UNITED COMMAND

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 262, 4 August 1942, Page 5

UNITED COMMAND

Gap Between Practice And Principle NEW YORK, August 3. The Washington correspondent of the “New York Tinies,” in his dispatch reporting that an Anglo-American combined command is under consideration, says: . . , , , “The raw materials crisis has forced the British and American officials to decide on how the limited supply will be divided between the two nations, It is generally admitted that such decisions are most effectively made by a high command directing the armed forces of both nations with a single plan of strategy. Unity in the command has been accepted in principle but not in practice. _ . “For weeks a difference of opinion has existed between American and British high officers regarding the manner in which the American forces should operate in Britain. Many American officers believe their bombers should not be used till the American ground crews arrive to service the craft, and also the American forces should operate independently of the R.A.F. Other Americans oppose this view, pointing out that valuable months may be lost in transporting thousands of American ground personnel across the Atlantic and thus delaying the moment when the full weight of the British and American air forces can L' hurled against the Germans.” There is apparently unanimity in high places in London and Washington regarding the wisdom of creating the high command and also appointing a sole commander-in-chief for the European theatre as well as the other major theatres, but at the same time there is an almost fatalistic acceptance of the notion that the Allies must pass through even darker days, as they did in 1917, before overcoming the personal difficulties involved in such fundamental changes.”