UNIFIED COMMAND

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 June 1942, Page 3

UNIFIED COMMAND

AND SUPREME WAR COUNCIL DEMAND IN UNITED STATES. CRITICISM AND COUNSELS OF CAUTION. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) NEW YORK, June 25. The demand for an unified Allied command is crystallising. The noted military writer, Major Fielding Eliot, in the "New York Times,” urges the United Nations to put President Roosevelt at the helm, but, recognising the difficulties in inducing the war leaders of the 28 nations to delegate the control of their armed forces to anj) foreigner as the titular commander-in-chief, he suggests immediate centralisation and direction of the United Nations’ war effort in a Supreme War Council under President Roosevelt’s chairmanship. Major Eliot declares that a mere joint General Staff will not be of much use; a combined staff can do very little if it must serve half a dozen political masters at once. Senator Ellender, in a speech said, “The United Nations are in a dangerous position as a result of the fall of Tobruk, and something must be done before it is too late. We must designate a new leader and place the full decision in his hands.” America, he said, was carrying more and more the brunt of the war, and accordingly he nominated President Roosevelt as the supreme leader. “Americans are alarmed at the apparent apathy of the British military leadership and the inability so far to defeat the Axis,” he added. “Most Americans are nauseated and disgusted at the continuous inactivity of the millions of soldiers stationed in the British Isles awaiting an attack which may never come.” Senator Lee, replying to Senator Ellender, cautioned against “playing Hitler’s game by falling out among ourselves.” He said, “There is no doubt that the cause of the Allies has suffered a great loss with the fall of Tobruk, but why should we double that loss by criticising one of our allies? Such criticism plays right into the hands of the Axis.”

ATTACK ON JAPAN? The New York “Herald-Tribune” writes editorially urging that now is the time to bring pressure on Japan. The newspaper says time is now Japan’s ally. “If our generals in Australia, China, India and the Pacific isles could only do something with what they have without waiting for a perfect set-up that will ensure overwhelming victory, to rob Japan of the services that time is doing her then the less perfect set-up might suffice at the end,” the editorial says. “It would seem, however, that no argument, for starting and supplying a vigorous offensive against Japan from India, Australia, China, or Siberia will get a hearing in London, Moscow, and Washington till there is better reason than now appears for thinking that Hitler in Russia, and Rommel, in Africa, have been halted for keeps.” The “Herald-Tribune” quotes the testimony of the House of Representatives Military Committee that the American tanks used by the British in: Libya were not armoured or equipped as well as the present models, and were already obsolete, though they had been built since 1939. Representative Starnes told the committee: “There is no question as to the superiority of our latest tanks and equipment.” The American 75-mm. gun had now been improved and the muzzle velocity stepped up to such an extent that it was equal or superior to the German 88-mm. “The answer to the other part of the question,” he said, “is that our tanks and guns must be manned by people who know how to use them to get the best results. Furthermore, a man led into an ambush can be slaughtered with weapons of inferior power.”