Chapter VIII. Informational Interlude

VIII. Informational Interlude

Many of you know some of the world history between 1945 to 1950. I am going to attempt to make short paragraphs to cover the pertinent history.

US Army underwent a complete demobilization and reformation. The Army Air Force was disbanded and the United States Air Force was mobilized as a separate organization. Not under the Army command. African Americans were desegregated. They were segregated into their own units and now personnel joined regular units. Recruitment was at a very low point. Military supply channels were short of nearly all essential and non-essential equipment. Military readiness was at a low ebb.

On the political front the major countries joined the United Nations or UN as it became known. The purpose was to prevent wars from erupting. Hugh hopes were placed on this organization. All of the major countries joined.

Now on the world political front the USSR or as we know it now was very aggressive. Before and during the war they recruited Communist representatives in major countries in Europe, Asia and the United States. They were very successful in Asia and Eastern Europe.

Our main concern is Asia at this time. USSR Agents were placed in China and Korea. The existing government with Chang Kai Chek fought the Communist. However they lost and Mao became leader of China. Korea is a border country south of China. USSR had great influence in the north above the 39Th parallel. There was an attempt for the United States and the USSR jointly occupy the north. However, this failed and eventually the country was divided into a North and South. Korea had been occupied by Japan for 40 years.

In the middle of this something called the Sputnik was launched with talk of space travel to the moon by the USSR. The US space program was lagging without proper budget allocations. In the middle of all of the above turmoil this news caused havoc within our government.

Let us close here and generalize the practical implications for the United States and the Army in particular in our next blog. Our older reader will recall much of this.

Note: Are there any questions ? Wish to discuss any part of this generalized info. If so, make a comments with your Email address. Do you understand why they are forming free floating companies attached to Divisions for support. It is necessary to understand the above to understand Company Fabn's and 8013's new assignment.