Adieu

In the 16 years of its existence on European soil, no soldier has ever fired a gun in anger under the command of SHAPE--Supreme Headquarters, Allied Powers Europe. SHAPE has never even had to put its troops on general alert. Though its enemies have failed to make it retreat, however, an ally has succeeded. Last week, obeying the wishes of Charles de Gaulle, SHAPE officially left France, ending the saga of NATO on French soil. While the flags of NATO's 15-member nations were lowered and a military band played a Napoleonic march, it bade adieu to its sprawling prefabricated compound at Rocquen-court, the site of ancient Bourbon hunting grounds, and moved to the small town of Casteau in southwest Belgium.

De Gaulle himself was too busy to attend the ceremony. He had journeyed to Cherbourg, where, with imperial pride, he launched France's first nuclear-powered submarine, the 5,200-ton Le Redoubtable. Built at a cost of $143 million, the submarine will eventually be fitted with French-built, Polaris-type missiles (range: 1,245 miles) to beef up De Gaulle's fledgling force de frappe; De Gaulle hopes to build three more by 1974. "I am very happy," said the General. "This is a capital day for our defense and for our independence." De Gaulle was saying, in effect, that France can get along very well without either NATO or SHAPE on its soil.

Nerve Center. Since its creation in 1951 under General Dwight D. Eisenhower, SHAPE had meant a great deal to France. As the nerve center of NATO, it brought to Paris the best military brains of the Western world. The mounting and maintenance of its arsenal in France accounted for fully 25% of France's foreign earnings, employed more than 20,000 French workers.

SHAPE had overall charge of 50 American and Canadian bases and 26,000 troops, which required some 820,000 tons of equipment that ranged from warplanes to pool tables. In addition, its 70,000 dependents were a boost to local French economies.

With the exception of the French workers, they have all moved out. Left behind is some $750 million worth of military infrastructure, which constitutes a windfall for France. It includes such unmovable assets as 46 new air fields, 17 Polaris depots, 1,200 miles of pipeline, 13 air navigational aid stations, ten underground cable and radio systems, nine naval base installations and three underground war headquarters. There were no tears or emotion as SHAPE moved out last week--except, possibly, among the military's cost accounting experts.

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