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Show U. S. Develops Greal Generals In Every War Gen. Marshall Heads Army As Nation Watches ' World Conflict. Hy ROGER SHAW (Heleused by Western Newspaper Union. ) WASHINGTON. Every American war, or war in which America was interested, interest-ed, has turned out a general, or two, or three. In the Revolution Revo-lution there were George Washington and Nathaniel Greene, of first rank. Strangely Strange-ly enough, the general who won that war's primary victory, vic-tory, Saratoga, was not of first rank by any member of means. His name, still unpopular un-popular in army circles, was Horatio Gates. Gates disliked dis-liked Washington, and the "Gates" triumph over Bur-goyne Bur-goyne was really won by such subordinates as Benedict Arnold and Dan Morgan. The War of 1812 was perhaps the American army's most dismal episode. epi-sode. It turned out traitors, poltroons pol-troons and phonies. But It also produced pro-duced bucolic Gen. Andrew Jackson, of the same tough Scotch Irish stock as Dan Morgan's riflemen. Jackson won the concluding battle of New Orleans, after his countrymen had met defeat at Detroit Queenstown, and up and down the long Canadian border. In the Mexican war there were two of them: Zach Taylor and Winnie Win-nie Scott Scott was "old fuss and feathers" to the boys in blue. Taylor Tay-lor was a political general from the slave-South, while Scott was a regular. regu-lar. Both men were amiable and efficient especially Scott, who had learned his tricks as a youngster back in 1812. The exploits of this twain, with tiny forces far from home, were almost epic. In the Civil war we have a double set-up: North and South. The northern north-ern all-stars were the usual big three of Grant-Sherman-Sheridan, the latter originally a cavalry chief. Sherman was the best of the three, and the best In the whole war, according ac-cording to the world's leading military mili-tary critic, B. H. Liddell Hart of England. The southern team was Lee - Jackson - Forrest. Stonewall Jackson was killed in mid-war. Five Generals Became President. In the Spanish war there were generals and admirals and whatnots, what-nots, but a lieutenant-colonel named Teddy Roosevelt ran away with the show. He commanded the rough riders rid-ers at San Juan Hill, and rode himself him-self into the White House, in good company. The company was as follows: fol-lows: Washington, Jackson, Taylor and Grant a general from each war, who became President That brings us down to the so-called so-called second World war. In this war there have been very few generals gen-erals of note. England's Gort and Ironside were kicked upstairs after Dunkirk. France's Gamelin, a nice fellow like Gort, is more than in the doghouse. Generals Petain and Wey-gand, Wey-gand, in this man's war, are political politi-cal generals rather than front-fighters. Finland's Mannerheim and Greece's dead Metaxas were dictator-generals who combined business busi-ness with pleasure, when it came to their particular Russian and Italian phases of Armageddon II. Germany's Germa-ny's air chief, Hermann Goering, is a purely political general, while Keitel is a desk general who does a job like our own Henry Stimson. Manfred Man-fred von Brauchitsch is the top German Ger-man field general, but not well known, while Guderian Is the tank expert who overran the west. When It comes to Italian generis are there any, and If so, where? Badog-lio, Badog-lio, the Caesar of Ethiopia, went the way of Gort and Gamelin. And Marshal Graziani, Libyan defender, "resigned" because of his many reverses. re-verses. That leaves America. At this moment, mo-ment, America's Washington-Jack-son-Grant of the second World war Is George Catlett Marshall, chief of staff and commanding general. He Is a remarkably nice fellow. He has light blue eyes, and did not go to West Point. In army politics there Is a good deal of feeling against the Pointers, to this is in Marshall's favor. Instead, he went to the little lit-tle Point of the Southland Virginia Military Institute at Lexington in the Shenandoah valley. V. M. I. also turned out Stonewall Jackson, ... v. - iA ' . i 'A ;-. - r - GEN. GEORGE MARSHALL the "right arm" of Robert E. Lee. Staff-chief Marshall, however, hails from that hotbed of Quakers and generals and Quaker generals: Pennsylvania. Extremely Hard Worker. Marshall has a likeable personality. personali-ty. He is not technical in his phrasing, phras-ing, but human and understandable. He has never been a publicity hound, but he does like to talk. He likes to expound his ideas, and he has plenty of these without a doubt. He is an extremely hard worker, and of a restless turn of mind and body. Since he got the high command, com-mand, he has flown nearly 30.000 miles about the countryside, on trips of inspection. He has another aspect one that every great general through history has husbanded. He sticks by his old soldiers through thick and thin, and they have direct access to him at any time. Caius Julius was that way, and so were Wellington and Napoleon, and so was Ludendorff, who unfortunately stuck by an ex-corporal named A. Hitler. General Marshall lives at one of Washington's show places Fort Myer, just outside the District of Columbia. This is the fortress that Is attached to the Arlington national soldier's cemetery. The likeable Marshal Marshall gets up in the morning at 5:30, which is more than the privates have to do. He likes to ride his horse for an hour or so before breakfast. break-fast. He gets to his office in the war department around 7 o'clock, though the department does not open, officially, till 8:45. He reads all his own morning mail close to half a hundred letters per diem. Most of the long morning he bickers with congressmen, reporters, aides, or White-Housers. He has lunch, betimes, on the desk in his office a luncheon of pie and milk, or perhaps per-haps a chocolate bar. All afternoon he labors and does all that he has to do: bickerings anew, confabs, hasty decisions, long-term plans. It's all In good hands. He takes home-work home with him and studies till far into the night hours, brushing up for the morrow. It's not an easy routine. rou-tine. Marshall Is a "Pershing" man, in the army lingo. He was a Pershing aide up to 1924, has Pershing ideas, and a Pershing background. In the same way, in France, Weygand is a Foch man, while Gamelin was a JofTre man, and Napoleon a Carnot man. This, in army circles, is for Marshall, and also against him. Pershing has always been something, some-thing, perhaps, of a controversial figure. Marshall, however, is not There is very little controversy about MarshalL This is very fortunate fortu-nate in the year of grace, 1941. Knows How to Compromise. Marshall is patient likes order, dislikes chaos, and knows how to compromise if-or-when he has to. Marshall's original purpose was a comparatively small, highly trained, perfecUy equipped force of regulars, capable of attempting anything. After Aft-er the fall of France, last June, came conscription and untrained masses of raw materiaL Marshall had to change his plans to conform to an emotional public opinion. A good many of the regulars have not cared for this. Their slogan has been "business as usuaL" Marshall himself is basically an infantry general, gen-eral, not a warped faddist on tanks or air. Every army unit, today, is half to three-quarters composed of mere recruits, but Marshall cannot help that He has had to accept the draft whether he liked it or not. Presumably, he does, but some of his officers, presumably, do not They put little faith in mere numbers, num-bers, and prefer quality to quantity. All this is debatable, and remains to be seen. Our military future appears ap-pears to be in good hands, though, of course, the Anglo-French thought the same of Gort and Gamelin. Marshall's first wound came at V. M. I. a bayonet wound in a hazing accident. Let's hope he suffers suf-fers no more knifing no more wounds from the political hazing of that sometimes strident bedlam, the fleshpots of Washington intrigue. |