Evening star., 1940-01-06

Hore-beIisha Owes
Downfall 10 Men
Whom He Promoted
Army Officers loothed
Amateur Who Knew
Much About Military
BY DREW MIDDLETON,

BY DREW MIDDLETON,
Associated Press Foreign Correspondent
LONDON, Jan. 6.-Leslie Hore-
Belisha. the new broom" who built
Britain's present army, owes his
downfall as war minister to the very
men he promoted to lead the i'm
perial forces.
It is an open secret in France
that the suave Hore-Belisha and
Lord Gort, commander of the British
field forces. did not "get on"
They differed first on submission
of the British Expeditionary Force
to French leadership, which the war
minister, an ardent admirer of the
French generalissimo, Gen. Maurice
Gamelin, had pumped for ever since
taking Office.
just as irksome to the caste ridden
British Army was Mr.. Hore- -Belisha's
penchant for "democratization" of
the military forces and his love for
publicity. On trips to the front he
paid more attention TO privates and
non-coms than to officers and he
had scant regard for the ceremonial
procedure which cloaked headquar-
tiers.
Was 4 Gifted Amateur.
The tradition bound army could
not recognize a kindred soul in the
stout little man who tramped the
trenches in patent leather shoes,
called privates my dear boy" and
stumped white-haired brigadiers
with questions on fire power, muzzle
velocity and other "new-fangled"
ideas.
He was what every professional
soldier loathes-a gifted amateur
who had learned a lot about the
military business.
Older officers held him in low
esteem for house cleaning in high
places. When he reconstructed the
army council, Gen. Sir Harry Knox
and 1t. Gen. Sir Hugh Files were
displaced. Eight months later. two
more generals-Sir George Jeffreys
and Sir Henry Karslake-were "re-
tired"
To fill their places, that young
man" brought in promising young
men of the army whose promotion
list had been mostly stagnant since
the World War armistice.
1t was Lord Gort and H. r.
Pownall, his chief of staff, who had
led the opposition to Mr.. Hore-
Belisha since the army gathered
in France.
Britain pledged its army to serve
under Gen. Gamelin when the pres
ent war started. The British gen.
erals took orders, but there have
been obvious indications they didn't
like it.
The feeling held by the late Mar
shall Haig during the World War
that "the British take care of them
selves" still is present, despite VIC
tories under the united command
in 1918.
Feeling Evident in France.
There was nothing secret about
the feeling in France when Mr..
Hore- -Belisha visited there in No.
vember. Early one Sunday morn
ing he gathered the war corre-
spondents together to tell them
what he had seen. Brimful of en-
thusiasm and energy he talked,
answered questions and let the meet
ing run well over the half-hour
allotted by the army.
In the courtyard outside the lit
tie inn where the meeting took
place Lord Gort and his staff
stamped their feet in the cold No.
vember morning and glared at Mr.
Hore-Belisha's back, plainly visible
through window.
When he jumped into a car after
a second interview with American
newspapermen and made a brief
speech for the neWsreels, the at
mosphere was thick with unspoken
criticism. 1t didn't worry Mr.. Hore-
Belisha.
The fight never got into the open.
1t was there, however, gradually
growing into a three sided scrap,
with Air Secretary Sir Kingsley
Wood joining in when Mr.. Hore-
Belisha asked for unified command
of the army and air force and closer
iaison between fighter squadrons
and land troops.
Oliver Stanley, Mr.. Hore- -Belisha's
successor as war minister, though
named to please the army, still is
not the man the military men want.
Officers Want Ironside.
The man the officers really wanted
was Maj. Gen. Sir Edmund IRON
side, chief of the imperial general
staff, whom they regard as "the
best type of British soldier" But he
is an active soldier and no soldier
has held the war minister's post
since Kitchener. of World War fame.
If the officers forget Mr.. Hore-
Belisha, the privates will remember
him-for he raised the privates pay,
gave him bigger pension and i'm
proved his living quarters.
The soldiers in "the new army"
had a chance to learn a trade,
washed in hot water, slept in clean,
well-lighted barracks and wore a