MACARTHUR CHIDED

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 74, 24 September 1943, Page 7

MACARTHUR CHIDED

U.S. NEWSPAPERS' COMMENT Rec. 9 a.m. NEW YORK, Sept. 23.

General Mac Arthur's statement puzzles military and naval circles, reports the Washington bureau of the Associated Press. Reliable sources insist that it does not fit any known situation regarding the assignment of commands, such as Lord Mountbatten for Burma or General Marshall for the Allied generalissimo. At the same time, authorities profess no knowledge of any changes in relationship between the naval command in the South and Central Pacific areas and General Mac Arthur's command in the Southwest Pacific.

They say the basic strategy of the Pacific war remains unchanged.

The "New York Herald Tribune" comments editorially that General Mac Arthur chose, by design or by accident, a singularly inappropriate moment for his statement on Pacific strategy.

"The injection of a cryptic pronouncement into the gossiping chatter about General Marshall is unlikely to help much either towards a proper organisation of the Allied High Command or the allocation of force among the several war theatres," it said.

The "New York Times" points out that if General Marshall becomes world generalissimo surely the British Empire is entitled to appoint the commander of the Asiatic operations based oh India. It adds that Lord Mountbatten's appointment does not raise the question of General MacArthur's subordination, since the distances in the East are so great that operations must be split into several commands.

"Only when the final stage of the invasion of Japan from China and Korea has been reached will the question of the supreme commander in East Asia become pertinent," the newspaper says.