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551  25  The Supreme Command Smith updated Eisenhower on developments in London before he left for the States. He expressed his general satisfaction with the COSSAC staff and assured Eisenhower that, with the “substitution of a few individuals ,” it could be made “to conform to the setup you want.” Not wasting any time securing the key players he wanted, Smith met with Brooke’s deputy on his first morning in London to request the transfer of Gale, Whiteley, and Strong. He warned, “the organization is very top heavy,” especially in British generals. Smith expressed his strong opinion that the headquarters “should get out of London at the earliest possible moment.” He found the situation the same as when he had first arrived in London in September 1942, and he talked to Morgan about alternative sites. Aside from the threat of bombing—the Germans had unleashed the “baby blitz”—he felt the staff would never “get shaken down until we get away from Norfolk House.” Laying the Foundation The air command structure bothered him. On 30 December Smith met with Wigglesworth, whose transfer to England Tedder had engineered. They agreed Tedder’s appointment as deputy supreme commander “without portfolio” threatened to throw the air command into disarray. The next day Eisenhower wired Smith: the “integration of Air Forces . . . will be essential to success of OVERLORD.”1 Under the proposed organization, Tedder possessed no “direct Air function.” Leigh-Mallory held the position of commander of Allied Expeditionary Air Force and principal air adviser to the supreme commander. The heavy bombers remained tied to Operation Pointblank, the combined strategic bomber offensive. Churchill had assured Smith before he left North Africa, “cer- 552  BEETLE tainly Tedder was to command,” and he continued to think that “Tedder should be the real Air commander and your advisor on air matters,” but he warned, “if Tedder assumes command, there is no function for Leigh Mallory.” Smith also considered the formation of two tactical air forces “most unsound.” They were “now organized on a joint basis. Other than Mallory, who is Air Commander-in-Chief, there is no single commander of the tactical air forces as we had in the Mediterranean.” Smith considered these issues to be of the “utmost urgency” and appealed to Eisenhower to wire Marshall immediately and request that no action be taken “on a British proposal to the Combined Chiefs to sanction Air setup.” Smith reckoned the CCS would agree to a delay until Eisenhower and Tedder arrived in London and made their recommendations.2 Alarmed by Smith, Eisenhower cabled Marshall: “I most earnestly request that you throw your full weight into opposing the tendency to organize in advance the sub-echelons of the OVERLORD operation in such a way as to tie the hands of the command.” Eisenhower considered it foolish not to apply the lessons learned in the Mediterranean. “I think it a tragedy to give us such rigid directives as to preclude the application of those lessons.”3 Marshall agreed and shelved the air organization. In the same vein, Eisenhower instructed that Smith blunt higher authorities , particularly the British chiefs, from “dictating details of our organization .”4 Smith acted on that advice. On New Year’s Eve, Smith met with Brooke concerning these issues. Brooke should have been in a good mood. The next day his promotion to field marshal took effect. According to Brooke, Smith and Eisenhower were “most anxious to take all the heads of Staff department out of the Mediterranean!!” As soon as he knew he would be going to London , Smith started petitioning the BCOS on Strong’s appointment.5 In Smith’s view, “it was absurd” not to employ Strong, who had served as military attaché in Berlin before the war and was clearly “the best trained man for that job in the armies.” Brooke testily replied that responsibility for distributing the staff on all fronts rested with him. “You can rely on me to take their various requirements into account. I will have no string-pulling.” At this point, Smith jumped up and made for the door, pausing only long enough to inform the startled CIGS he was “not being helpful.” This led to a heated exchange. “You’ll get nothing this way,” Brooke retorted. There the matter rested. Brooke thought Smith “decidedly bumptious” and wondered if he had “gone off a lot and was suffering from a swollen head.” He considered what Smith proposed outright larceny. “I had to put Bedell Smith in his...

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