A PLANE INTERLUDE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27567, 8 December 1950, Page 7

A PLANE INTERLUDE

“The Hinge Of Fate”

General Marshall Impresses

By Winston S. Churchill

No. 48.

In this second last instalment of the current series of extracts from Mr Churchill’s latest volume of war memoirs, the author describes his return from Washington to Algiers in company with General Marshall, of whom he gained a new and enhanced opinion.

Early the next day, May 26, General Marshall, the CIGS, Ismay, and the rest of my party took off from the Potomac River in the flying boat. The President came to see us off. As soon as we .were in the air I addressed myself to the Russian communique. As I found it very hard to make head or tail of the bundle of drafts, with all our emendations in the President’s scrawls and mine, I sent it along to General Marshall, who two hours later presented me with a typed fair copy. I was immensely impressed with this document, which exactly expressed what the President and I wanted, and did so with a clarity and comprehension not only of the military but of the' political issues involved. It excited my admiration. Hitherto I had thought of Marshall as a rugged soldier and a magnificent organiser and builder of armies—the American Carnot. But now I saw that he was a statesman with a penetrating and commanding view of the whole scene. I was delighted with his 'draft, and also that the task was done. After an early dinner we took off again on our flight of 3000 miles across the ocean to Gibraltar. It looked a very long hop, but Commander Thompson (“Tommy”), who kept me informed about the arrangements for my journey, explained that we should be nearly following the Great Circle, so apparently it was not so long as it looked. It was dark by the time we took off, and we were all ready for sleep. Struck by Lightning The large double bed in the bridal suite of the Boeing was most comfortable, and I slept sound for a good many hours. All at once there was a sudden shock and bump. I awoke. Something had happened. There were no consequences, which after all are what is important in air journeys. Nevertheless, being thoroughly awake, I put on my zip suit and went forward down the long central gallery of our spacious machine, and climbed the staircase to the navigating controls. I sat in the co-pilot’s seat. It was by now a lovely moonlight night. After a while I asked the pilot what caused the bump. “We were struck by lightning,” he said, “but there’s nothing wrong.” This was good news. We had not caught fire or broken up in the air; there was no need to make a forced landing a thousand miles from anywhere. I had always wondered why aircraft did not mind being struck by lightning. To a groundsman it would seem quite a dangerous thing. Afterwards I learned that there had been a good deal of anxiety. I looked down upon the calm ocean 7000 feet below; but an ocean always looks calm at that height. Almost underneath us was what looked like a little tramp steamer. I was conscious, of a distinct sense of comfort from her presence. Under this reassuring illusion I returned to my bed. and did not wake until just before dawn. I went forward again, as I love to see the daylight come. When you are flying at 160 miles an hour while the earth is turning over the other way towards you, you meet the sun very early and he rises quickly. I adhered to . my rule in these long flights that meals should be regulated by stomachtime. When one wakes up after daylight one should breakfast; five hours after that, luncheon. Six hours after luncheon, dinner. Thus one becomes independent of the sun, which otherwise meddles too much in one’s affairs and upsets the routine of work. . . . A Visit to the Rock We did not 'leave Gibraltar for Algiers until the afternoon. There was, therefore, an opportunity to show General Marshall the Rock, and we all made a few hours’ pilgrimage and inspected the new distillery which assures the fortress a permanent supply of fresh water, and various important guns, some hospitals, and a large number of troops. I finally went below to see the Governor’s special pet, the new Rock gallery, cut deep in the rock, with its battery of eight quick-firing guns commanding the isthmus and the neutral ground between Britain and Spain. An immense amount of work had been put into

this, and it certainly seemed, as we walked along it, that whatever perils Gibraltar might have to fear, attack from the mainland was no longer one of them. The Governor’s pride in his achievement was shared by his British • visitors. It was not until we said goodbye upon the Catalina that General Marshall somewhat hesitatingly observed: “I admired your gallery, but we ha done like it at Corregidor. The Japanese fired their artillery at the rock several hundred feet above it, and in two or three days blocked it off with an « immense bank of rubble.” I was grateful to him for his warning, but we had one like it at Corregfstruck. All the smiles vanished from his face. We flew off in the early afternoon with a dozen Beaufighters circling far above us, and in the evening light reached the Algiers airfield, where Generals Eisenhower and Bedell Smith, Admiral Andrew Cunningham, General Alexander, and other friends were waiting for us. I motored straight to Admiral Cunningham's villa, next door to General Eisenhower, which he placed at my disposal. I have no more pleasant memories of the war than the 10 days in Algiers and Tunis. I telegraphed to Eden to come out and join me so as to make sure we saw eye to eye on the meeting we had arranged between' Giraud and de Gaulle, and all our other business. Preparing for Business I was determined to' obtain before leaving Africa the decision to invade Italy should Sicily be taken. General Brooke and I imparted our views to General Alexander, Admiral Andrew Cunningham and Air Marshal Tedder, and later to General Montgomery. All these leading figures in the recent battles were inclined to action on the greatest scale, and saw in the conquest of Italy the natural fruition of our whole series of victories from Alamein onwards. We had, however, to procure the agreement of our great Ally. General Eisenhower was very reserved. He listened to all our arguments. and I am sure agreed with their purpose. But Marshall remained up till almost the last moment silent or cryptic. The circumstances of our meeting were favourable to the British. We, had three times as many troops, four times as many warships, and almost as many airplanes available for actual operations as the Americans. We had. since Alamein, not to speak of the earlier years, lost in the Mediterranean eight times as many men and three times as much tonnage as our Allies. But what ensured for these potent facts the fairest and most attentive consideration with the American leaders was that notwithstanding our immense preponderance of strength, -we had continued to accept General Eisenhower’s Supreme Command and to preserve for the whole campaign the character of a United States operation. The American chiefs . do not like to be outdone in generosity. No neople respond more spontaneously to fair play. If you treat Americans well they always want to treat you better. Eighteen months later, when I had a long talk with General Marshall at Yalta, he said, “I never could understand how you managed to persuade your Government to put the Eighth Army under Eisenhower’s command when it marched into Tunis, and you had so many more divisions than we.” I said it ,was the logical fulfilment of my agreement with the President that “ Torch ” was to he primarily, an American enterprise. He expressed his admiration for our conduct. It certainly stood us in good stead now at Algiers in these pregnant days/ Nevertheless, I consider that the argument which convinced the Americans was on its merits overwhelming. [Copyright, 1950, in USA by the New York Times Company and Time, Inc., publishers of Time and Life; in the British Empire by the Daily Telegraph, Ltd.; elsewhere by International-Co-opqration Press Service, Inc. World rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any languagestrictly prohibited.]