Closing the Ring by Winston Churchill

Author:Winston Churchill [Churchill, Winston]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: World War; 1939-1945, History, World War II, Military, Italy
ISBN: 9780795305429
Publisher: RosettaBooks
Published: 2002-11-15T02:23:02.847000+00:00

Closing the Ring

444

Stalin then put the crucial question, “Who will command

‘Overlord’?” The President replied that this had not yet been decided. Stalin said bluntly that the operation would come to nought unless one man was placed in charge of all the preparation for it. Roosevelt explained that this had already been done. General Morgan, a British officer, had been given a combined Anglo-American Staff and had been planning the operation for some considerable time.

Everything, in fact, had already been decided, except the name of the Supreme Commander. Stalin declared it essential that a man should be appointed at once to be responsible, not only for the planning, but also for the execution. Otherwise, although General Morgan might say that everything was ready, the Supreme Commander, when appointed, might have very different ideas and wish to alter everything.

I said that General Morgan had been appointed some months before by the Combined Chiefs of Staff, with the approval of the President and myself, to be Chief Staff Officer to the Supreme Commander (Designate). His Majesty’s Government had expressed their willingness to serve under a United States Commander, since the United States would be responsible for the build-up of the invasion force and would have the preponderance in numbers. In the Mediterranean, on the other hand, practically all the naval forces were British and we had also a considerable preponderance in army forces. We therefore felt that the command of this theatre should properly go to the British. I suggested that the appointment of a Supreme Commander was more appropriate for discussion by the three heads of Governments than in a somewhat large conference. Stalin said that the Soviet Government laid no claim to a voice in

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