Show 6 0 W washington D 0 STORY BEHIND montgomery BRADLEY COMMAND SHIFT there is significant background behind the appointment of british field marshal Marsh bernard alBernard montgomery to command two american armies thereby taking away most ot of the command of aleut gen omar N bradley there are arc also interesting reasons why it was kept such a hush hush matter from the american public G general e bradley has now been awarded the bronze star by eisenhower Elsen hower and congratulated by churchill to take the sting out of his loss of the first and ninth armies the idea that bradley beadley made the transfer him self also has been publicized despite these maneuvers it Is known inside the war department that highest U S war chiefs opposed the transfer to montgomery and that it was put across by general eisenhower Elsen hower anyway background of the reshuffle goes back to the landing in normandy last summer when montgomery was given caen as his objective while bradley was to tike take cherb Cher cherbourg bourg arg bradley reached his objective vo head ahead of schedule in a new type of offensive fighting in which U S troops did not wait for or supplies to come up nor for snipers to be wiped out montgomery using more conservative slow moving old fashioned tactics sat with his army at caen and either could not or would not break through until long after schedule and until bradley ignoring montgomery smashed the nazi lines to the south and started the lightning dash to paris montgomery demoted Aft afterward erard the stars a and d a st stripes carried a story that armey bradley was being promoted to the rank of fun full general and would supersede montgomery the stars and stripes being an official army newspaper the story naturally was true but publication li in london caused such a furor among the british that the british broadcasting company went on the air with an emphatic dental denial after that the shift of armies was held up tor for a while until mont gomery could be made a field marshal to appease both him and british public opinion bradley then hen took over com command band of all ali the kner american ican armies under eisenhower Elsen hower and Montgomery was left only with the two canadian armies in holland band and belgium since then monty manty has been waiting for his ch chance anceto to stage a comeback his friends of the british press of whom he has many have been doing the same so immediately following the GF gannan breakthrough he began pressuring elsen eisen shower hower to give him the american Ameri cun first and ninth art armies nies montgomery is a superb defensive eigher when his back was to the wall ivall ili at fl el kalamein just a few miles from cairo be did a great job when given offensive jobs as in sicily at caen and at arnhem he failed to make the grade i how bow much of Elsen Eisen howers dec decision lilon to put montgomery in corn command mand of the two american armies depended upon his bis ability asa as a defensive fighter and how boli much 0 on n british pressure ignot Is not known it ii Is known however the transfer trin of commands was opposed in the war department and aas was carefully hushed bushed up for two weeks and not even al all I 1 of the ahe executives in the pentagon building knew about it also if it Is 6 a significant fact that eisenhower Elsen hower Is answerable to churchill as well as Rooi roosevelt evelt he cannot be bd removed by roosevelt without Chur chills OX OK and he has to get along with both that isan is an important point not realized by many but not to be forgotten note rivalry among high rank ing generals exists in every war probably worse in the last war general pershing and gen peyton march U S chief of bof staff were baldly oh on speaking terms general pershing also sent gen clarence edwards of 0 boston hire hero ofner of new england home from france because of clashing personalities i CAPITOL CHAFF 4 at the dinner of the washington cadlo correspondents president roosevelt smoked cigarettes cigarettes without a holder while assistant pres jimmy barries byrn es asid a long mack holder fl 41 in london they te tell americans youve got to understand win ston he believes to in government tor for the people not government by the peep people le atthe bobby sax boy brigade has invaded the sacred halls of congress dozens of youngsters crowded the corridor outside theoffice th athelen of Qt helen gahagan douglas last week hoping tor for a gl glimpse ampie of 01 the comely con gr ess woman from hollywood po her admirers were v i eie acquainted with all the roles she had played from the time they were in diapers 41 fl frederick of roy howards new york world telegram 13 a series revealing the highest U S army posts have been takeo takee over by communists this will be b news 0 10 o joe stalin |