US Marine Corps - The Black Vault

Planning for War, 1940-1941 163
a day before World War 11 started with the German attack orI Poland.
Rainbow Two had been recommended for addition to the earlier drafts of
four prospective tasks of the Planning Committee, on 21 June 1939.1’
Within the next 16 months, two plans, Rainbow Oze and Rai~bow Four,
had been completed by the Joint Planning Committee, pushed up the line,
and approved by the President. Rainbow One was written in the remarkable
time of 45 days, approved by the Joint Board and the Secretaries of War
and Navy on 14 August 1939, and then held by the President for two
months before receiving his blessing. The Navy published and distributed a
Navy Basic War Plan, Rainbow One. The Army did not publish a support-
ing plan for Rainbow One, putting their efforts into Rainbow Four since
that plan envisaged a stronger Army effort than Rainbow One.
When France started to crumble and Italy jumped into the war, Rainbow
Four was rushed to completion by the Joint Planning Committee and ap-
proved by the Joint Board on 7 June 1940. Again the President sat on a
War Plan for two months before, on 14 August 1940, giving his approval.
The Army prepared but did not issue a supporting plan for Rainbow Four
while the Navy started but did not finalize a supporting Plan. This lack of
follow-through came about, presumably because both Services were reluctant
to promulgate such a pure “Fortress America” stand, politically popular as
it might be.
In regard to these War Plans, Vice Admiral Turner during the Hart
Inquiry on 3 April 1944 testified:
I shared the opinion with many others that the war plans which were in
existence during 194o {l?~inbow otze and &itzbow Four] were defective in
the extreme, They were not realistic, they were highly theoretical, they set up
forces to be ready for use at the outbreak of war, or shortly after, which could
not possibly have been made available. . . .17
The Joint Planning Committee prepared but did not submit to the Joint
Board a Joint Army and Navy Basis War Plan Rainbow Two. This plan,
which in effect provided for the United States to fight a Western Pacific war,
while England and France fought a European war, became less and less a
reality as Germany showed her prowess over these two prospective allies.
The Joint planners were never able to agree on a Rainbow Tlwee, which
provided for active defense in the Western Hemisphere and an offensive
“ JPC to JB OP-12-E6, letter of 21 Jun. 1939; subj: JB No. 325.
‘7Pear[ Harbor Hearings, part 26, p. 268.