now I i we are in imbalance." I i ' It was noted that Russia and her p. . satellites now have under arms near ly twice the number which this country and the anti - Communist countries of western Europe could put in the field. I I I It is well to remember too that the I j ; j Russian Red army is mobilized; it 1 ! is largely concentrated in eastern " Europe, whereas American troops ! ! are thinly scattered over the whole I earth. Russia has never really de- ' i mobilized, she has more combat j ! planes and men to man them; she n , has a greater land force; a numeri- ' j ! cally-superior artillery. -j We are strong in bombing planes, 9 j ! but she has a stronger defense in fighter and interceptor planes. She i is believed to be producing from i 75,000 to 100,000 planes a year. We ; produced 1,700 military planes of ,.11 all types last year. : , ! But "our biggest shortage is in ! equipment," said a veteran officer. One might go on at great length. I -i4r -s-p! won't. I have rehearsed the sad 1 v story of "redeployment" ever since ' I first heard it from a general's sec- j rctary, vho, like most of the rest of jSjtj&' us, thought it was "reemployment." . ) ! no less peaceful, when, during the war years, I used to come out that same door with my notes interpreting interpret-ing the latest strategic war in Normandy, Nor-mandy, the breakthrough at St. Lo, the Battle of the Bulge, Patton's tactical miracles. Washington is calm. The other day as I opened my closet door, I noticed my trenchcoat with the faded blue patch with "war correspondent" on the shoulder. It didn't give me a turn. After all, we have just won the greatest victory of its kind in history the completion of the plan to aid Europe. That and a few bloodless steps which caution and not desperation dictate are enough for now. Even clergymen are able to think fast in a crisis, even though those who are prone to sleep through interminable inter-minable sermons may be inclined to doubt the assertion. But up in Cambridge, Mass., a policeman was induced to tear up a speeding ticket i when a clergyman he had stopped j explained, "You have to be fast these days if you want to save souls." June is the "dew month" in Japan. Ja-pan. In this country, we insist, every month is "due month." |