Word: smith
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Army Version. Ralph C. Smith, 50, handsome and soft-voiced, commanded the 27th (New York National Guard) Army Division, until Howlin' Mad relieved him on the ninth day of the 25-day battle of Saipan. Ralph Smith was relieved, according to the Army version, because of a difference over tactics:.. Marines tear into battle, trying to win it quickly; soldiers proceed cautiously, to save lives...
...further details Howlin' Mad Smith referred reporters to the War Department (because Ralph Smith is an Army general). The War Department referred them back to Holland Smith (because he had made the change in command). But a long hushed-up fact had been officially admitted. The story-still unofficial...
When he was relieved, Ralph Smith flew 4,000 miles back to Pearl Harbor. There the Army's Lieut. General Robert C. Richardson Jr. promptly gave him command of another division-an obvious note of confidence in Ralph Smith and in the Army v. the Marines...
...Version. The Marines believe that their forge-ahead tactics cost less in lives than trying to cut off the enemy's tail by inches. (High Marine casualties are due to the fact that Marines are beachhead assault troops, always given the toughest assignments.) But the relief of Ralph Smith, according to the Marine version, had nothing to do with tactics...
Although terrific artillery barrages were laid down in front of them, Ralph Smith's men froze in their foxholes. For days these men, who lacked confidence in their officers, were held up by handfuls of Japs in caves. When it began to look as if what had been gained might be lost, Fourth Marine Division troops even moved in front of a sector of the 27th's line to save it. From the Marine point of view, General Ralph Smith's chief fault was that he had long ago failed to get tough enough to remove incompetent...