War Horses to the Front

Though the Pacific combat area was relatively quiet last week, two new commanders worked feverishly on the countless details of organization which must precede any action. Both were old war horses, prepared to disprove the notion that only youth is fit for modern battle.

Dispatches from the South Pacific revealed that 60-year-old Major General Olayton Barney Vogel of the Marines is commanding an amphibious force under Admiral William Frederick Halsey, also 60. Burly General Vogel carries the most notable bay window in the Marine Corps, yet he has been known to wear the breath out of younger, slim-waisted officers. A strict disciplinarian in the field, Barney Vogel is an inveterate party goer and party giver--a combination of inclinations usually not found in the Marine Corps. Experience gained in the jungles of Nicaragua and the mountains of Haiti should serve him well in the approaches north of Guadalcanal.

In Australia, 62-year-old Lieut. General Walter Krueger assumed command of the newly created Sixth Army under 63-year-old General Douglas MacArthur. Prussian-born General Krueger, whose passion is military strategy, boosted his reputation in the 1941 maneuvers when his Third Army (whose command he relinquished recently) roundly trounced Lieut. General Ben Lear's Second Army. His chief of staff at that time: Dwight Eisenhower.

Creation of the Sixth Army did not disclose U.S. strength in Australia and New Guinea--an Army may number anywhere from 50,000 to 500,000 troops. But since MacArthur has already one lieutenant general (Robert L. Eichelberger) commanding a corps, most observers believed he was getting, or would get, some reinforcements.

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