NATO: Ike Sees His Army

General Dwight Eisenhower left his Paris headquarters last week for a get-acquainted visit with the main body of troops he commands, the allied units in Germany*

In the British zone, the 11th Armored showed off its new, low-silhouette Centurion tank. Said Ike, after watching the 50-tonner churning through the mud: “The Centurion looks like a good piece of mechanism. I hope we don’t have to use it.” Next day, with a French motorcycle escort, Eisenhower drove at a 50-mile-an-hour clip to Coblenz. The French, who do not forget that they are the conquerors, had cleared a 60-mile stretch of road of all traffic; even an ambulance and a funeral waited while Ike passed. In the crowd at Coblenz a German youth jostled a French cavalry colonel. The officer pushed the youth, threatened to slap his face, then turned to hear Ike make an address on the importance of allied officers’ befriending the Germans.

It was during his review of French troops that Ike heard the news of MacArthur’s dismissal. A cameraman caught the general in his spontaneous first reaction: “Well, I’ll be darned.”

Ike wound up his tour in the American zone, saw U.S. tankmen, using subcaliber ammunition, trying to shoot on a miniature range, measured in yards, not miles. Lieut. General Manton S. Eddy, U.S. commander in Germany, complained that the training area was too small for regular fire from his big guns; the Germans, however, did not want any more of their farms and villages taken over for training.

After three days, Ike knew better than ever how very much had to be done before Western Europe would be safe from the 175 Russian divisions across the Elbe.

* The U.S., two divisions; Britain, three; France, three; Belgium, one, plus some corps elements; Norway, a 4,000-man brigade; Denmark, 1,000 men; Luxembourg, 300 men. In addition, there are allied units in Berlin and Austria.