Of Books and Battle

Just nine years after the Nazis staged the famous burning of the books, Harvard is presenting the first wartime review of its entire military effort. As Harvard has gone to war it has neither burned its books, nor has it, as in 1917, completely forgotten them in the mad rush to reach the fighting lines. Marching today will be 1600 potential officers in many branches of the armed services, most of whose military education would not be complete without the liberal arts courses they are now taking Peace-time subjects and war-time training have been welded into an integrated whole.

Never before has an army or navy, here or abroad, contained such a high percentage of college men in the ranks and among its officers. This trend is still continuing. Realizing the indispensible values of education, the armed forces have fashioned elaborate plans to keep men in college, and prepare them for war service.

Harvard, to an extent probably unmatched by any school in the country, is using its liberal arts and science faculty to educate and train the nation's officer strength. Eight hundred naval and military ROTC students are being prepared for their A.B. or S.B.; four hundred army quartermaster cadets are studying for an M.B.A.; while two hundred army and navy signal corps officers are being instructed almost entirely by Harvard professors.

Yesterday, also, was the second anniversary of the first great Nazi attack on France and the Lowlands: an action which was the logical culmination of all that lies behind book-burning. Today, Harvard is parading a symbol of its own offensive,-the result of close attention to the books the Nazis burned.