Evening star., 1943-06-20
The Achievement
OF General Marshall
By Open L. Scott.

The new American Army now is prov
ing itself in action on every count. Its
infantry artillery and armored forces
showed themselves superior in Africa to
the best the Germans possess. It's lead
ership outsmarted Hitler's best generals.
Its air forces row are crashing through
with proof Of the wisdom of the concept
OF daylight, precision bombing as the key
to successful use of the bomber as an
offensive weapon.
American tanks are credited by the
British with turning the tide in Africa
American artillery weapons stood up with
the best. American fighter planes, which
were much criticized early in the war,
ran up score of better than two to one
against the Germans. American bombers
all along have been in a class by them
selves.
All of this Is the basis of very much
satisfaction to Gen. George c. Marshall,
United States Chief of Staff. The reason
is that Gen. Marshall set out three years
ago, starting from scratch, to build an
American Army and his has been the
primary responsibility for that building
ever since. In that time he has seen
created what probably is as powerful a
military force as there Is in the world.
1t Is on the basis OF experience that the
decisions made by Gen. Marshall. in the
face Of great pressure, now can be seen
to have been very wise
One OF the first decisions was to give
full recognition to the air forces. He ac-
cepted Gen. H. H. Arnold on par In
rank with himself He agreed to allot
nearly one-third Of the Army's personnel
to the air forces. He allowed air officers
to give full play to their idea of how an
air war should be fought. When there
was much effort to force the American
air forces to give up their idea OF day.
light use Of bombers. operating as sep
arate offensive arm, and capable OF
fighting their way to a target for pre-
cision bombing, Gen Marshall refused to
listen.
In another decision, Gen. Marshall,
despite strong pressure in Congress, re-
fused to give undue emphasis to the
armored forces in building a ground
Army. Experience now shows that the
tank Is far less of a decisive weapon
than it had appeared to be in France.
The infantry and artillery are back in
their old roles and the American Army is
we'll balanced in all of its arms.
When it came to selecting general to
lead American forces in their offensive
operations Gen. Marshall jumped over
the heads OF very many generals and
chose a man who not long before had
been lieutenant colonel. His choice Of
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was much
questioned at the time, but 1t is no
longer. Having selected Gen. Eiscnhow-
tight situations with the full force Of a
very strong personality.
In Africa, French politics became a
problem for the American general who
was no politician. He made his decisions
on military grounds and Gen. Marshall
backed him to the limit In Africa, too.
it was almost logical that a British gen.
eral should hold the top command after
British forces had chased the Germans
half way across the continent. Gen.
Marshall thought otherwise and now the
British join in praising Gen. Eisenhower
as genius in modern warfare ,,.
There all along has been a natural
British thought that London, rather than
Washington should be the staff head
quarters for Allied forces On many
occasions there have been rumors that
Gen. Marshall would become the
generalissimo of the British and Ameri-
can armies and would have headquarters
in Great Britain. 1t may be that the
American general will later be given an
increase in rank and responsibility
although he asked for none, but it is
quite certain that headquarters will re-
main in Washington. 1t is here that the
overall war planning is done
In another field OF controversy, that
Of division OF forces between the Pacific
and the Atlantic war theaters, Gen.
Marshall has insisted all along that one
OF those wars had to be holding opera
tion while forces were gathered to de-
liver knockout punch in the other. The
forces. When the Roosevelt Churchill
decision was to treat Hitler as enemy
No. then the division Of American mill
tary strength was on basis designed to
stop the japanese and to punish them,
but to concentrate on blow at Germany
and Italy. That blow is beginning to be
delivered
At the same time the American people
have reason to be pleased with Gen.
Marshall on another count. The reason
is that the general is man who is will
Ing to change his mind At the time
when it appeared that Russia might
not be able to stand successfully against
Germany the United States made plans
for an army Of 100000 men. However,
when the situation changed as result
Of Russian successes Gen. Marshall was
quick to agree that a force not much
more than half that size would be ade-
quate. with one-third of the smaller
army devoted to the air forces.
Every sign is that this country is
fortunate In having Gen. Marshall as its
Chief of Staff in wartime. He Is a mill
tary leader who harbors no political
ambitions and who does not seek the
lmellght. His ability and stature are
such that it is easy for commanders NJ