POLITICAL VS. MILITARY STRATEGY

...But the political overruled the military leaders again...

...Perhaps the success of the cross-channel invasion, which cannot now be far off, will hush the criticism of the military leaders...

...Warnings From The Generals Because France does not suffer the handicap of the dense fogs which envelop England for about eight months a year, air operations would prove more constant and successful...

...Today, the worst fears of the American military men seem realized...

...The eventual result may justify the adage that civilians have no right to let the military bungle the conduct of the war...

...Also, the long lines of communications which handicapped German operations between 1941 and 1943 have now diminished as a German problem and have become an increased Allied problem...

...Premier Winston Churchill made his first visit to the White House at that time and these principles emerged from the joint conferences...

...These military leaders saw that the Germans were strongly engaged in the Russian campaign, against tenaciously resisting Russian armies and handicapped by difficult and long supply lines...

...Under the impact of what appeared at that time as a catastrophic defeat in the Pacific, and with knowledge of our lack of military preparation, the point of view of Churchill triumphed...

...The invasion of North Africa proved a great success, although unforeseen circumstances delayed it from the end of October to the first week in November...

...Towards the end of July, 1942, General Marshall and Admiral King prepared to go to England to discuss the fruition of these plans with their British colleagues...

...John J. Pershing, whose decisions he backed wholeheartedly...

...They can be summed up as follows: "Hold the Pacific defensively and direct the main effort to the defeat of the Axis in Europe...

...But, at the airport while waiting for their plane to take off, an official car from the White House arrived...

...In short, with this strategic conception in mind, the military leaders rushed American troops and material, in the opening months of 1942, to the invasion base of the British Isles...

...was principally a success for British strategy because it effectively opened sea communications across the Mediterranean, hitherto clogged by Axis submarines and planes, to the Suez Canal and India...

...It is a little-known fact that American military minds preferred another strategy...

...24, "lost heavily" and are stymied 60 miles south of Rome...

...The invasion of the Italian peninsula was given priority...

...They can well point to the experience of the last war, which certainly was a military success...

...But it...

...With this free hand, Pershing was able to work in conjunction with Haig and Foch for the final destruction of German military power and the victorious end to World War I. Will similar results come from a contrary policy— the political conduct of the military strategy of World War II...

...In that war, President Wilson from the first claimed no knowledge of military stfategy...

...Wilson's Method Succeeded Even from Britain comes skepticism about the Italian campaign, as witness the statement of British Gen...

...The broader outlines of this case deserve consideration at a time when one great strategic operation, the Italian campaign, has encountered heavier weather than civilians anticipated, and another, the cross-channel invasion, is coming to the fore...

...At the Washington Inter-Allied Conference of May, 1943 they learned from the British that there were too few striking divisions in England to attempt the cross-channel invasion that Summer...

...It was deemed impossible at the time to try to reach the Rhine, because of our lack of divisional strength...

...The net result, if we got to the Po River, would be merely acquisition of bombing bases...

...The fundamental principles of the military strategy which has governed our world-wide operations so far were established within a few weeks following the disaster of Pearl Harbor...

...The Americans claimed that Italy was already a liability to the Germans, that we should not burden ourselves with feeding at least 15 million Italians and that the supply problems would offer many difficulties...

...Therefore, the western Allies should occupy a part of western France...

...He entrusted the entire command of the armies in the field to Gen...

...Under these conditions, they believed the Germans could not conceivably rush any large reinforcements to western Europe to break an Allied invasion...

...While American military men rejoiced over the progress in North Africa, their satisfaction was diminished somewhat by the decision, at the Casablanca Conference, to invade Sicily...

...They reluctantly submitted to this view, but stubbornly resisted a British proposal to invade Italy itself following the taking of Sicily...

...Throwing our weight into the scales held by the Russians and British, we could then more easily overcome the German armies...

...But, as matters stand, the military have a case—too seldom stated—for their own strategy, which they claim would have better advanced our military fortunes in this global conflict...

...But the political strategy of Churchill and Roosevelt prevailed over these views...

...Under these circumstances, the American military leaders bowed to the will of the political Commander-in-Chief and vigorously put their weight behind the accepted strategy...

...J. F. C. Fuller (retired) in Newsweek, "The lesson of all this is that the strategy is execrable...

...But they were reconciled to this additional investment of men, material, and time by another at that conference: namely, that we would not delay the invasion of western Europe later than the Summer of 1943...

...Finally, they said, military operations with increased supply problems in the narrow hilly peninsula, would jeopardize the success of the essential cross-channel invasion...

...The military men again bowed to superior orders...

...In this bridgehead we should establish airdromes from which we could send bomber forces over the Reich...

...At no time did President Wilson presume to tell Pershing where or how American forces should fight...

...But, with the importance of the eventual all-out attack on Japan in mind, the American military leaders had their own idea of how to carry out this strategy of "Beat Germany First...

...It is true that we are holding a number of German-divisions in Italy, but these are reserve troops and apparently affect in no way the defensive concentrations of the Germans in western Europe...

...The Americans wanted to do the job as soon as possible in western Europe so as to get back to the Pacific...

...We have, as Churchill said on Mar...

...At Washington, and again at the Quebec Conference in August, the American military chiefs issued these warnings to the political leaders...

...Then, America could turn her troops, seasoned by this time from campaigning in the Pacific, against the European branch of the Axis...

...They were, however, to suffer further disappointment...

...The two leaders were handed a large white envelope which they discovered, to their surprise, contained instructions from the President to discuss with the British only the details of a newly-conceived operation, supplanting their own—the occupation of North Africa...

...We should naver have embarked on this Italian adventure because it was unstrategic from the start...

...A Bridgehead In France While our Allies in Europe were engaged in these operations, the United States should concentrate its effort in the Pacific where, the Army and Navy leaders believed, the myth of Japan's invincibility could be shattered in less than two years...

...Marshall and later Admiral Stark's successor, Admiral King, believed that the Russians and the British, adequately supplied with arms and munitions, could hold the Germans for a long time...

...But, for the present, the advocates of the military as against the political leaders on the direction of grand strategy have their day in court...