EISENHOWER IN CHARGE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 40, 16 August 1944, Page 5

EISENHOWER IN CHARGE

Leading Armies in France LONDON, August 15. General Eisenhower has taken over personal command of the ' Allied land forces in northern France. It is pointed out that this > is a normal development, brought about by the great expansion of the Allied forces. Under General Eisenhower there are now two army groups: the British Twenty-first, commanded by General Montgomery; and a new United States group, the Twelfth, under General Bradley. This new United States Twelfth Army Group is made up of the First United States Army under General Hodges and the Third United States Army under General Patton.

navies laid down a curtain of supporting fire. The weather was clear and the sea calm, providing a perfect springboard for the assault. The Columbia Broadcasting System's correspondent in Italy says that gliders followed our parachutists in the landing. It was a tremendous effort. Convoys from Italy and Africa and from various Mediterranean islands, chiefly Corsica and Sardinia, gathered at their pre-arranged assembly points 'in the light of a thin moon. "NOTHING TO IT." The commander of one Mediterranean Air Force squadron landing paratroops in the first wave said: "There was nothing to it. We went in and dropped them and came home." It is stated authoritatively that the first paratroop landings, attracted hardly a shot. A naval communique says: "The responsibility for establishing the Army on shore is the Navy's, and the naval commander has ordered the assault to be pressed home with relentless force." The Allies have a good idea of the Germans' strength in southern France. It is believed there are elements of only between four and seven divisions, without large tank or air forces. A correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain who flew over the beach-head said: "As far as I could see from about 1000 feet over the beach where the Allies smashed ashore an hour ago, no major fighting appears to have developed. The same lack of any sign of resistance marks the entire rugged landscape as far as" 20 miles inland. The preliminary stages of the Allied landing—the paratroop and glider landing—were carried out successfully. We flew inland and glided down to a meadow between rugged crags just within the coastline area. We sometimes flew as low as 300 feet above the tree-tops, and still no shot was fired at us."

The British United Press points out