MIDDLE EAST CHANGES

Southland Times, Issue 24831, 25 August 1942, Page 5

MIDDLE EAST CHANGES

IRAN AND IRAQ AS NEW AREA (Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON, Aug. 24. Iran and Iraq have been removed from the area controlled by the Commander-in-Chief in the Middle East. They will form an independent area under the command of General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson, until now Commander of the 9th Army. General Wilson was one of the high officers with whom Mr Churchill conferred during his stay in Cairo and he was once described by Mr Churchill as one of Britain’s best tacticians. In the early days of the war General Wilson commanded the British troops in Egypt and he was General Sir Archibald Wavell’s right-hand man in the first Libyan campaign. Later he commanded the British forces in the Greek campaign and he directed the successful operations against the Vichy Army in Syria. General Sir Harold Alexander, the new Middle East Commander-in-Chief,

will now have under his command the Bth Army, in Egypt, and the 9th Army, in Syria and Palestine. The 10th Army, which occupies Iran and Iraq and which was until now part of the Middle East Command, will form the nucleus of General Wilson’s new command. Lieutenant-General E. _ P. Quinan, of the Indian Army, is in immediate command of the 10th Army. General Wilson’s successor in the command of the 9th Army has not been announced. CONFIDENCE FELT BY GENERAL SMUTS PRETORIA, August 23. “Mr Churchill and I discussed what can be done in 1942 and what could be done for the great offensives in 1943,” said General J. C. Smuts, Prime Minister of South Africa, referring to his meeting with Mr Churchill in Cairo. “The lost ground in North Africa must be recovered,” he said. “I am convinced that it can be cleared of the enemy, if we plan properly, with the men and material at our disposal.” Referring to the Middle East Command, he said that Mr Churchill had made changes, but these changes were no reflection on the men concerned. It was not a question of commanders or personalities—they might be the ablest commanders and he himself had the highest opinion of General Sir Claude Auchinleck—but that did not mean that they ‘were the best men to win that victory.