Ike's Men

The men of the U.S. 4th Division who landed in Germany last week had moved into camps in the U.S. zone and were getting ready for their job. The first installment of the 100,000-man U.S. expeditionary force promised NATO Commander Ike Eisenhower this year, the 4th (with some contingents still on the way) was wrapped into the U.S. Seventh Army of about 90,000 U.S. soldiers already in Germany, under Lieut. General Manton S. Eddy, one of George Patton's World War II corps commanders. Other units already on the ground as occupation troops: the famed ist Division and snappy well-trained units of the U.S. Constabulary, adding up to another division.

The newcomers of the 4th Division were quick to get the word from the occupation troops: U.S. soldiers never had it so good. They can go almost anywhere and do almost anything without paying anybody. On a generous furlough schedule, they can run over to such recreation centers as Berchtesgaden and Garmisch in the Bavarian Alps on "temporary duty," stay in some of the world's most luxurious hotels for 10 -c- a day.

But with the arrival of the 4th, the U.S. Army in Germany begins its transition from occupation duties to combat readiness, and times are likely to get a bit harder.

A new training program will leave combat soldiers little time for recreation. Commanded by Major General Harlan N. Hartness, 53, a tough, weatherbeaten West Pointer, the 4th will find itself very often working from 4 in the morning until dark. There will be plenty of all-night alerts. All combat units will spend grueling weeks at Grafenwohr, a 100-square-mile training ground on the Czech border, where Hitler trained his Afrika Korps.

Combat training in thickly populated, highly cultivated Germany is not as simple as in the vast forest and desert areas of the U.S. Fighter bombers must fly across the Mediterranean to Tripoli for target practice. The Army's biggest antiaircraft guns must be transported up to the Danish frontier in the British zone for firing. The 4th will not find any area in Germany large enough for its divisional maneuvers. One of the emerging facts of military history is that Hitler's generals managed to train more than 100 divisions of his Wehrmacht without being able to maneuver a unit larger than a regiment. Says General Thomas Handy, boss, under Eisenhower, of the European Command (EUCOM): "I guess we can do it, too."

In the past, most U.S. troops in Europe have been regulars. The 4th is a citizen army--75% of its officers are reservists; nearly all of its soldiers are post-Korea draftees. Last week Lieut. General Eddy served notice on the men that he intended to make professionals out of them. His first order: "Look like soldiers, think like soldiers, conduct yourselves like soldiers."

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