The Slowdown

General Matthew B. Ridgway last week made his first public request as NATO Supreme Commander, and next day Echo answered "No."

Neat and crisp in his sharply pressed summer uniform, Ridgway called his first press conference since taking over from Dwight D. Eisenhower. He was firm about one thing: the soldiers under his international command should all be drafted for two years. "The reason is . . . that in this day of numerous and complex weapons, it takes approximately a year to train an individual in standard arms," he said. "Just when a state stands a chance of regaining some of its investment on the soldier, it loses him."

Ridgway's words were aimed not at the 100 reporters before him but at the representatives of six Continental nations gathering next day to discuss a common draft period for the European Army. The conference had been called by Belgium's conservative government, which is finding its two-year draft period--the longest in Western Europe--a worrisome political issue.* There had been antidraft riots in Brussels, sparked by Belgian Socialists, and a distressing though brief mutiny among Belgian conscripts. Prime Minister Jean van Houtte, anxious to convince Belgian voters that they were not being asked to do more than anyone else, begged his allies to raise their draft periods to Belgium's. The answer that he and Matt Ridgway got was a disheartening no.

Next day, Van Houtte slashed Belgium's own draft period to 21 months. Result: the Belgians will not be able to fulfill their NATO obligation of three combat divisions to be ready this year. France and most other NATO nations are even farther behind. Of the 50 divisions scheduled to be ready in Western Europe during 1952, only 24 at best will be combat-ready. Fifteen more are half-formed but too short of equipment to form an effective reserve; the rest exist only on paper. As for the goal of 100 divisions by 1954--the year when NATO strategists estimate that the Communists will have their biggest edge in troops, arms and A-bombs deployable against Europe--it seemed to be fading away.

Britain recently confronted Washington with the disturbing news that perhaps one full division of the British army in Germany will have to be withdrawn unless the U.S. helps pay for its upkeep. France was still bogged down in the billion-franc-a-day war in Indo-China, which is consuming officers and NCOs faster than they can be trained. None of the 12 German divisions hoped for by 1953 is yet in sight.

Economic pinch was the explanation given; yet complacency too was behind the slowdowns. Matt Ridgway tried last week to counter this feeling with a soldier's assessment: "There is no reliable evidence known to me . . . [that] the potential threat of armed aggression . . . has in any way abated." Warned the London Observer: "Everybody is now smugly persuading himself that the danger of war has receded and that it is therefore possible to go to sleep again. There will be a harsh awakening . . ."

* Draft periods of other NATO countries: Canada: no draft, volunteers only; Luxembourg and Norway: 12 months; Denmark, France, Italy and Portugal: 18; The Netherlands: 20; Greece, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the U.S.: 24.

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