Evening star., 1945-08-02
Eisenhower Of Pacific
Doubted by Observer
Declares Situation in Far East
Differs From One in Europe
BY David Laurence

declares SItuat1On IN Far East
Differs From One in Europe
BY David Laurence
AS the time approaches for major
operations against Japan, involving
large-scale landings and the transport
Of huge numbers Of troops to particle
pate in the final blows against the
enemy, the question of command has
begun to appear in the dispatches from
the Pacific and is cropping up in dis
cussions among military and naval men
here
The truth of the matter is that there
can be no Eisenhower of the Pacific"
as has been suggested, because the Euro
pean setup and the situation faced IN
the war against Japan are entirely diff
ferent. Most observers probably do not
realize that Gen. Eisenhower never had
command of the United States Navy or
the British Navy in the last four years
when they played decisive part in
bringing troops and supplies to Europe
and in clearing the Atlantic of enemy
submarines. Only for a brief interval
during the landings on Normandy was
Gen. Eisenhower commander of all
armed services.
The suggestion that Admiral Nimit5
should move his headquarters to Manila
so as to be near Gen. Macarthur is not
practicable, because not only does the
United States Navy have to be operated
from bases closer to Japan but the feet
must be controlled from points much
more strategically located in reference
to feet operations than is Manila.
Complex Problem.
The command problem in the Pacific
Is complex and not at all easy to solve
on the basis of European experience.
Gen. Eisenhower dealt primarily with
large Army operations. In the Pacific
the naval operations are extensive up
to and including the period during which
landings will occur.
The Navy has the responsibility of
putting the troops ashore and giving
them air cover until such time as the
Army can take over air cover. What
beaches the Army wishes to land on Is
an Army matter but the Navy can in
dicate the beaches where 1t can land
under given conditions. Thus while the
Navy may indicate a number of landing
places as feasible it is the Armys re-
sponsibility to select which ones it pre-
fers.
In other words, the invasion of Japan
Is to be joint Army Navy affair and
there can be no overall commander for
all Pacific operations. If Gen. MacAr-
thur Is in command of the invasion
troops landing in China or Japan, he
will be in sole charge once the troops
are ashore. Admiral Nimitz will be in
overall command of naval operations.
To those who argue that there is
| today a divided command" in the
| Pacific, it may be said that the United
States joint chiefs of staff is Americas
unified command Here Admiral Leahy
as chief of staff to the President. Gen.
! Marshall as chief of staff of the Army,
Admiral King as commander in chief
OF all naval forces and Gen. Arnold as
chief of Army Air Forces sit down to-
gether to make the decisions They
have working under them in Washing
ton large staff of officers engaged in
making plans and working out the de-
tails of collabora ton between the armed
services. The United States Joint chiefs
of staff is an operating command or
| ganization.
| Rivalry Understandable.
Coordination is not always apparent
on the face of things and sometimes
overzealous publicity men in the war
zones tend to give a distorted picture
Thus In the last few days there has
been some understandable rivalry be-
tween the Army Air Forces and the
Navy in claiming credit for the destruc-
ton of the Japanese battleship Haruna.
While it may seem that the Army Air
Forces operate independently, the truth
is that there is coordination at our
Guam headquarters in the selection of
targets, so that the work of the B-2os
and other Army air weapons and the
operations OF the Navy carriers and task
forces are properly blended
Admiral Nimitz has been truly a great
leader OF our naval forces and Gen.
Macarthur has done splendid job in
the Far Pacific. But both men are
directly responsible to the United States
joint chiefs of staff, which in turn must
function not only with the British mill
tary and naval forces, but also with the
Chinese and perhaps some day with
the Russians.
| There is, therefore, not the slightest
possibility that the Allies would select
one man as supreme commander. The
Russians would wish to operate il their
own sphere of influence. Generanssimo
Chang Kai-shek will wish to have a
voice at the top level in any decisions
affecting China. AS for the United
States, it has a major operation for
the Army and Navy, respectively The
! present plan is for the United States
| joint chiefs of staff to function with
respect to American forces. delegating
specific commands for particular oper-
ations and for a combined chiefs of
staff to function overall with respect
to the Allies as a whole.
Reproduction RIGHTS Reserved)
| Cali rL--A>l