Strength of the West

Over the weekend, 60 B-29s landed in Britain (see cut) and 1,200 U.S. airmen stepped out of them.

The Russians would note their arrival. If they were wise, the Russians would also note the ease with which this air armada was accommodated at British fields and fitted into British air operations. The R.A.F. and the U.S.A.F. are, in fact, essentially one air force. Their war-born union is the forerunner of an Atlantic system of military security.

An Atlantic system means Western Union in Europe, which can only come about with U.S. support and leadership. It also means close meshing of Western European and U.S. military establishments, of which the U.S.A.F.-R.A.F. alliance is the forerunner.

The key to peace, the West's ability to act in unison, was demonstrated also in the Palestine truce. Peace had been endangered and the United Nations disgraced by the failure to halt the Palestine war. Finally, U.S. and British policies were brought into line. In a matter of hours after that, the prestige and potency of U.N. returned last week, and the Arabs followed the Jews in accepting a truce in Palestine (see below). The truce in Palestine, the B-29s in Britain, were signs of the same solidarity.

The third heartening factor in the week's news was the continued success of the air lift to Berlin, which showed, in small focus but enormous perspective, the military might of the West.

With Russia's four-million-man peacetime army, mostly infantry, the West did not attempt to compete. But the closing months of World War II had made astute military men realize that airborne troops, supplied by air, would be a crucial factor if World War III arrived. Few would have believed, a month ago, that 2 1/2 million people could be fed by air. If the U.S. and Britain, now at a low peacetime level, could turn that trick with a scratch force, what could they do if mobilized for war? The answer perceptibly shortened the shadow of the Red Army.

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