Generals Review Mistakes Of War

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29060, 24 November 1959, Page 13

Generals Review Mistakes Of War

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

NEW YORK, November 22. Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery said in a televised interview today that the Allies had made “a great strategic mistake” in failing to battle their way through Italy into Austria in World War 11. The British war leader also said that the failure to co-ordin-ate policy and military strategy in the world wars had lost the peace. "We have won the war militarily, and we have lost the peace twice,” he said. Lord Montgomery said that if the Allies had pushed northward through Italy into Austria they could have got in Vienna before the Russians. The United States Commander in Italy, General Mark Clark, agreed, saying that a FrenchAmerican force, with the collaboration of Marshal Tito of Jugoslavia, could have beaten the Russians into Budapest and Vienna, and that this would have had a great influence on “the post-war struggle . . . with communism.”

General Fridolin von Senger, who commanded the German forces at the Battle of Monte Cassino, Italy, also said he agreed, “in a way.” The three military leaders appeared on a programme entitled “Mistakes of the War,” which was televised nationally tonight by the Columbia Broadcasting System.

Edward R. Murrow moderated the discussion, which ranged from military matters to politics, possible strategy in the nuclear age, and whether generals should write memoirs.

Lord Montgomery said generals must record their views for the purpose of history and that anyone who held high command was entitled to be criticised for his conduct during the war. He said any politician was fair game for criticism, but added that it was very important not to criticise the character ‘'or personal make-up” of any of one’s comrades. iZ- ' -

Lord Montgomery’s remarks were filmed in London, General

Clark’s in Charleston, South Carolina, where he is president of the Citadel, a military college, and General von Senger’s in Basle, Switzerland. The German general, asked to compare the fighting qualities of Russian and British-American troops, said the Russians of World War II were "on a very much

lower level of civilisation.” He said "the western soldiers were superior both in intelligence and training.