NEW ARMY HEAD

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 24009, 5 July 1941, Page 13

NEW ARMY HEAD

MIDDLE EAST ZONE OUTLOOK ON THE WAR SPHERES OF EXPERIENCE (N.Z.E.F. Official News Service) LONDON, July 3 General Sir Claude Auchinleck, the sturdily-built Scot who takes General Sir Archibald Wavell's place in Cairo, has been learning since this war began. He learned a little at Narvik. He learned more on the south coast of England last autumn, when everyone bhought the Germans might try to land any day. He paid a visit to the Western Desert during the winter, and went thoughtfully on his way to India. Then he summed" it all up in one sentence: "There never has been an impregnable fortress." He was thinking of this island, but there are other "fortresses" throughout the world today. Two other things he said as a result of all his study of hasty evacuation and hurried defence against a ruthless enemy who does not give a thought to military tradition. One day not long after Dunkirk he put into words the lesson wo should learn from the Germans' dash —"Get together." 00-operatlon of Services

"The greatest, good that the Germans have done us as a nation." General Auehinleek said, "is increasing co-operation between the Services. In conference nowadays we really get inside each other's heads." Perhaps that was wishful thinking. Perhaps lie only hoped the chiefs of the three Services would get inside each other's heads, but it was the right kind of hope. Perhaps it has something to do with the new appointment. The other remark he made at the same time also showed that he vras busy with his lesson of learning. "What has happened," he said, "has freed our minds of tactical doctrines and allowed us to look forward and not back." New Methods In India General Auehinleek could look back on 38 years' service with the Indian troops. He could look back on the vovage to Norwav and the capture of Narvik, and the difficult time there until the order to leave came. They made him Commander-in-Chief. Southern Command, after that until the immediate invasion danszer seemed to be over, and then sent him out to India again. By that time he had no illusions about the war. He pointed out that Germany's armed forces were as yet unscathed. He used six months in India to alter the method by which the Indian Army was recruited from a few classes and areas. He speeded up the training of Indian officers and insisted that Indian public men should be allowed a share in running the defence departments Two Generals Meet A bare six months after his visit to the Western Desert on his way out to India he was talking to General Wavell again. They met at Basra a few weeks ago. The man whose troops guard the frontier of India and the man whose troops were pushing north into Syria would naturally want to talk. The war in the Middle East might become the war in the East. India, Syria and Egypt might become one war zone, their demands dependent and their war strategy linked. Now General Wavell and General Auehinleek have changed over. General Wavell. who has fought on the NorthWest Frontier in*'his time, goes back to that problem. General Auehinleek returns to the scene of his desert fighting days. Let us hope they will keep "inside each other's heads."