DEFENCE OF EUROPE; N. ATLANTIC POWERS URGED TO SPEEDUP

Wanganui Chronicle, 6 September 1950, Page 5

DEFENCE OF EUROPE; N. ATLANTIC POWERS URGED TO SPEEDUP

LONDON, Sept. 5 (Kec. 6 pm).— ! The “Daily Telegraph’s diplomatic correspondent says Deputies of the North Atlantic Treaty Powers meet- ' j ing in London have agreed to make , immediate urgent representations to 1 their Governments to expedite de-1; fence preparations by repairing supply • deficiencies and increasing the num- I ber of Allied divisions in Germany. 1 The present calculation is that Brit-1 ain would undertake to produce 10 I divisions, of which five would be sta-1 1 tinned in Europe, France 20 divisions, 11 United States four divisions in Europe, Belgium four and Holland three. I This, with corresponding air sup- ■ port, would produce an adequate force to hold the line in Europe providing that there were another 20 reserve divisions which could be mobi-1 lised in a few days. The correspondent says the Ameri- I cans emphasised during the London I talks that they expect the fullest prac-, tical co-operation from other Atlantic' Pact Powers, even at the expense ot social policies. They also stressed that the United I States cannot be counted upon to pro- i vide automatically any balance of the I defence requirements considered I necessary.