BATTLE OF THE PACIFIC: One Year of War

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"We hear a great deal of clamor from time to time for unity of command. That's a loose term and has come to be widely used by people who don't have the full facts. Actually, many good officers are not qualified or competent to exercise unified command, but we keep on hearing amateurs suggest that some one man be called in to exercise sweeping control over all things military.

"As a matter of fact, political considerations dominate a great many military situations. In the Combined Chiefs of Staff, we have an agency that represents the President and the Prime Minister. Our own Joint Chiefs of Staff act for the President, but we have not yet had a single matter to take to the President upon which we have not first been able to agree ourselves.

"Because so many other nations are involved in this global war effort of ours, the Combined Chiefs of Staff have many problems in which the final action can only be decided upon by the President and the Prime Minister. If the proposal to substitute a supreme military commander were adopted, the question of what becomes of the President's constitutional position as Commander in Chief is one to which some thought might be given."*

Admiral King did not pretend that the "Combined Chiefs of Staff" combine all the United Nations. The fact that the U.S. and Britain dominate the Combined Chiefs of Staff makes military sense to Admiral King. Only the U.S. and Britain have the means to prosecute the global war. Russia is only a partial arsenal. There are more than 30 United Nations. Admiral King is no believer in trying to run a war by a show of hands. Said he last week:

"The way it operates, whenever a nation is directly involved, its representatives are consulted. If we are considering aid for China, the Chinese are called in, given a seat at the table and they get the whole story. Periodically, also, the military representatives of all the United Nations are called in and given the whole story of what's going on. They are not told what is being planned, however, because when so many people know a thing, inadvertently somebody is liable to. give the show away."

Most people had thought that the plan for invading French Africa was a well-kept secret. Admiral King thought that it was very poorly kept. Nevertheless, he said, "the actual date was known to only about twelve people among ourselves and the British." Now he must give very serious thought to Europe. Said he: "People talk lightly of our next invading Sicily, Italy, etc. Maybe we can do it, but it's going to be a seaborne invasion and it's not going to be easy."

King on the Future: Admiral King did not attempt to chart the course of the second year. But he was hopeful; he clearly intended to maintain and step up the Navy's offensives. At the approach of the second Dec. 7, he still believed what he said early in the first year: "Our days of victory are in the making."