Redeployment Under Way

Redeployment of U.S. troops in Europe was already under way this week. It was not yet the vast movement that will shift the bulk of General Eisenhower's fighting men to the Pacific and the command of General MacArthur. But it was far enough along to require the full-time attention of a major general. The man assigned to superintend the greatest moving day in history was dapper, schoolmasterish Major General Royal B. Lord of the Corps of Engineers.

Engineers to Pacific. First to be shipped from ETO are Eisenhower's highly skilled Army Service Forces Engineer units. Some are already on the way to Pacific bases. There they will prepare installations to handle millions of tons of water-borne supplies. Other A.S.F. troops are being pulled out of Europe to build supply dumps and barracks in the Philippines, which will be the staging area for the final campaign against Japan. Luzon will be the England of the Pacific war, although, as A.S.F. chief General Brehon Somervell regretfully noted: "It is 1350 miles from the Philippines to Japan as against 100 miles from England to France."

Planes Over Japan. Army Air Forces are already withdrawing some of their bomber crews from ETO and retraining them in the U.S. to fly the planes which will operate against Japan. These planes are coming off the line so fast that the A.A.F. has run out of new crews to man them. Fortress and Liberator crews are learning how to fly and fight the Superforts; Mitchell and Marauder crews are being taught to fly the Army's new. powerful attack-bomber, the Douglas A26.

The A26, B-29 and its huge new sister, the Consolidated B32, plus the newest versions of the battle-tested Republic P47 (Thunderbolt) and North American P-51 (Mustang) are the planes with which the Air Forces will mainly wage the Pacific air war. A brand-new type also to be included in the Air Forces front-line strength will be Lockheed's slick new jet-plane, the P-80 (TIME, March 12), on which veteran fighter pilots are now being trained. Of all the older standbys of the European Avar only a few Flying Fortresses will fight in the Pacific frontline, after redeployment has been completed.

G.l.s in Japan. General Lord's real job will begin when the High Command gives the orders to transship the ground forces which will be finally needed to conquer and occupy Japan. How soon that will be was anyone's guess. General Eisenhower operated last week as though he had never heard of a war against Japan. Ships still carried replacements to Europe. In Eisenhower's theater or on the way were enough replacements to take care of several months of heavy fighting.

War Department strategists were frankly worried. Any delay which gave the Japs a breather would alter the Pacific schedule and might cost U.S. lives. But there was not much the High Command could do about it while the Nazis continued to resist.

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