THE
CHINA MAIL. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1950.
“THE HINGE OF FATE”: CHAPTER 22
AUCHINLECK
RELIEVED:
ALEXANDER APPOINTED
T
to Cairo, involving five even six days' flying.
Ao
was
تیں
me
to such sleeping accommodation him in command of the Army. Alamein positions.
Oh August 5, I visited tho
the
with
I
6 Aug., '42,
View accepted
that'
I therefore propose
the Middle East Command shall be rcorganised into two separate Commands, namely: (a) "Near East Command
comprising Egypt, Palestine, and Syria, with its centro in Cairo, and
Irak
(b) "Middle East Command,”
comprising Persia and with its centre in Basra Baghdad.
HE doubts I had about Contral African bugs and few straight across the Spanish Middie East), of whom the desert? Here Gen. Gott stom- Prime Minister to Deputy Prime
about the High Com- the inoculations against them. zone and the Vichy quasi- Commander-in-Chief båd
Portal was convinced.
ed in every way to meet the Minister. hostile territory. mand in the Middle
very high opinion, We were
nood. The troops were dovol-
8.15 p.. alt anxious about No one molested us. In the He told mo that Auchinlock ed to him East were fed con- the reaction of the
and he had Soviet air, and we did not come with was
not As a result of such inquiry as I. anxious to lay down the carried the title "Strafer" by have made here, and tinually
after the reports Government to the unpleasant in cannon-shot of any import- command of the Eighth Army nothing. by
But then there was! though inevitable which I received from many there could be no crossing of gind when darkness cast
news that ant town.
prolonged consultations, with All the same I was at the earliest moment and the view which Brooke report- Field-Marshal Smuts and
her return to his wider sphere quarters. It became urgent the Channel in 1942.
ined to me, that ho was very C.I.G.S. and Minister of State, shroud over the ferocity of the
Cairo.
He then surprised me tired and needed a rest.
have come to the conclusion ly necessary for me to go It happened that on the night landscape and we could retire by saying: I am to succeed
Bettle there and
that a drastic and immediate the de- of July 28 I had the honour of cisive questions on the spot. with the War Cabinet
entertaining the King to dinner as "Commando" could offer.
change is needed in the High I drovo In fact, I have been living with In the
on these my
Command. It was my practice on
my kit packed
Gen. Auchinleck in his last for the It was at first accepted that propped-up garden-room at Journeys to sit in the co-pilot's week." this journey would be by Number
This arrangement had car to the extreme right fanit 10, which
ased seat before sunrise, and when certainly we
not been considered of the lind west of EL Ruwelsnt, Gibraltar and Takoradi and for dining. At this stage the I re
I reached it on this morning of by us.
which was held by the Aus thence across Central Africa Plan of my visiting Moscow August 4 there in the
Blim
After luncheon Gen, Wavell fralian 0th Division.
Thenes pale and making personal contact mering down the endless wind- arrived from India, and at alx We proceeded along the fron:
Marshal Stalls with
canic to ing silver ribbon of the Nile o'clock I held a meeting about Ruweiset ridge, where we were to fils headquarters behind the the fore, and
much stretched joyously before us the Middle East, attended by iven port among my colleagues. Often had I seen the day break all Suppobtained His
the authorities-Smuts,
breakfast in a wire-" this would carry
Majesty's on the Nile. In war and peace Casey,
CIGS, Wave, important
netted cube, full of flies and through tropical and malarious approval privately, and, im- I had traversed by land or Auchinleck, Adml. regions, a whole series of pro- mediately he had gone, brought water almost its whole length, and
milltary Harwood
person- and Tedder for the Air. tective injections
Wo eres. pre- the Ministers, who were in except the scribed. Some of these
"Dongola would good
a lot of business with frame of mind, into the from Lake Victoria to the sea, very great
I had naked for various off- take 10 days to give their Cabinet
measure of agree- cors to be brought, but above Room
and immunity, and involved con- matters.
cinched Never had the glint of daylight ment. . But all the time my all Gen. "Strafer" Gott, Hav It was soitled that I on is waters been so welcome mind siderable discomfort and
loopt turning to the ing made the acquaintance of even did go to Calro in any case, to me. inactivity
prime Several
question of the com- the various Corps and Division, meanwhile.
everal and
should propose to Stolin members of the War Cabinet that I should
ឆ. Commanders spell tand. go on to sea
who were took a very close and him.
I asked present,
that Gen. friendly interest in my wol-
Gott should drive with mo 10 fare,
the
airfield, which Was my It is not possible to deal frat
next stop. And here was my However .at this juncture
with changes
and last meeting with there arrived in England We started after midnight on
of this charuc- Gott. ter without reviewing the al- jolted over
As we rumbled and young American pilot, Captain Sunday, August 2, from Lyne- The following issues had to
ternatives. In this part of the
the rough tracka Vanderkloot, who had Just bem in the bomber "Comman- be settled in Cairo. Had Gen.
1 looked into Im.
his clear blue flown from the United States do." This was a very different Auchinleck or his staff lost the problem the Chief of the
perial
yes and questioned him about General
whose kind
Staff, of travel from the com- confidence of the Desert Army?
himself, Was duty
it was to appraise
ho tired, and of the
Boeing flying- If so, should he be relleved
the bad be any views to giver generals, was at and who could succeed
him? quality of our The bomber
Gott said that no doubt ha Alexander und adviser. this time unheated, and razor- In dealing with a commander Montgomery had both fought like, nothing better than three. Gen. Montgomery
was tired, and that ho would edged draughts cut in through of the highest character and with him in the battle which
to succeed mony chinks. The e were nu
of proved ability and
leave In England, Alexander in "Torch" (French beds, but two shelves in the
decisions are
enabled us to get back to Dune months
he had not seen for which
North Africa). kirk in May, 1940. We both painful.
In or
order to fortify my greatly
to command Alexander's everal years, but he declared Gen. Golt admired Charles Wilson (now Lord own Judgment I had urged mar
quite capable of the himself
Eighth Army under fur.“ irt magnificent conduct Moran), my doctor, to le down. Gen. Smuts
der... There were plenty of blankets South Africa to the scene, and had been committed in Burma, confided to him. We parted at view about drastle and imme
to come from hopeless campaign to which be ther immediate efforts and of
taking any responsibilities The War Cabinet accepted my he was already at the Embassy. Montgomery's reputation stood the airfield at two o'clock
high. It it were decided to the afternoon of August 5. By mand. They warmly approved relleve Auchinleck we had
4150
and became un opposing Draughty bomber
factor to be reasoned with.
Jorts
re-
boals.
In the aeroplane "Commando," a Liberator plane from which the bomb-racks had been moved and some sort of pas- senger accommodation sub stituted. This machine was certainly capable of flying along
margins in hand at all stages.
I
man
Now for ⇓
short became "the on the spot." Instead of sitting at home waiting for the news from the front I could send it myself. This was ex- hilarating.
the route prescribed with good after cabin enabled me and Siny: such
Changed picture
when I arrived.
examined him about "Com- Aug. 3, spent the day looking Lot of business
for all.
Portal, the Chief of the Air We reached Gibraltar un- Staff, saw this pilot and
eventfully on the morning of mando." Vanderkloot, who had round the fortress, and started already flown a million miles at p.m. for Catro, a hop of asked why it was necessary to 2,000
miles or more,
as the fly
all round
by Takoradi, detours necessary to avoid the Kano, Fort Lamy,
El Obeid,
aircraft hostile
around
the Joc.
Desert battle were
consider
my
"Strafer" Gott
He mid he could fly in the Vanderkloot, in order to leek, who explained the mill- all their commanders.
Was
in
of every
men were rent
Nervousness
The Eighth and Ninth
'Zall within the
or
Armies first and the Tenth Army in the second of these .Cummands. Gen. Auchinleck to be offered the post of C.-in-C: the naw, Middle East Command. The title remains the same, but its scope to reduced. It may, how- "ever, become more important: later...
Gen. Alexander to be Com-
the mander-in-Chief
Near East.
the Alexan-
2 diate changes in the High Com-
the
doubt that Alexander must bo
Do the same hour two days later the selection of Gen. Alexander
be had been killed by ordered to carry the load
and said that he would leave enemy in almost the very
སྦལ་ We spent the
uir England at once. They did not, morning to the Middle East.
apoccs through which I now however, like the idea of rear- gether and I told him ail
our Aut the feelings of the few. troubles and the choices that Eighth Army must not be over-
ganising, the Middle East Com
into two were open, In the afternoon I looked. Might it not be taken.
separate Com- had a long talk with Auchin- as a reproach upon them and
mands. It seemed to them that one bound from Gibraltar 'to
the reasons which led to the Cairo. This altered the whole have more petrol in land, did tary position very clearly. The grade if two
At the airfield' I was handed
g-up of the unilled Com-," picture. I could be in Cairo in not continue down the Mediter- next morning, at his request, I
were now stronger than to from England to supersede all over
Air Vice-Marshal they had been when the decl two days without any trouble rancan till darkness fell,
but saw Gen Corbett (CG.S., those who had fought in the Conyngham, who, under Tedder, sion to do so was taken in De- commanded all the air-power comber, 1941. They agreed that which had worked with the
should the Montgomery.
take Army, and without whose oc- Alexander's place in "Torch," Hvity the immense retreat of and had summoned him to Lon- GOO miles.could dever have
ave don at once. Finally, they were- accomplished with- content to leave it to me to out even greater disasters than settle the other appointments. we had suffered. We flow
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been
In a
aquarter of an hour to his headquarters, where luncheon
was
provided, and where all the
leading Air
Officers,
.from
On the spot.
The next morning I I sent the explanation
Fath-Captains upwards, were following further
I was conscious of an air of nervousness in my hosts from the moment of my arrival. The food had all been ordered from Shepheard's Hotel. A special сат was bringing down the dainties of Cairo: But it had
gone astray Frantic efforts were being made to find it. At last it arrived.
This turned out to be a gay occasion in the midst of caro
real oasis in a very large desert. It was not difficult to perceive how critical the Air. was of the Army, and how both Air and Army were astonished at the reverzo which had be- fallen our superior forces:
Command division
of my proposals:
до
Prime Minister to Deputy Prime Minister, 0/7 Aug., 42. Our proposal to divide the Com-
mand 18
le made entirely merits. I doubt if the disasters would have occurred in the Western Desert if Gen. Auchinleck had not been dis- tracted by the divergent con- siderations of a too widely extended front. He
de would have taken direct command of the battle which began at the end of May but for reluctance to become "Iramersed tactical problems in Libya." This phrase in itself reveals the
false proportion engendered
by extraneous responsibilities. It is in fact "The tactical prob- lems of Libya" which domin- alo' our immediate affairs. ..
All the next day, the 8th I The War Cabinet replied that epent with Brooke and Smuts, my telegram had not entirely and in drafting the necessary removed their misgivings, but telegrams to the Cabinet. The that as I was on the spot with questions that had now to be. Smuts, and CJ.GS., who both settled not only affected. high personalities, but also the agreed with the proposal, they
the
were prepared to authorise the entire structure of command in action proposed. They
strongly this vast theatre.
I had always represented, however, that the "Middle continuance of the title of Com- Middle East,
felt that
Mat the
name
East" for Egypt, the Levant, mandelmaneck were
op-
Syria',
and Turkey was
If Gen chosen.
This was the Near East, pointed to command in Persia Persia and Irult ware the Mid- and Irak, would lead to confu-
die East; India, Burma and slon and misrepresentation. 1 Malaya the East; and
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was for
| too'diverse, and expansive,
20 but su
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