U.S. Service Chiefs Claim Forces Must Defend West Europe On Continent

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22916, 7 April 1949, Page 5

U.S. Service Chiefs Claim Forces Must Defend West Europe On Continent

(N.Z.P.A. —Reuter—Copyright.)

(11 a.m.)

WASHINGTON, April 6.

Officials of the United States Defence Department, in addresses celebrating Army Day, today echoed the stand of General Omar Bradley, Chief of the Army Staff, that Western Europe must not be permitted to be overrun by armies from the East.

The Secretary of the Army, Mr. Kenneth Royall, declared that if the United States let an aggressor sweep over Europe, the resulting war would last 10 to

20 years, and perhaps longer

He said he did not believe the air force could handle the initial phases of any attack on Europe.

“We cannot achieve victory by standing on our shores and throwing rocks or rockets across the seas,” he said. Lieutenant-General Albert C. Wedemeyer, the Army Deputy Chief of Staff speaking at Philadelphia, issued a caution against over-confidence in the ability of the air force to deal with an attacking nation. “The fantastic belief is expressed by some people that another war can be won in a few weeks by the employment of rockets, aeroplanes and atomic bombs," he said. “Undisputed control of the ground is the conclusive factor in determining victory.”

Mr. William Draper, who retired recently as the Under-Secretary of the Army in charge of occupation matters, said at St. Louis that American troops must be stationed in Europe until the “cold war” ends. “If Western Europe Is to be defended, we dare not accept a strategic plan that relies on air bombardment alone,” he added.,

General Bradley called for a military aid programme that would strengthen the “ramparts” of Western Europe and stop an aggressor before he could overrun the Continent.

In a major speech prepared for a meeting of Jewish war veterans, General Bradley said it was untrue that it would be impossible to stop Russia conquering all Europe if it wanted to. It was also untrue that the best the United States could do would be to strike back with air power and eventually lead a counter-attack to liberate the Continent, he added. Important As Atomic Bomb

Explaining that the State Department had asked him to comment on the military security significance of the Atlantic Fact, General Bradley said: “Militarily, the pact may become just as important to American security as the atom bomb.

“Not only does it unite free nations whose common interests and common frontiers are imperilled by aggression, but it frees us and our partners from the fear that a nation that would bravely resist aggression might find itself fighting friendless and alone. “Strategically, the pact would enable the free nations of the Old World and the New to funnel the great strength of our New World to the ramparts of the Old and thus challenge the enemy where he would transgress. Balance of Power in U.S.

"The balance of military power is now centred in the United States, 3000 miles from the heart of Europe. “It must be perfectly apparent to the people, of the United States that we cannot count on friends in Western Europe if our strategy, in the event of war, dictates that we shall first abandon them to the enemy with a promise of later liberations.

"Yet that is the only strategy that can prevail if the military balance of, power In Europe is to be carried on the wings of our bombers and deposited in reserves this side of the ocean.

“It is a strategy that would produce nothing better ' than important and disillusioned allies in event of war.

“I know of no other expenditure that can produce greater security at a more reasonable cost than investment in timely defence of the bombers of Western Europe. Each Vital to Other “Without Western Europe the New World would stand alone, an island of embattled freedom in a hostile and despotic world. “Western Europe must count on us if it is to survive and we must count on Western Europe if we are to endure.” He added that Western Europe’s will to resist must be developed partly by the posssession of means—tanks, planes and guns—and partly by the assurance that they would be adequately helped in sufficient time. The Herald Tribune says that General Bradley’s speech takes on the aspect of a major Government declaration since it was the State Department that asked him to make his remarks.