Montgomery Made Operational Plans

Manawatu Times, Volume 69, Issue 207, 1 September 1944, Page 5

Montgomery Made Operational Plans

(Special Correspondent.) Received Thursday, 11.25 p.m. LONDON, Aug. 31. “The system of command which brought such great success in Northern France is the subject of much comment in informed quarters,” says the Dally Telegraph. “It may now be said that General Montgomery as executive commander of all the land forces in France under General Bisenhower made the operational plans and that all following have been his conception: the breakthrough at Avranches; the ArgentanFalaise pocket; the Lower Seine encirclement; and the wider sweep now progressing beyond the Marne. “At first Montgomery had under his command two armies only—Dempsey’s Second and Bradley’s First Armies. During this period General Eisenhower remained in England with his headquarters staff. As the Allied force in Prance increased, however, the two armies grew into two army groups, one Britisfa-Canadian and the other American. “General Eisenhower with hi 3 advanced headquarters then arrived in Prance. Yet Montgomery remained in executive command, hut lately he has doubled this role with that of commander of the Twentyfirst Army Group. “It seems unlikely, however, that this arrangement was ever intended to be permanent. The Allied forces in Prance will continue to grow and more and more the American element in them will tend to predominate. When in the near future a junction is made between the forces of the north and south the command will be more complex. ‘ ’The headquarters of an army group could hardly exercise all these and function adequately. It may be therefore that General Eisenhower himself will take over all the direct operational control of two army groups in the near future, leaving Montgomery free to devote himself to the command of the Twentyfirst Army Group as seems to have been the original intention.”