Urgent Defence Measures By N. Atlantic Powers

Northern Advocate, 29 July 1949, Page 5

Urgent Defence Measures By N. Atlantic Powers

LONDON, Thu. (10 a.m.).—Urgent measures are being taken to integrate the military and defensive strategy of the 12 North Atlantic powers. Reuters says it is understood that informal exchanges of views are in progress on the formation of a 12-nation Atlantic Treaty Council, whose first task will be to establish a defence committee to coordinate and develop the military resources of the treaty signatories.

The United States Joint Chiefs of Staff, who will leave Washington tomorrow for London, will meet Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery, who is the Western Union’s Chief of Staff, for discussions on integrating the defence arrangements of the Brussels Treaty powers with those of Canada and the United States. The Western Union powers’ defence committee is understood to have studied the problems of protecting sea routes and the key part Denmark would play in preventing submarines from reaching the North Sea and the Atlantic. The Dutch Government has already decided to reorganise its naval base at Denhelder and to strengthen her fleet. . It is also believed that good progress has been made in improving the manufacture of arms and aircraft in Holland, Belgium and France. “One issue that must be closed before the United States is fully satisfied with European defence plans,” says the Washington correspondent of the New York Times, “is the reported dispute, on both personal and strategic levels, between Field Marshal Montgomery and General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, Commander-in-Chief of the Western Union’s Land Forces. “From informants familiar with British military policy has come renewed emphasis on the need for American aid if the Western European defence system is to be fully effective. “In addition to spending more on defence needs, Britain has also transferred large amounts of material. from both surplus and new production to other nations. “The British Army, it is said, will drop from the present 400,000 to 330,000 in 1950, and the RAF from 225,000 to 213,000.”