useless on snow, muskeg, and the muck of the barren lands and 

 northern tundras. Special winterized tracked vehicles and sled 

 trains are required. Consequently, all cross-country travel is slow 

 and uncertain during the winter, but almost impossible during 

 summer except on highways. Vehicle motors require special 

 starting and maintenance techniques; lubricants stiffen; gasoline 

 and chemicals vaporize less readily; condensation of moisture in 

 fuel tanks and carburetors occurs and turns to ice at temperature 

 below freezing; water jackets freeze; steel parts break more 

 easily ; storage batteries lose capacity ; frost fogs lenses of optical 

 instruments and windshields of vehicles. 



Arctic clothing, equipment, and arms make 300-pound sloths 

 of average size airborne soldiers. Sufficient cold weather exer- 

 cises have been conducted to prove the feasibility of limited, small- 

 scale military operations over snow-covered terrain. Large scale 

 transpolar military expeditions present difficult problems. The 

 difficulties of mass airborne and land operations in subzero weather 

 and over rugged arctic terrain are so great that they may never 

 be solved. Large scale attrition type combat, therefore, does not 

 appear a reasonable possibility, but highly mobile small striking 

 forces may play an important role in arctic warfare. 



Standard construction practices employed in temperate cli- 

 mates must be modified for permafrost conditions in the Arctic. 

 The few roads, railroads, and structures built there in the past 

 have sustained serious damage because of the destructive action 

 of the permafrost which had been ignored or miscalculated in 

 the original design. A thorough understanding of permafrost is, 

 therefore, an important part of the planning of each engineering 

 project. 



Each service has an artcic and cold weather materiel program 

 required for discharge of its respective responsibilities in war or 

 peace. That for the Navy Department was approved by the 

 Secretary of the Navy on 9 September 1948. It should be care- 

 fully studied by all personnel charged with research and develop- 

 ment, materiel, and operational problems. 



IMPORTANCE OF ARCTIC REGIONS 



The trend of history is that successive wars become more global 

 and more universal. No future war is likely to be restricted to a 

 single locale. Because the Arctic is the central area of most of 

 the earth's land masses, and since its nature is largely that of a 

 mediterranean sea, naval operations will be of utmost importance. 



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