| Show Gen Bradley Refuses to Rest Even on Infrequent Vacations By Hal Bo Boyle IJ T TWELFTH T W E L F T H ARMY GROUP HEADQUARTERS April 4 Delayed Delayed Delayed De De- UP UP-No UP No No general officer Inthe in inthe inthe the army works harder or lives more in his job than Omar Nelson Bradley The Twelfth army commander who has had more frontline combat combat com- com bat troops under his command than any other American general in history took his last real vacation vacation vacation vaca vaca- tion in 1933 He has been going steadily wIthout without without with wIth- out rest for two years and a few weeks ago he took three days off to visit the French Riviera He was supposed to stay in bed late and have breakfast in bed said one of his aides Maj Chet Hansen 27 21 of Elizabeth N N. N J J. J But the first day when we came downstairs at a a. a m m. m we found him already up and back from a walk It is the simple regularity of his life which enables Bradley to carry without temper strain or other signs of fatigue a burden of work that would break the back even of one of his own native Missouri's mules Rises Early He is an early riser rIser gets gets up at a a. a m m. almost without failand fail failand failand fail fail- and he usually is in bed by 11 it p p. p m. m About the only exception is when Gen Eisenhower drops in for a visit When rhen rhen he and Gen Ike get to together together to- to gether bedtime Is ts' any time from 2 a a. a m m. m on said Hansen The two generals mull over old days in Tunisia and Sicily and talk out campaigns ahead Gen Bradley rarely gets to Indulge in indulge indulge In- In now in what wha t once was his greatest delight delight to to visit division commanders and frontline troops daily to work out together problems problems lems in tactics He rarely nowadays nowadays now now- ada s 's gets to see in advance terrain terrain terrain ter ter- ter- ter rain that his two armies are goIng going going go go- ing to fight over o He is chained largely to desk work and long- long range planning which requires endless conferences and trading horse deals to get men and materials he feels he needs for jobs he wants to do I Inspires Confidence There is about Bradley a sense of ot timelessness that inspires confidence confidence confidence con con- and a feeling of ease He never is hurried Men who come cometo cometo cometo to see him know that this commander com- com mander is not going to explode in anger or go up in the air like a Fourth of July rocket over trivial details The general keeps a thermos thermos' jug of hot coffee handy in his conference conference conference con con- ference room and he and his staff pour themselves a cup whenever they wish In conferences on future future future fu fu- fu- fu ture strategy he lie sits with his staff staffIn In deep easy chairs before a huge wall map of the western front in his own office and he points out possible objectives and tactical moves with a long ruler He never lifts his voice and his invariable approach to the execution of an order is to ask Can you do this 1 instead of a brusque Do this And no officer I know of can listen to Bradleys Bradley's gentle Can you do this 1 without answering I Ican Ican Ican can Under a table behind his desk he keeps a case of a popular American soft drink for visitors He has two telephones on his desk One is for conversations over regular regular regular reg reg- ular army channels The other is isan isan an emergency telephone which he can pick up and in 15 seconds talk to o Gen Eisenhower or either cither of hIs ils widely separated army commanders com com- manders Hodges manders-Hodges Hodges and Patton On more than one occasion since he took over command of American Ameri Ameri- can troops on the w western tern front Bradley has found it necessary to relieve from leadership some officer officer officer inefficient or temperamentally unsuited for his post This has been one of ot the hardest hardest hardest hard hard- est things on him personally of all his lis duties said one man close to o him Some of these men were old army friends from the the days of peace But much as it hurts him lim him Gen Bradley never has hesitated hesitated hesi- hesi to remove any man he felt was unqualified On the other hand he promptly rewards men who shine in battle battIe without regard to army politics One officer who landed in Normandy Normandy Normandy Nor Nor- mandy under him as a colonel commanding commanding commanding com com- manding a regiment exceeded all expectations in combat Now he heIs heis heis is a major general commanding a corps Another example is Brig Gen Hogue builder of the Alcan highway high high- way It was Hogue who made the lightning decision to seize and cross the bridge at Remagen which gave the allies their heir first bridgehead across the Rhine Shine Gen Bradley immediately stepped him up in command by giving jiving him an armored division which even now is plunging deeply into nto Germany as one of the forward forward forward for for- ward spearheads |
