Evening star., 1944-07-30
High Officer Decries
Comparison Of Gains
By Yanks and British
~ the Associated Press.

~ the Associated Press.
AN ADVANCE COMMAND POST
SUPREME ALLIED HEADQUAR-
TIERS, July pa high ranking Of
ficer in Gen. Eisenhower's command
spoke out today against what he
said was tendency of military
writers-both British and American
to compare gains made by the
British and American Armies in
the Normandy campaign.
There is no nationality over
there" this general told newsmen
attached to the supreme command.
1--WE are all Allied soldiers. We
have been very much surprised to
note the tendency to compare gains
made by troops under 1t. Gen. Sir
4 Miles Christopher Dempsey and 1t.
Gen. Omar N. Bradley.
I'VE do not gauge the success of
an operation by the size of the ad-
vance made" he continued. ANY
general who trades men for ground
if it is just to expands a damn
fool. Hitler's mad policy of never
to give up an inch of ground has
cost him half a million men on his
various fighting fronts.
One Man Is Running Show.
Zone man is running this show
He is feeling his way and punching
where it does the most good. 1t
just happens that the British have
a tough spot at Caen. They are up
against a preponderance of Boches
and armor.
1T is possible-now that Gen.
Bradley has broken through-that
some of this weight will be shifted
and the resistance around Caen will
thin out.
I'VE do not differentiate a bit In
our attacks-Whether they are by
British or American troops. There's
no nationality to a tank.
Gen. Montgomery Is conducting
this campaign under directives from
Gen. Eisenhower and they are in
complete accord. We noticed this
trend OF comparing advances not
only In the British but in the
American press. If we keep on
doing this We are just giving aid
and comfort to the enemy"
Air Support Still Wanted.
Discussing other phases of the
Normandy campaign the spokesman
said all regimental, division and
corps commanders on the Normandy
front - despite the unfortunate
bombing of some of our own troops
from the air-had agreed they still
want air support even if they must
accept a small margin of error.
But the air people are quite GER
tain that by little improvements in
technique-pooling experiences of
the bomber command and the
United States Air FORGIVE can
provide air preparation on a scale
never dreamed of and with effec-
tiveness no one ever visualised," he
said.
Fifteen hundred heavy bombers
were used in the air preparation on
the American line Some bombs
fell short causing small number
Of casualties"
1T is inevitable in fighting of that
kind" he explained, where you
have to put your bombs right up
against your own front line that
some chaps are going to drop few
short. But the morale of our
ground troops is all right.
Best Wage Troops in France.
while they want air support
without that margin of error-and
they'll get it-they'd rather take the
risk than have to attack without
the bombers."
The spokesman said events inside
Germany have not affected the
fighting in France, due to the pres
ence of so many SIS elite Guard
troops and commanders. He re-
marked that it was obvious Hitler
had ceased to trust the German
army, that he had imposed lots of
indignities on the army, and while
he was replacing old Army gen.
erals with Nazis, "it is unlikely he
will be able to replace them with
anyone SO professionally compe-
tent"
OF the present struggle, the
spokesman said, right now we are
fighting for ports and elbow room.
We,are drawing on and knocking off
a lot more men 60; the enemv)
than we are losing Our last attack
must have accounted for what was
left of two or three divisions. We
are going good