How Ike upstaged Monty
From Mr David A. Wilson Sir: What on earth is all this talk of British `five-star' generals (Letters, 10 June)? Until the second world war at least, senior British officers were designated by the traditional terms, apart from brigadiers who had ceased to be general officers in 1920.
However, during the second world war there was a certain rivalry between the American general Eisenhower and his British opposite number, Montgomery. Eisenhower was Supreme Allied Comman- der in the West, and Montgomery merely Britain's senior general with, at the most, 11 divisions under his command (compare this with his first world war predecessor, Haig, who commanded 90). When it was seen fit to appoint Mont- gomery to field marshal, there was some concern in American quarters. They had a star system, starting with brigadiers at one and generals at four. They had no concept of a field marshal.
So they invented the five-star general and made Eisenhower the first holder of this rank. And thus the petty jealousies among our second world war commanders have led to an acceptance of 'five-star general' as an appointment of honour in the UK. It smacks more of Jonathan Swift and Lilliput than anything else (except possibly W.S. Gilbert). David A. Wilson
Matlock, Derbyshire
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