The demand for a Combined General Staff, as opposed to
a Chief of Staffs Committee, inftiated by Sir Edward Grigg's article in The Times three weeks ago, is assuming such volume (I believe Print lig House Square is crowded with letters in support) that it is inconceivable that it can be long resisted. Though what has been in the mind of most writers on the subject was the principle and nothing but the principle, the question of who there is capable of filling the post of Chief of the Combined General Staff inevitably presents itself. To that one answer that will pretty certainly com- mend increasing assent has been given by Sir Frederick Sykes, who, holding that a Service chief is needed if he is to command the confidence of those under him, unhesitatingly proposes Sir Archibald Wavell. Of the general popularity of that appointment there can be no doubt, and the fact that General Wavell was appointed, at Presi- dent Roosevelt's instance, to command the land, sea and air forces of all the United Nations in the South-West Pacific—an appointment terminated by events which Wavell had had no time to influence— is good reason for assuming his fitness for such a joint command over British forces of all three arms. It also suggests that his selec- tion would create considerable confidence in America.
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