How Hitler Brohe Through in the West Captain B

MISSION. The MILITARY REVIEW dissemi nates modern military thought and · EDI:roRIN ClIlEF current Army doctrine concerning LT COL Wn.r.IAM ·6. McDoWELL, INF command and staff procedures of MANAGING EDITOR the division arid higher echelons LT COL; RODGER R. BANKSON, INF and provides a forum for articles which stimulate military thinking, SPECIAL SECTIONS EDITOR Authors, civilian and military alike, LT COL ROBERT M. WALKER, ARTY are encouraged to submit articles SPANISH-AMERICAN EDITION which will assist in the fulfillment Editor of this mission. MAl GILBERTO GONzALEZ-JULIA, INF Assistant Editors MAl TOMAS H. GUFFAlN, INF CAPT ORLANDO ORTIZ MORENO, INF POLICY. BRAZILIAN EDITION. Unless otherwise indicated, the Editor LT COL HERMANN BERGQVIST, ARTY views expressed in the original ar ticles in this magazine are those Assistant Editor LT COL TACITO T. G. DE OLIVEIRA, INF of the individual authors and not necessarily precisely those of the Administrative OfJicer Department of the Army or the MAJ LINO BONUCCI, QMC U. S. Army Command and General Staff College. Production Officer Editor. MAS JAMES A. TUNT, IN!' MILITARY REVIEW VOLUME XXXVI MARCH 1957 NUMBER 11 CONTENTS Vigilance-Yes; Fear-N0 !................ ;................................................................ 3 Doctor C. Langdon White Divisional Command in 1960-70....................................................................... 17 Colonel Frank W. Norris, General Staff ~ Could It Happen? ................................................................................................ 33 !oJ Lieutenant Colonel Everett E. Lowry, Jr., Infantry .~ it .~ The Principles of War and Psywar ................................................................... '37 ~ Major R. D. Connolly, Signal Corps The Fifth Staff Officer........................... ...................................................... 47 Colonel James E. Mrazek, Infantry How Hitler Broke Through in the WesL ............................................ Captain B. H. Liddell Hart, British Army, Retired MILITARY NOTES AROUND THE WORLD ....................................................... 63 FOREIGN MILITARY DIGESTS.............................................................................. 73 The Panorama of Warfare in a Nuclear Age.............................................. 73 An Effective Counterguerrilla Procedure..................................................... 86 Tactics and Atomics................................ .... ....... .......................................... 90 There Must Be Discipline............................................................................. 97 What Type of Army? ................................. ............ .'.................................. 100 .The Burden of Our Time ........................................................................... 105 BOOKS OF INTEREST TO THE MILITARY READER .......................................... 108 This copy is not for sale. It is intended for more than one reader. PLEASE READ IT AND PASS IT ALONG Vigilance--Yes; Fear--Nol· Doctor C. Langdon White, Professor of Geography, Stanford University In his February MILITARY REVIEW on present-day happenings in the Soviet article, "Pivot of History," Mr. O. Union. Nonetheless, a great deal of in Edmund Clubb, drawing upon his formation sifts through, under, and studies and his 20 years of e::cperinece around the Iron Curtain and hundreds of as a United States Foreign Service individuals and organizations in the officer in Asia, outlined the ambitious United States and Western Europe are at plans and efforts of Soviet leaders for work around the clock putting together the development of the vast natural the parts of the Russian jigsaw puzzle. resources of the Eurasian heartland. Among those whose material should be In the following article Dr. C. Lang most helpful in presenting a broader and don White, eminent geographer and more accurate picture of Russia are the Stanford University professor, pre geographers: their material is rooted in sents a geopolitical appraisal which the natural environment. Moreover, mod analyzes and balances the strengths ern geographers are synthesizers, weav and weaknesses of the USSR vis-iI-vis ing certain data of the natural and social the United States.-Editor. sciences into something that differs from its components. It is the aim of the following discussion A COLD war is in progress in which to: two ideologies as far apart as the two 1. Present the Soviet Union's strengths poles are desperately contending. The one and weaknesses. stands for freedom and is backed by the 2. Indicate how great is America's pres United States and her many allies; the ent danger from Russia. other is communism and is backed by the 3. Assess the probabilities of a shooting Soviet Union and the so-called Soviet bloc. war between the two countries. There is more speculation regarding Behind these aims is a sincere desire to the USSR than regarding any other aid the reader in drawing his own conclu country on the globe. Because the average sions. American, even when well educated and well informed, is confused as to the real What is Geopolitics? strength of the Soviet Union and as to Since the Russian leaders are undeni" how vulnerable America really is, the tend ably following a geographical blueprint, ency among Americans is either to over let us first note briefly what geopolitics estimate or underestimate Russia's poten is and present a few high spots of its tialities. evolution. In spite of the awesomeness and It must be readily admitted that no its supposed connection with black magic, AmerJcan can claim to be an authority geopolitics when stripped of its mysticism Is the Soviet Union really strong and great or merely noisy-a master in the technique of propaganda and the waging of a war of nerves? It would be foolish for us to overestimate or underestima,te the Russians '" MILITARY REVIEW' MABCH 19&7 is merely the employment by statesmen land." One of his statements regarding of geography in the affairs of nations, an this area was much quoted during World ideology of Imperialist expansion. Warn: . There are two brands of geopolitics: Who rules East Europe commands the the pseudoscience of the dictatorships, 'heartland'; who rule8 the 'heartland: ji such as was practiced under Hitler, Mus commands the 'world island' (the greater ; solini, and the men in the Kremlin, and part of the Eastern Hemisphere); who ~ the American. British. and French brand, rules the 'wcrld, island,' commands the i which is not antisocial, whose materials world. are valid and which contribute guideposts About 40 years'later, while World War for statesmen. Prior to World War II, II was still in progress, Mackinder wrote: much greater weight was given to politi All things considered, the conclusion is cal and anthropological criteria than to unavoidable that if the Soviet Union scientific geographic data. emerges from this war as the conqueror In short, geopolitics is a theory of in of Gel'many, she must rank as the greatest ternational conduct in which the state is landpower on the globe. Moreover, she considel'ed to be the principal factor and will be the power in the strategically in which all other states and their rights strongest defensive position. The heart are of secondary importance. It is a sys land is the greatest natural fortress on tem of action on the part of a state to get cal·th. For the first time in history it is what it wants. It is concerned largely with manned by a garrison sufficient both in securing world power, yes, even world number and quality. domination, by the country employing it, What of Mackinder's ideas today? He Some half century ago a British geog seems to have erred in two important re rapher and economist, Sir Halford J, spects. First, he contended that the Mackinder, studying the relationship be "heartland's" position was so excellent tween the physical environment and his pivotally that it would eventually dom tory. came to the conclusion and stated it inate the entire ·world. He was incorrect in an address before the Royal Geograph in this respect during the early 20th cen 'ical Society that the great inne1' land mass tury because political power was centered of Eurasia might one day becoml' the in Europe and in Germany, not Russia, center of an empire capable of ruling the Second, Mackinder overemphasized the wOl'ld, He named the vastness the "heart- importance of the "world island" and un Doctor Charles Langdon White is a deremphasized the importance of the graduate of Denison University. Granville, United States (Figure 1).' Ohio, attended the University of Chicag~, The Germans prior to and during World and received his Ph. D. 11'om Clark Un! War II tried desperately to put the "heart versity, Worcester, lI-Iassachusetts. He was with the American Expeditionary Force land" ,theory into practice but were un during World War I and has served as successful. Their rivals and successors, Profe8sor of Geography at Randolph the Russian geopoliticians, however, have Macon College. Virginia, and at Western been meeting with no little success. Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. He is the author of Geography-an Introduc The man who did most with German tion to Human Ecology; Regional Geog geopolitics was Hitler's advisor during the raphy of Anglo-America; and Human Ge early years of World War II, Karl Haus ography; and was contributor to Global hofer. He had served as a major general Geography and contributing editor 01 Eco

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