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Show OPERATION UNITY Unity Must Be Top Consideration In Alliance of Western Nations By Farnham F. Dudgeon i (Editor's note: This is one of a series of articles prepared by the Editor of West-ern West-ern Newspaper Union while on a 13,000 mile flight through Europe and the Near East. Purpose of thi trip was for the writer and thirteen other American journalists jour-nalists to observe progress made in buildup build-up of strength and integration of North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces and the efforts being made by the Europeans themselves in self-help.) "The program on which the United Unit-ed States is embarked in Europe must succeed, for there is no acceptable ac-ceptable alternative for our country. coun-try. If you are in a boat in a strong sea, you do not stop pulling your oar if the boat starts leaking; you keep on pulling, even harder." It was with these, and other equally equal-ly inspiring words from General Dwight D. Eisenhower in his Supreme Su-preme Headquarters, Allied Powers Pow-ers in Europe, near Paris, France, that we began our eight-country, 24-day inspection trip of the major Western European countries allied with the United States against Soviet aggression. In this same initial briefing, the supreme allied commander authorized author-ized another direct quotation, which was to register with us again and again as we talked with United States officials, and with the military mili-tary and political leaders of France, Italy, Turkey, Greece, Yugoslavia, Western Germany, and the Netherlands. first round, but we think they know that there would be fourteen more rounds to fight." War is going to be up to the Russians. Rus-sians. The Allied forces have no thought of a preventive war. General Eisenhower told us that there is absolutely no talk of such tactics, and that it was completely out of the Western concept of civilization. Strength Growing Our military strength' is growing every day, and our leaders are optimistic op-timistic about achieving military goals set for next year and the year after, and reaching their culmination culmina-tion in 1954. Great progress has been made in the year just passed in building up the allied political organization or-ganization through NATO, and the military side through SHAPE. It has been through the shear willpower and inspiration of General Gen-eral Eisenhower, and other military mili-tary leaders, like his brilliant chief of staff. Gen. Albert M. Gruenther, that so much progress in planning the military organization at SHAPE has been made in such a short period. And, of course, on the political side, General Eisenhower, again, must be given much credit for the success of NATO to date. Everywhere Every-where we went, his name was magic. Everywhere, also, people speculated on his candidacy for the 1952 United States presidential election. elec-tion. (Net impression of our group rf riheayiraTC tiroc Vi?it f?-r orll XT ifAn ui wuo t j. vtio vvao uiai ucniai .miaii- hower will be a Republican candidate, candi-date, and that his place in the Allied military picture will be taken by another American general.) European Army One of the biggest problems facing SHAPE is the building of an integrated European army, in which century-old nationalistic enemies will be fighting side by side under a common command. This problem, like others, is being met head on, and is being solved because of the great "religious" fervor which grips the allied leaders from General Eisenhower down through all echelons of command. This "religion" takes on a very definite form as you visit and listen to the military and political leaders, who are faced with the job of building build-ing an organization to offset the Soviet power. This code is built on optimism that the job eventually can be done, and on an unyielding faith that it must be done. The problems of the Allies certainly cer-tainly are not confined to military matters. The national economies of Great Britain and France, particularly, partic-ularly, are in another critical phase. The economies of all of the other countries which we visited need support. sup-port. . In many of the countries, the facts presented to us indicated that had not the present military crisis evolved, these governments today would be self-sufficient. But certainly cer-tainly the military crisis is at hand, and without the flow of money and materials from the United States, there would be little hope in Europe today. There is no particular secret about the fact that should the Russian Rus-sian choose to launch his offensive tomorrow, our military forces, and those of our allies, would be sorely pressed to do anything but give a creditable showing in strictly defensive defen-sive tactics. "The free world vastly outnumbers the Iron Curtain countries in total resources. The essential, however, is unity. Dictatorships achieve unity by a dagger in the back; the only way in which we shall obtain unity in NATO is for each of our countries coun-tries to realize that its enlightened self-interest is best served by clinging cling-ing together in this association." Can this "enlightened" unity be achieved? In an attempt to get some kind of answer to this vital international question our group of newspapermen had a pretty good look at much of what is happening in these countries coun-tries ringed tightly around the western west-ern footlights of the Iron Curtain. Here are some of the essential impressions im-pressions created as a result of our observations: Deployed Around TJ.S.S.R. The United States and its Western West-ern allies are very definitely deployed de-ployed in a political and economic organization and in a limited military mili-tary aggregation around the Rus-' Rus-' sian perimeter from Norway on one flank through Turkey on the other flank. The battle lines for defensive military mili-tary tactics are drawn. Our strategy to defend the free world from Russian Rus-sian aggression has been charted. Maps showing the deployment of the enemy forces have been compiled from a hard-working intelligence organization. or-ganization. What forces we have in readiness are placed where it is believed they would do the most good, should "the gong ring tomorrow". to-morrow". There is no feeling of false optimism optim-ism or of bluff. Our leaders admit that we would be in serious trouble if the Soviet forces were to move tomorrow. But we are in better shape today, than we were six months or a year ago. If we aren't strong enough to hold the Russians back, why haven't they struck to date? One military leader put it this way: "We think Russia knows that if this thing, breaks, it will be a fifteen round fight. Russia might win the |