First Primer

Last week an armored division, a motorized infantry division, and aircraft practiced together at Fort Benning, Ga. In the U.S. Army, this event was news. Hitherto the Army has had neither the equipment nor the foresight to play at such modern elementals on a realistic scale.

Observation aircraft, insufficiently trained in cooperative war, hunted ground targets, sometimes failed to find them. Light bombers staged a smoothly timed, independent attack on armored units, also attacked with and ahead of infantry, artillery, tanks. Air officers squabbled with each other and with ground officers. Main lessons from this first field study were that the Army 1) needs a great deal more of the same, 2) will have to unify the commands of air and ground forces in the field before their joint practice makes perfect.

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