Shifts at SHAPE

Packing his bags in Paris last week, outgoing Supreme Allied Commander Matthew Ridgway, off to become Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, presented his successor, General Alfred M. Gruenther, with a new command setup and a few new commanders:

General Lauris Norstad, 46, the U.S. Air Force's brainy, blue-eyed wonder, will become Gruenther's Deputy for Air Forces in Europe; in his new role, he will be responsible for organizing, training and deploying all NATO's air forces from Iceland to Turkey so that they can be brought to bear--probably with atom bombs--on any part of Europe (because of the Abomb, an American has to have this job). For two years Norstad was SHAPE'S leading atom-warfare expert.

Marshal Alphonse-Pierre Juin, 64, France's tough, seven-starred No. 2 soldier, will set up a new, unified headquarters as Commander in Chief, Allied Forces in Central Europe. Previously, at Eisenhower's insistence, air, sea and ground forces in that crucial sector were under direct control of SHAPE. Juin's appointment is designed to soothe Frenchmen who feel that France does not have enough high-ranking positions in NATO.

Air Marshal Sir Basil Embry, 51, will take over, under Juin, the Allied Air Forces of Central Europe. Sir Basil, a jovial, able daredevil, was shot down in France in World War II, escaped by knocking out three German guards, walked and cycled across France in workman's clothes, watched Hitler enter Paris, in all was captured three times, escaped three times. Once, posing as an Irish patriot, he was challenged to speak Gaelic, fooled the Germans by a flood of Urdu, which he had learned in India. Back in combat, Embry took on a series of missions, once dive-bombed the door of a Nazi headquarters in Copenhagen to free imprisoned Danish resistance leaders.

Lieut. General Cortlandt Van Rensselaer Schuyler, 52, commander of the U.S. 28th Infantry Division, will succeed Gruenther as Chief of Staff. Schuyler is a protege of Eisenhower and Gruenther, for much of the past two years has had charge of SHAPE'S atomic problems.

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