Evening star., 1941-06-24

Henry McLemore. basis OF how
long his constitution could stand
up under caviar, Havana cigars,
vintage wine and other field ratiops
of the Ritz Carlton sort. High
blood pressure and not the enemy
was his gravest danger. Even in
time of battle his headquarters we're
so far back of the lines that the
only excuse he had for posting
guards was to keep from being an
noyed by statesmen trying to sell him
subscriptions to magazines 7nnr
brushes to keep his medals shiny.
But that's all over now. ma
Certainly it's over within the; ar
mored. or panzer. divisions. Every
blessed man in them fights. am
here with the I'd Armored Division
and any moment I expect an order
requiring me to mount a .50-cahber
machine gun on my typewriter and
be prepared to shoot it when an
alert signal sounds, even if 1t comes
right IN the middle OF a paragra apn
OF deathless prose.
Even the cooks fight In the. I'd
Armored. Their big mobile kitch-
ems are armed and all the chefs can
go from browning potatoes TO
Browning machines guns. If at
tackled, the cooks and their helpers
are prepared to defend themselves
to the last onion and soup strainer.
But, 10 get back to the generals
/ and other brass hats, and the part
they play in the fighting of today.
There is no such thing as back
| line when an armored division
cranks up and moves on to the at
tack. There couldn't very welt be.
because every unit has instructions
to keep plunging forward until the
last bullet has been fired and the
final teaspoonful of gasoline ex-
hausted. Any one remaining be-
hind such a drive would have to en-
list in foot company in the hope Of
catching up some time later in the
month.
There are no round trip tickets
issued when the monsters begin to
roll
The three top men in the I'd
Armored-Maj. Gen. George S. Pat
ton, division commander; Col.
Geoffrey Keys, chief of staff, and
Col. James Weaver-have their own
tanks and the tanks were built for
first line fighting, not for pleasure
calls. Like all the other tanks. they
are as bare of comforts as q run
down torture chamber. 7s
| Once the general and the colonies
pile into them, they are subject to
just as fierce pounding as the low
liest enlisted man. A tank plunging
down a hill under fire is no respecter
of what fellow wears on his epau-
lettes, and many an armored di-
vision officer doubtless has often
wished that he could trade his oak
leaf, eagle or stars for pillow.
In battle the officers advance
smack along with the full body Of
tanks. Those officers who don't
have tanks of their own come plow-
ing along in scout cars and other
lighter placed combat buggies. When
contact is made with the enemy
they are actually in more danger
than the plain soldiers because the
officers must stand up and direct the
movement of their vehicles. -
Gen. Patton has aroused in this
reporter a suspicion that he doesn't
know he is a general. He exposes
himself to danger as casually as a
strip teaser does to the front row
orchestra. In the first attack Of the
division against the Blue Army here
in the wilds of Tennessee it was his
tank that was first to hit the road to
contact the enemy. He followed so
close behind the reconnaissance cars
that he could hand the scouts In
them drink of water. After study
ing him at first hand for a whiles-
am convinced that in actual warfare
he would wear an Uncle Sam silt
and stick his head out of the tank
turret to be sure he was the first to
'n"" mt e
AS it is, Gen. Patton has a spe-
cially made combat suit and helmet
of such striking design that his
soldiers, all of whom respect him
as a general who is man rather
than as a man who is a general,
have dubbed him Gen. Flash Cor
don" and "the Green Hornet"
On maneuvers the general asks
no favors. He lives in tent that
many a trout fisherman would
scorn and, like the enlisted men,
takes his chance of being ami
hilated by the insect panzer unit
that operates in this region. He Is
I'D 20 hours out of the "a. just Hike
every one else. Truthfully, I be-
lieve his subordinates wish he we're
more of a swivel-chair general
With him prowling around like a
pup that has forgotten where he
buried his favorite bone they can't
devote so much time to scratching
bites as they'd like to.
The general seems to figure that
war is just what Sherman said il
was and that the only way to pre-
pare man for it is to make phoney
maneuvers as much like the rea,
thing as possible. My only fear il
that he will make these Tennessee
sham battles so rugged that when
and if, the genuine article come;
along the I'd Armored will find il
anticlimactic and DISAPPOINTING
In that case the
But thatll be all for today.
have been captured again.
distributed by McNaught Syndicate, Inc.