NORTH AFRICA: Manners Among Allies

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Lieut. General Dwight D. Eisenhower last week indicated that the Americans and Britons in his North African command are having the troubles to be expected when Americans and Britons are crammed together under one military roof. Said General Eisenhower, in a memorandum obviously aimed at his U.S. officers:

"We are fighting a tough war, and everything we do must be directed toward winning that war. ... All officers must be made to understand that in unwarranted criticism of any ally we are simply playing into the hands of the Axis. In the case of an American officer, he will be subject to the direst punishment I can possibly inflict administratively."

The direst administrative punishments (i.e., short of court-martial) likely to be imposed for unmannerly "criticism": public reprimand, a lowly detail, or ignominious return to the U.S.