Evening star., 1943-09-17
Credits Allied Victory
To Bold Strategy
By Maj. George Fielding Eliot.

The intrepid self-sacrifice of the 5th
Army, coupled with the mounting pres
sure from the advance of the 9th Army
on the south and probably also to the
east, has produced its expected result.
The Germans have broken off their at
tempts to wipe out the bridgehead in the
Salerno region and are Withdrawing.
The 5th Army now can widen and
deepen its beachheads and begin bring
ing ashore additional forces and sup-
plies for operations of wider extent, in
cooperation with such other Allied
forces as are now in Italy or may make
their appearance there
While there has not been actual con-
tact between military elements of the
5th and 9th Armies, they are in stra-
tegical contact, to the extent that their
operations have co-ordinated influence
on the enemy.
Gen. Eisenhower thus has accom-
pliShed one of the most difficult and
dangerous feats of arms in military
history. He has effected a union of
two armies in the presence of the enemy.
Napoleon, in his maxims of war OBJ
serves: I'm invading country with two
or three armies, each of which has its
own distinct line of operations EXTEND
ing toward a final point at which all
are to unite, the union of the different
corps should never be ordered to take
place in the vicinity Of the enemy, as
by concentrating his forces he may
defeat them one by one"
But rigid adherence to rules is not
the Eisenhower method. He knows,
as every successful general (Napoleon
includeO has learned from experience,
that rules are made to be broken when
necessity arises.
The Germans tried hard to take ad-
vantage OF what opportunity the Eisen-
hover strategy seemed to offer them
Probably they were not in sufficient
strength to fight the 9th Army. Even
If they did so. they had to go clear
down to Calabria to do so. and then
they would certainly have been cut off
and trapped by the 5th Army's landing
in their rear. Their best chance was
to attack the 5th Army while it was
landing, and hold it to so narrow q
beachhead that Gen. Clark could not
deploy his full force against them. This
is called catching the landing force
"astride the beach"-defeating it in de-
tail, in other words, by wiping. out the
portion which has landed while the re-
mainder must look on helpiessiy from
their transports. This was the chief
risk which Eisenhower and Clark had
to assume. They faced 1t resolutely,
confident in the quality Of their troops,
and the result has shown how we'll
justified was that confidence The Ger
mans were presented with a great op-
portunity but they were not good enough
to cash in on their prospects.
What happens next will be motivated
by the basic purpose Gen. Eisenhower
has already announced-his objective be-
ing the smashing of the German Army
in Southern Italy. That army has with
drawn from the Salerno area. It prob
ably includes four divisions. or parts of
them: The 18th, 10th, 29th and Herman
Goering divisions, possibly with some
additional reinforcements from the north
The Germans seem at this time to be
trying to break of contact with the 5th
Army and thus regain freedom of action
They may 60 racing northward clear up
into North Italy with such motorized
elements as they possess, leaving the
remainder to delay our advance as long
as possible. If so, they certainly will
sustain heavy losses, may at any mo-
ment be cut off by new landing in
their rear, or by an Allied army from
the east coast cutting across the Apen-
mines. They may make last-ditch
stand to cover Rome; if so, they almost
certainly will be surrounded and de-
stroyed unless the Germans in the north
are willing to feed more divisions into
Central Italy to make bigger fight.
The Germans are right back where
they started. Their dilemma is still
what it has been ever since the Italian
surrender-get out of peninsular Italy
with all speed, or put enough troops in
to withstand our forces on the grand
scale and risk the loss Of all they send
in. With every delay and with every
fight they get into, their chance of get
ting out is reduced, they are more and
more committed to fighting. If they
fight very much more in Italy with in
sufficient forces, and with our mounting
air strength as we gain new bases, thev
will find out what Eisenhower means
when he says his purpose is to trap
and smash the enemy forces
AS for ourselves, we can face the fu-
ture with confidence, both in the quality
OF our leadership and the quality of the
troops which that leadership directs.
Copyright, / 943, by New York Tribune Incl