America Plans 8,200.000 Army for 1943

Manawatu Times, Volume 68, Issue 60, 12 March 1943, Page 6

America Plans 8,200.000 Army for 1943

WASHINGTON, Max. 10. Congressional interference with the Army’s carefully-drawn plans for an army of 8,200,000 in 1913 would deal a heavier blow r to the hopes of final victory than any losses likely to he suffered in battle, said the War Secretary (Mr. H. L. Stimson) in a broadcast replying to demands that the size of the army be reduced. He said the size was fixed after months of study by the Army and Navy staffs and he thus had the benefit of all the brains and accumulated research. The plans had been worked out with full recognition of the shipbuilding programme and equipment production. Our combat plans were integrated with careful estimates of the supply possibilities and governed the decisions of the size of our armed forces. “The United States plans to provide for a hundred divisions of ground forces while Germany has 300 divisions, Italy 80 and Japan 86. Men who were going into actual combat have placed their house in order. Their spirit and their programme are all that patriotism plus careful planning can effect. I now ask whether agriculture and industry should hot likewise be placed on a more efficient wartime basis.”