ROLE OF CANADA IN FUTURE WAR

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5279, 16 December 1946, Page 3

ROLE OF CANADA IN FUTURE WAR

HAR'RY T.

MONTGOMERY.)

i POTENTIAL BELGIUM i j AMERICAN VULNERABILITY TO ATTACK FROM NORTJL 1

(By

OTTAWA. Canada has emerged from the yoai's of preoccnpation in fighting the f.econd World War suddenly- to lind herself a potential Belgium for the next one. While she was fighting abroad, woapons wero developed which nialce both her and the United States subj ject to direet attack from alrnost any | place in Europe. Canada is in a firstIclass political dilemma, involving her own sovereignty, her aneestral ties with Britain, and her ^olationsliip with j the United States. She doesn't knov/ exactly what to do ahout it. » Because of the strain in relations . between Russia and the Western Povvers, nobody wants to tallc much about this problem for fear of alarming, offending, or otherwise alienating Soviet friends. But that does not mean that nothing is being done. Offi■cials of the United States and Canada are in almost eonstant consultation on co-ordination of defence machinery. They are agreed that there mxist be this -co-ordination, but there the problem begins. The United States wants a vast networlc of defences in the northern ramparts of this hemisphere, including huge air bases and many weather stations, probably costing hundreds of millons of dollars. Canada cannot afford this. Although her vastterrito- | ries are larger in area than the United States and Alaska combined, her money must come from a population of only 12, 000, OCO. Some concrete steps already are being taken. At Churchill, Manitoba, a Hudson Bay port with a climate typical of much of the • northern wastes, the U.S. Army will join the Canadian Army in conducting what is ealled a "cold weather testing station." Between 500 and 600 troops, including between 100 and 153 of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, will test all ldnds of equipment. Canadians are quick to stress that "this is not a base and not a threat to anyone." Matter of Equipment. Perhaps the most serious problem is standardisation of equipment. Shall Canada have American-type equipment, or the traditional British? This'leads directly to the question of Canada's relationship with Britain. Canada is a member of the British Commonwealth, but politically a sovereign State. She has grown away from deuendency on Britain for military defence, and now depends on the United States. The problem, politically, lies in the faet that many Canadians arc still wod spiritually to Britain. The exaet nature of the proposals is still secret, but it is known that their substance vvoulil be io do almost everything in Canada that the United States would do if it were American territovy, and as is being done in Alaska.' Shall she let the Americans build the bases? Shall Americans maa C.em ? Shall the troops of any foreign ccuntvy, however friendly, be ensconeed on her soil? The instinetive an- : • -\-r i swer is .\o. Canada would accept these condi- j tions in war — she did in the last one — bat she cannot easily bring herself to do it in petice. Yet, as the Ameri'cans noint out, the next war will probably be sudden in its beginning. This point — and tlie vulnerability of the United States to attack from the Arctic — were stressed bluntly by General Carl Spaatz, commander of the U.S. Army air forces, who said: "The United States is wide open to atac-lc at ihe top of the map. Unlass we wish to risk the catastrophe of being knocked out we must be prepared for decisive air aetion over the northern polar areas. While we are hoping and striving to attain friendly relations with all nations we must be realistic. From e'very capital in Europe and Asia, the shortest air route to our industrial arsenal comes over the Arctic wastes and Alasjka." The Canadian military agrees, but civilian officials ax'e hesitant. Defence Talks. The U.S. Canadian Joint Permanent Defence Board, and advisory group, meets once a month or oftener. Diplomatic officials in Ottawa and I Washington have frequent exchanges on the subject, and it was understood to have been a chief topic of discuscion at the recent White House meefcing between President Truman and the Canadian Prime Minister, Mr. W. L. Mackenzie King. Field Marshal Montgomery on his trip to Canada and the United States this last summer is known to have spent much time discussing the subject with leaders of both eountries. But the political leaders move ffiore slowly, at least in Canada. Confronted with a blueprint of things the military thinks ought to be done, the Canadian Government is understood to be refusin'g nothing, but withholding immediate agreement on ffiore than a few points. The prospeets are that everything the Americans want eventually will be granted in one way or another, but • announcements will come picemealand their timing may be affected by the international situation, by Canadian domestie politics, or bath.