ALLIED COMMANDS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 36, 12 February 1943, Page 3

ALLIED COMMANDS

Churchill Announces New Appointments

GEN. ALEXANDER AS DEPUTY Rec. 12.30 p.m. RUGBY, Feb. 11. Mr. Churchill announced in his House of Commons speech that General Eisenhower becomes Com-mander-in-Chief of the North-west African Command and General Sir Harold Alexander Deputy Com-mander-in-Chief. Mr. Churchill added that Air-Vice-Marshal Tedder had been appointed Air Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean, and would be responsible to General Eisenhower for &11 air operations in his theatre. He would also control all air forces throughout the Middle East. The vacancy created by General Alexander's appointment would be filled by General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson, now chief of the Persia-Iraq command. It was proposed to keep Persia and Iraq as a separate command and a new commander would shortly be appointed. "Admiral of the Fleet, Sir Andrew Cunningham, who commands all the British and United States naval forces in the North African theatre, would extend his command eastward to combine all parallel operations in the Mediterranean. The present Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, Admiral Sir Henry Harwood, would become Commander-in-Chief in the Levant, and would also deal With the Red Sea and all approaches from that quarter.

General Giraud had agreed to place the French Army with the United States forces under the command of General Anderson. Mr. Churchill concluded: "I appeal to all patriotic men on both sides of the Atlantic to stamp their feet on mischief makers wherever they may be found and to let the great machine roll into battle under the best possible conditions for our success." A message from Washington states that President Roosevelt has promoted General Eisenhower to the rank of full general. The Casablanca talks have been followed, said Mr. Churchill, by important Anglo-American staff conferences with Marshal Chiang Kai-shek at Chungking and Field-Marshal Sir Archibald Wavell in India. FieldMarshal Sir John Dill, British member of the Joint-Staff Mission in Washington, and Lieutenant-General H. H. Arnold, representing President Roosevelt, went to the • East to acquaint the Chinese Generalissimo and the British Commander-in-Chief with the plans made at Casablanca for the united war effort against Japan. Complete accord was reached in the offensive plans and the fullest possible co-ordination will be assured in future conferences. These talks have signified, said Mr. Churchill, the united determination of the Powers concerned to help each other in all operations against Japan.