The Wilmington morning star., 1943-12-20
MORE U. S. TROOPS
SENT TO BRITAIN
Reports Indicate Marshall
May Not Be Named The
Allied c. in E.

LONDOIN, Lee. lS-LP)-AS Lon
don newspapers told of mighx,
American army streaming steadily
across the Atlantic, reports from
Washington that Gen. George c.
Marshall would not become com
mander in chief Of the, western in
vasion caused widespread surprise
here tonight.
Official comment as to who will
command the long-expected Chan
mel blow to end the war was lack
ing, but the speculation here was
that if the present U. S. chief of
staff does not, the post might 90
either to Gen. Dwight D. Eisen-
hover or to Gen Sir Harold Alex
ander.
The Sunday Express said mil
lions of trained men are arriving
in Britain from America, ferried
nonstop by go huge Allied ships"
~. S. troops are 'strap-hanging'
across the Atlantic on a nonstop
run by great fleets of transports, %
said the newspaper The People.
Great Britain Xxx is about to
become a mighty springboard for
a United Nations leap on Hitler's
Fortress" said the Chronicle.
At the same time, the travels of
Nazi Field Marshal Gen. Erwin
Rommel up and down the German
west wall' indicated that Ger
many also was preparing for the
blow the Allies have promised.
A Berlin broadcast said Marshal
Rommel had arrived at the head
quarters of Field Marshal Gen.
Karl Rudolf Gerd Won Rundstedt
the German anti-invasion COM
mander in the west, following in
spection tours through Denmark
and Norway. Another transmission
referred for the first time to Field
Marshal Albert Kesselring as
commander in chief of all Ger
man forces in Italy," where Rom
mel had been Kesselring's SUI
perior.
The broadcast said the former
"desert fox was inspecting all the
defenses of the European fortress
but failed to confirm reports
reaching neutral capital that Won
Rundstedt already has been ousted
by Hitle ras defense commander
and replaced by Rommel.
The Allied decision on who
would command the invasion
forces drew the most attention
here, however.
Highly-placed officers already
working on the preliminaries to
the assault have insisted all along
they did not know who would di-
rect it. but among both American
and British military men. Gen.
Marshall has long been accepted
as the logical selection.
This has been even more widely
accepted in non-military circles,
and Gen. Marshall has been the
subject of favorable London news
paper sketches.
Reluctant to accept Washington
reports that the chief of staff will
remain at home, British officers
seemed to feel that even if a
change has been made it was not
necessarily done in order to put a
Briton in charge.
They pointed out that while the
operations will be British-based and
in the early phases British and
Canadian troops even might out
number the Americans, American
forces funnelled directly onto the
continent later likely would give
the United States a preponderance
in both men and material.
They reason also that America
has only three four-star generals
with sufficient rank and prestige
to lead the Allied army-Gens.
Marshall, Eisenhower and Mac
Arthur. They rule out Macarthur
automatically because he is so
deeply committed to waging the
Pacific war to its conclusion.
Eisenhower unquestionably would
be accepted by the British, per-
haps as warmly as Marshall, be-
cause he already has done a good
job in shaping cooperating and in
tegration between Allied forces.