 How do you do? My name is Jean-Pierre Hormont. As you see, I'm indulging in a Frenchman's favorite pastime, sipping an aperitif in a sidewalk cafe. And where, where else but Paris? My beautiful city of Paris. I say my city because I was born here. But since I spent so much time in Hollywood and in New York, I've learned to know and love America. So much so that I like to call America and France both my contents. I've just finished a picture here. And I'm glad I delayed my return to Hollywood, for I have just seen something that, as a Frenchman and an ex-soldier who believes in a free world, a free way of life, has made me very proud. It is the story of Comzy, the United States Army Communications' own Europe. The supply force, which is the very live blood, the staying power of the American Defense Network in Europe. I've had the opportunity to witness the Comzy story. And in a moment, I would like to show it to you. Comzy began with a visit to its headquarters at Orléans, France. It was here, during my first talks with the commander of Comzy, Major General Henry R. Westphalinger, that I began to realize for the first time how vast is the job of equipping and supporting a modern army. The commander had arranged for me to see at first hand how Comzy does this massive job, so that I could report it to you with understanding. There was, as you will discover, much to see. When I was asked to tell the Comzy story to the American people, I had no idea what an intensely dramatic story it was. It is a story which begins with the needs of combat units stationed in France, Germany, and in Italy. A munition supplies the equipment to the right man at the right time. This, in simple terms, is the vital mission of Comzy. It is not a question of any one weapon or one type of ammunition. Comzy must supply every weapon system in the defense arsenal of the United States Army. For example, the M-60 machine gun, which fires the NATO caliber 7-62 cartridge, about 60 of them in the space of five seconds, or 700 to the minute. Or consider the small but deadly hand grenade, an essential for the fighting foot soldier. 0.2-inch mortar, using high explosive shells. And the versatile recoilless rifle, which makes mobile-light artillery out of a jeep. The guided anti-tank missile SS-11, directed by its operator with deadly pin-point accuracy. 105-millimeter armored howitzer. Mainstay of artillery firepower. Must be supplied along with yet another kind of ammunition. Larger still, the 280-millimeter cannon, firing its massive projectiles. And still there is more. Here is a tank, flamethrower, whose stream of jellied petroleum delivered in flame to an enemy is highly affected. Every of liquid flame by air is an extension of the flamethrower technique, and of the supply responsibility of Comzee. For the armored divisions, the new M-60 tank provides increased range, speed, firepower. The tanks themselves, of course, together with their ammunition, parts and fuel, are supplied by Comzee. The means of swift movement, delivery of the right kind and the right amount of firepower to the proper place at the proper moment. All of these essentials of success in combat depend upon availability of the equipment, supplies, ammunition, weapons, fuel and services which make that success possible. This is part, only part, of the supply mission of Comzee. The next stop on my itinerary was to visit the men. Recently arrived from the United States, these men were not left in doubt as to why they were in France, what their mission with Comzee would be. They were now part of the working team, and their key role in this free world defensive alliance was made clear by the officer who welcomed them. You have been assigned to an organization known as the Communication Zone, a vital part of the United States Army in Europe. We are here to fulfill our commitment as part of the NATO team. You're in France primarily to do one thing, stop the spread of communist aggression. If war should come, Comzee supply lines and American troops would be the mainstay, the bulwark of the NATO forces. Many battles have hinged upon the availability of materiel. The job of troops stationed here, your job is to see that the United States Army throughout Europe gets this materiel. It takes men, competent men to operate the trucks and the ships and the barges that move the millions of tons of military equipment through Comzee channels each year. Your work is cut out for you. Yes, your job, to move the weapons, ammunition, fuel, tanks, and missiles. This is the task of the United States Army Communication Zone Europe. Yes, France is the logical place for Comzee with good seaports such as here, in Bordeaux, La Palice, and San Jose. France also offers the advantage of excellent railway facilities for the overland transport of heavy equipment. Also good roads for truck transport, though they are maybe at times a rather tight squeeze in some picturesque village. And of course there are modern super highways, direct high-speed links to the key areas of Europe. And finally, a number of excellent airfields able to handle the largest of cargo aircraft. All this combines to make France the logical setting for the story of Comzee, an organization preoccupied with movement, logistics, the military science of putting the right supplies in the right place at the right time. The fighting man who needs a fresh clip of rifle ammunition has a very specific requirement. No substitute is accepted. Can the crew of an M60 tank replace a broken track block with one design for the M113 personnel carrier? So it goes. A million and one items of material. Each item a problem in itself, and each handled smoothly with disciplined efficiency by the United States Communications Zone, Europe. One of Comzee's most effective innovations in solving problems of supply is a new method of fast delivery called roll-on roll-off. Truck trails, which have been packed in the States, drive directly off the specially designed ship which brought them and are never unpacked until they reach their final destinations. Compare the speed, efficiency and economy of this technique with the older, more time-consuming and therefore money-consuming method of unloading cargo at the dock side. This roll-on roll-off technique saves thousands of man-hours and tens of thousands of dollars while delivering vital military cargo faster than ever before. Another time-saving aspect of this technique is the relay action which keeps the material moving without delay toward its destination. At relay points, one tractor is exchanged for another quickly, smoothly. A system of quick connect fittings reduces the time required by several minutes. In moments, the loaded trailer is again on its way to the people who need it through clumsy depots in France, Germany and Italy. These relay points and depots form a vast and specialized network across free Europe. In France, there is Verdun, also Captieux, a central supply point for ammunition. Agrand, with its many acres of warehouses and service buildings. Bracken, a general depot where vehicles of every type are processed for delivery. Chineau and many others across France. Moving onward into Germany, there are depots at Miesel, Kaiserslautern, Pium Assentments and others. A thousand separate activities each designed to meet specific needs. To the south, in Italy, still more of Komzi's truck transports are on the move over routes which are often picturesque as well as purposeful. Camp Darby near Leghorn is one of the main supply centers in Italy. But of course, transport by truck is only one method used by Komzi in its supply mission. Through a vast network of pipelines built by Komzi, flow millions of gallons of gasoline, aviation gas, jet fuel, diesel fuel. Together they form Komzi's largest single item of supply. One that demands a fuel distribution system of tremendous complexity and truly massive capacity. Huge control centers to direct the pipeline flow. Tank farms to provide working reserves. Pumping stations, distribution points and automation to coordinate the routing of fuels to destinations all across free Europe. Komzi takes nothing for granted. Here, in its petroleum laboratory at Dongge, all petroleum products are pre-tested for quality and performance. This is only one of many quality control laboratories staffed and operated by Komzi. Petroleum distribution begins at Dongge in France, where tankers from the United States unload their liquid cargo. There are also emergency facilities for offshore unloading. From the central point at Dongge, the pipeline goes underground, then across France. And ultimately underneath the Rhine, going on to link up with NATO pipelines which lead into Holland, Belgium and West Germany. Komzi's pipeline network saves the United States government millions of dollars each year in commercial storage charges. And it moves petroleum products at one-tenth the cost of shipment by rail or water. So effective is this pipeline system that it is able to meet all the requirements of both the United States Army and Air Force, as well as supplying our Canadian and German allies in Europe. In coastal cities of Western Europe, I found yet another aspect of Komzi's supply mission. From busy ports such as Bremerhaven in Germany, Leghorn in Italy, and Rotterdam in Holland, comes a steady flow of heavy stuff, construction machinery, tanks, armored personnel carriers. The equipment is loaded onto river barges to be floated to destinations up the Rhine. This presents at times an interesting contrast, the modern weapons of today's army passing the ancient castles of another era. To handle the diversified fields required by the new complex army, Komzi has introduced highly specialized troops and units such as the United States Army Aerial Support Center in Normandy. The Aerial Support Center utilizes C-130 aircraft stationed at Everoo. In addition, the fields of Everoo, Drew, and St. Andre are at our disposal. Komzi therefore stands ready to support the combat troops via airdrop, anytime, anyplace, with everything that these troops might need. At St. Andre, we store and maintain personnel and cargo parachutes in support of the Army in Europe. As required, Komzi's parachutists jump with the loads to assist in the recovery of critical equipment. At Komzi's Aerial Support Centers, skilled personnel use the latest techniques in rigging and airdrop, techniques which have been developed and perfected many of them by Komzi personnel. Komzi parachute soldiers are trained to parachute nearly any item of combat equipment and to go with it to ensure its safe arrival in support of United States ground forces all over Europe. Working with the United States Air Force, this specialized element of Komzi makes certain that priority cargo gets to the men who need it and gets there in a hurry. Today, the demands of preparedness take many and highly specialized forms. For example, at key points throughout Europe, Komzi operates equipment repair installations whose versatility is remarkable. The skilled personnel of these Komzi plants can and do repair anything military from the largest tanks to wet springs. Some of these installations even show a respectable gold profit as well through repair work done for other NATO nations. Virtually nothing is discarded here, as Komzi maintains its unremitting effort to reduce defense costs overseas. At Land Gris in Germany, one discovers an unexpected aspect of the Komzi responsibility. Here, two specialized talents are called for, as Komzi soldiers take up the role of handler, teacher and leader of the four-footed soldiers of the K9 Corps. The dogs are carefully selected for qualities of health, intelligence and strength, since their work and the training which prepares them for it requires an abundance of all three. These sentry dogs, strange as it may seem, are also a considerable cost-saving item in the Komzi scheme of things. For this is an area where hundreds of border points and security installations must be guarded day and night. A single well-trained dog with his handler can do the sentry work of several soldiers, and these dogs are well-trained indeed. They learn to negotiate obstacles far more severe than any they are likely to encounter in their actual work. Komzi provides both the training and the dogs in pursuit of its basic objective, to meet every need, large or small, of the United States Army forces in Europe. The result is a large reserve of highly trained dogs, from which can be drawn the keen-eyed and sharp-eared sentries which have earned their title Four-Foot Bereda. Together with their handlers, they continue to stand watch at keen installations and along the remote frontiers which divide free Europe from the Iron Curtain countries. Also, my tour of Komzi, as well as considerable reading and study of the subject, I can truthfully state that Komzi operates a complex larger than any company in the world and does it with a speed and efficiency that is literally fingertip control. A precision, a depth of control which men may direct, but only the electronic memory banks of a computer brain can encompass. This is automatic data processing. The very core of Komzi's ability to respond instantly to requirements in the field. In seconds with automation, skilled operators can complete a bookkeeping job which not long ago took days to accomplish. And at night when the workload is lighter, the same equipment produces a document known as the status report. Two inches in thickness, it is a complete detailed evaluation of the entire Komzi's supply inventory. It is equipment such as this that makes possible Komzi's pinpoint control of a million and more items of defense. The ceaseless hum of automation, maintaining stock levels, controlling the flow of orders from the field, routing equipment by the fastest means available. With limited time, we've touched upon only a few of the functions, depots, storage sites, seaports and specialized installations of Komzi which form a strategic network of supply and service across Western Europe. These are the facilities which collectively make it possible for Komzi to supply everything necessary to the massive United States Army establishment. From the smallest weapon part or tool to heavy equipment, construction supplies, the mountains of material go to support and sustain the Allied effort in Europe. The tangible means of ensuring the strength and the survival of freedom. The operation of supplying war material to our armies, everything from tiny springs to giant cannon, is a logistical problem of the highest order, a problem well met by the people of Komzi. For it is known that the side that can first recoup from an atomic attack is the side that will win. Our side is ready. For today, helping to maintain the security of the world's free nations is the modern, forward-looking military creation known as the United States Army Communications Zone, Europe. Here you see the full strength of an army division, the Fourth Armour, assembled in a single formation. Thousands of men, tanks, self-propelled guns, trucks, an impressive array of mobile firepower. Yet, this is only one of several divisions included in the United States Army's establishment in Europe. And every weapon, every vehicle, every round of ammunition and gallon of gasoline, every button on every uniform throughout this massive military force depends upon the dedication and know-how of our male logistical specialists, the dedication and know-how of the men of Komzi.