Evening star., 1945-06-17
Eisenhower Reussures


press conference at supreme Allied
headquarters in Paris contained
such wealth of information, good
sense and quiet, fortnight eloquence
that it's text should be read by every
American interested in how the war
was won in Europe and how the
peace must now be won there as
well.
For the military historians the
great leader of the Western Allies
revealed a wide variety of illuminat-
ing facts and opinions. German
commanders did not admire the
Fuehrer's strategic BRAIN" General
Eisenhower's most troubled night
was November 7, 1912, when he wor-
r1ed deeply over the imponderables
OF the North African invasion. The
Salerno landings in Italy were alb
solutely essential. 1t was "a little
soul-shaking" to decide upon the
exact date to storm the beaches of
Normandy, when to have been too
late or too early might have led to
catastrophe. After the third day
OF their Ardennes offensive last De-
cember, Germany's military chief
tains knew that they had definitely
lost the war and fought on only be-
cause of Hitler's determination and
in the vain hope that the Allies
would fall out among themselves.
Basic to our victory in Europe,
according to General Eisenhower.
were teamwork and "integrated
tactical power"-harmony in the
command, close cooperation among
the armies of different nationalities
and the meshing together of all
types OF land, sea and air forces,
each indispensable to the other be-
cause no one of them could have
won the war separately. when
ever you attack" as General Eisen-
hover puts it, you have got dreams,
then you have got hopes, then you
have got expectations, and then you
have got just what you have got to
get" This was true no less of the
Germans than of the Allies. but in
the case of the latter-with their
teamwork and integrated power
the attack paid off in ultimate tri-
umph and Nazi Germany was re-
duced to ruin.
AS for the peace, even in relatively
minor matters like the non-fra-
ternization policy, you have some
people in the world who are ex-
tremists and, particularly the fur
ther away they are from the scene,
they think they can solve the prob
lem with greater facility" But Gen.
eral Eisenhower makes clear that
the task ahead is not going to be
easy, that it will require forbear-
ance and good will and that time
will be required to straighten out a
lot of big and little things, just as
was the case in winning the war.
The future does not dismay or
frighten him. The soldiers of every
one of the victorious nations, he
says, are tired of war. They want
peace. They want to enjoy life, the
Russians-the "friendliest" of peo-
ples-no less than all the rest.
General Eisenhower is confident
that the Allied Control Council in
Germany, once it begins to function,
will function we'll and that the
problems of Europe will be settled
satisfactorily, if slowly. He has
shown how patience and team
work, under his superb leadership,
led to total military victory, and
logic is wholly on his side when he
tells us now that the same kind of
patience and teamwork can make
tomorroW's world a decent and Sc
cure one. His counsel on waging
war was so very good that when he
speaks today about waging peace
his words seem doubly valuable and
reassuring.