The initial design team has been assembled and is now working out the first problem of GE. What is the starting date for GE?

As a math problem GE has a sum and a quotient; parts of the problem should flow to the solution. In short, when all the parts are assembled it should add up.

Before any other part can be looked at, discussed, developed, researched, or any other work done on any other part, we have to know when to start. Various dates have been suggested, ranging from the Spanish Civil War to Operation Barbarossa. The Spanish Civil War seems to be too early and Operation Barbarossa seems to be too late. The consensus will ultimately determine the time, but my feeling is that it should be in 1938 or 1939. If you pick these dates you have begun GE on the eve of WWII, which will give both the Axis and Allied players the flexibility to examine their respective goals and objectives and not saddle either side with the historical mistakes after the beginning of WWII. I can not begin to describe the conversations some of us have had as to the varied histories that can be created, regardless of the date you start GE from. An endless and tiresome maze is placed before this team as they approach the problem. The team faces what may be a nearly impossible task, but it may also be, quite easy. What would a program run from beginning to end in GE look like? Let's take the German High Command's plan, put forth in early 1937, to build sixty panzer divisions (a fantasy at best). By way of example, remember the fact that (1) Germany was in the business of producing private passenger autos until 1944, showing a complete disregard to the needs of a wartime economy, and (2) the existing mass production companies such as Ford/Opal were not used prior to the outbreak of hostilities to assemble a German war machine because the Germans did not want these international companies to know they were going to a war footing. The result of these two items meant that the economy was grossly underutilized and was kept very inefficent by ignoring the practices of planned mass production. Quite a different picture when compared to the United States which invoked a wartime economy on December 8, 1941. It does not appear that the Germans were as cunning as we might have been led to believe. But Hitler had political realities to deal with. He needed guns and butter. Keeping up private nonwar production was necessary to show the hornevolks that all was okay.

Remember too, slave labor was used in unskilled and semiskilled production as the war progressed, which offset the real GNP for war production on both the credit and cost side. Factoring this one point could be a design nightmare. Presupposing factors such as these looks like the best solution.

All this is quite speculative until a date and outline are drafted. To that end the team is working on problem number one, the date. An outline and simple structure and a set of proceedures (not set in concrete) will follow. The basic design components such as naval module, unified air, essential production, political events, and other categories have to be assembled. Members of the design team will take on these components and design and develop categories within the framework of the unified GE plan.

There will be a Grand Europa report in each subsequent issue of the magazine that will fill in some more of the blanks. Many of you have solicited support for the project and have offered to help. Thank you for this. The way you will be able to help is to consider what area of GE you feel best qualified to work in. In the near future we will be publishing the outline and directing those of you who want to volunteer time and effort to respond to the coordinator of the project. This position has been created to organize data by category and to keep the flow of information to the individual design team members working in that category. This should help keep things in order and speed this monumental project along.

For now, please consider what I have said. Those of you who have written to Ben or myself about GE can rest assured that we will want your support. We don't want an avalanche of paperwork until the system has been set up to deal with it. The system is being built and the coordinator should be ready to get information organized in about sixty days.

In the next issue of the magazine I will lay out the draft grid we will be using to design GE I will also detail more information about how you can help, if you are interested. You can be assured that there will be a Grand Europa designed and published before you attempt to collect your social security retirement check.