World Battlefronts: BATTLE OF ITALY: Ike's Way

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Literally atop this maze, in the hilltop St. George Hotel, Eisenhower spends most of his working days. In off hours, he lives in a pleasant Algiers villa with three companions: his devoted "dog robber" (orderly), Sergeant "Micky" McKeogh; a Scottish terrier named Telek; his principal aide, Navy Commander Harold Butcher, a friend from Washington days who used to be a broadcasting-company executive. Smooth, fast-talking, fast-thinking Harold Butcher is reputed to have much influence with Eisenhower.

The Unbloodied Workers. To his little-known, unbloodied workers, the Staff Officers, Eisenhower recently said: "The job is a hard and thankless one. You will not go down in the pages of history. But we have shown and will continue to show the world one thing—that the Allies can fight under one command and as one nation."

Boss of A.F.H.Q., under Eisenhower, is U.S. Major General Walter Bedell ("Beedle") Smith, who is a recurrent motif throughout the complexity of Eisenhower's staff organization. Said a British officer: "All this would not be possible without Ike and Beedle." Stocky "Beedle" Smith used to train bird dogs and hunt quail with General Marshall in Virginia; in North Africa he keeps a cocker spaniel and a Virginia orderly, Sergeant Sam Carter, to remind him of happier times. He is the production manager of the Allied war machine. While his chief is on high with the plotters and the planners, Beedle is at his desk hacking through red tape, making mile-a-minute decisions. No one appreciates Smith more than Eisenhower. Late one afternoon the General entered Smith's busy office, gave him a mock salute and said: "Boss, may I go home now?"

Under busy Beedle the staff is built up in layers like a pousse café of Yanks and Britons.

Smith's Deputy Chief of Staff is Major General J. F. M. ("Jock") Whitely, generally rated as one of the best staff officers in the British Army.

Coordinating all the complex procedures and problems, especially of G-1 (Personnel) and G-4 (Supply), where U.S. and British methods differ most widely, is Chief Administrative Officer Lieut. General Sir Humfrey Gale. His pet project: a standard ration for British and U.S. Armies which will provide the same basic foods, yet satisfy the more violent national tastes (tea for Tommies, coffee for Yanks).

G-1 is headed by suave U.S. Brigadier General Benjamin M. Sawbridge. His deputy: British Brigadier Victor Westropp. One of their chief headaches now is the problem of disciplining, caring for and feeding 400,000 Axis prisoners who gobble up four shiploads of food a week.