Men for the Tasks

There were hopeful signs last week that the U.S. Army is facing the fact that wars can't be won without putting the right men in the right places. A lot of this good horse sense is coming from Chief of Staff George Catlett Marshall. One sign of it was a request for more authority to weed out incompetent officers (see above). Another: what General Marshall said about the selection of officers for big commands.

Hereafter, said he, commanders will be judged and chosen by their fitness for particular tasks--and not, as in the past, mainly by rank, seniority and the relative prestige of the Army's branches. For example: in Alaska, where the air forces will be more important than any others, an airman will command all Army units. In Newfoundland, the command of all Army forces has already been given to an airman (Brigadier General Henry W. Harms).

Purpose of this policy is not to enhance the prestige of the new, autonomous Army Air forces (TIME, June 30), but to develop soundly organized, closely cooperating task forces. In many spots, the ranking airman on the job may well be subordinate to a ground officer. Moreover, if George Marshall's policy is to be as effective in practice as it is realistic in theory, wing-proud airmen will have to come down from their clouds, learn to fight with the rest of the Army.

In many war tasks, Army and Navy forces must work together (as the British tragically learned in Crete, where their land, naval and air units seemed to be fighting three separate wars). The U.S. Army and Navy as yet have no satisfactory provision for coordinated command and joint staff work in such tasks. But General Marshall indicated last week that real Army-Navy cooperation is nearer than it ever was before.

Carrier-based Navy planes will practice in joint maneuvers this summer with the Army's crack First Division and the First Marine Division. These divisions make up the No. 1 U.S. task force, have first call on experienced men and new equipment. Commanding both is a parboiled Marine, Major General Holland ("Howlin' Mad") Smith, who will know what to do if his two divisions suddenly have to take on a vital task in World War II.

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