Word: rearmaments
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Rainbow-chasing could not actually defend Western Europe against the present eight-to-one armed superiority of Soviet Europe. The real defense, rearmament, inched slowly ahead. For six weeks, the deputies of the twelve-nation North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) had been making plans for joint rearmament with a gap wide enough for a tank to crunch through: they had avoided discussing Germany, though effective European defense without Germany was impossible. When the NATO Foreign Ministers met in London last May, they had been afraid to tackle the vexed subject of rearming Germany. Korea had since changed the situation...
...York's Waldorf-Astoria (see NATIONAL AFFAIRS), France was still reluctant to face reality. The U.S. move to increase its ground forces in Germany by five or more divisions was "most pleasing" to Paris. But French Foreign Minister Maurice Schuman put in the inevitable French warning on German rearmament. He wanted any rearming of the West Germans to wait a while. Said Schuman: "There is an obvious desire for all to see a line of defense as far east as possible for Europe. But the Allies must have priority. When the Allies' minimum defensive strength has been reached...
...when U.S. battle defeats, added to appeasing statements from Washington, cast doubt on the U.S. determination to make a firm stand against Communism in Asia, however doughty might be its stand in Korea. The morale of Germany, and the rest of Europe, could only be revived by immediate European rearmament, with the U.S. as leader and Germany as one of the partners. Otherwise, soon, Berlin might go; the loss of Berlin would demoralize the West Germans and the Europeans; they might fight the advancing Russians, but they would have little hope of holding the Red army back from the Atlantic...
...Socialists' Kurt Schumacher had seen the safe prerequisite for German rearmament in "monumental Western military might on the Elbe...
...Only one of the U.S. divisions-the 1st Infantry-was organized for combat. The program to rearm Europe with U.S. aid had dragged through a year of staff conferences, then dragged through Congress and was last week dragging through more staff conferences. Europeans had the impression that, so far, rearmament was just talk. This impression was 99% correct...