Evening star., 1943-12-26
Marshall and Eisenhower

mander of the Allied land, sea and
air forces to be used to smash Hitler
on new fronts in Europe, General
Dwight D, Eisenhower has been
charged with one of the weightiest
and most decisive responsibilities of
the war. But he is superbly we'll
equipped to handle it. Not much
more than year ago, before the in
vasion OF North Africa, he was rela-
lively unknown; since then he has
joined the company of the foremost
captains in history-an American
under whose leadership an entire
continent has been liberated, the
Mediterranean swept virtually clean
OF the enemy, and Italy invaded.
The immense responsibility hand
ed over to him now is in the nature
OF a reward for the greatness of his
achievements during the past year.
But more than that, it is the logical
placing of an extraordinary difficult
kind of command on the shoulders
of a man who has brilliantly DEM
onstrated his unique fitness for such
command. What he will do from
now on, he has done already, the
only difference being that he will be
obliged to do it on an even grander
scale In an even more important
theater. For as President Roosevelt
declared in announcing the appoint
ment, General Eisenhower already
knows by practical and successful
experience the way to coordinate
air, sea and land power" Never be-
fore in the history of warfare have
Allies been so beautifully welded
into a single combat team as they
have been welded in the African
Mediterranean theater, and never
before have they functioned under
a single commander with so little
friction. 1t is signal honor for the
United States that the man chiefly
responsible for this has been chosen
to repeat the performance for the
gigantic coming attacks on Hitler,
but the Churchill government has
been quite as impressed by General
Eisenhower as has been our own
Government. and the well-Wishing
British people, no less than the
American people. will repose the
highest degree of confidence in him
in the hard and historic months i'm
mediately ahead.
The choice of General Eisenhower
seems happy and wise one for yet
another reason. It leaves General
Marshall in his key position as chief
of staff. and although some circles
once advocated that he be given the
task now given to General Eisen-
hover, there can be little doubt that
the present arrangement is better in
every respect. not least of all be-
cause our Allied global command
would have lost one Of its greatest
figures If General Marshall had been
shifted. His job, after all, is the
most important in the Army, for to-
gether with Admiral King, he has
been directing. in President Roose-
velt's words, "all our armed might
throughout the world" and it has
been up to him to plan "the strategy
of determining when and where we
shall fight"
The magnitude of this responsible
ity cannot be exaggerated A year
ago, as the President has just re-
vealed, we had 100000 men over
seas; today the number is 100000,
and by next July it will be more than
100000. In view of these figures,
it is good to know that General Mar
shall's genius will continue to be
used where it has already accom-
plished what amounts to a miracle.
BY comparison, General Eisen-
howers role. though it may seem
more dramatic. is sharply restricted.