Tangled Chain

The China-Burma-India area was the most confused of all Allied war commands. A U.S. colonel once despairingly explained that the multinational, multiservice commands could not be illustrated on an ordinary service chart, but needed "a three-dimensional organization chart with a wire framework and five shades of colored ribbon, which ought to indicate at least the simpler relationships."

British Army Commander in Chief in India was tall, handsome General Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, 61, K.C.B., D.S.O., O.B.E. Top Royal Air Force Commander in that area was his friend Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Edmund Charles Peirse, 53, K.C.B., D.S.O., A.F.C. Both Sir Claude and Sir Richard had complex, varying command relations with Mountbatten, Stilwell, Wavell, and with each other.

Last week Sir Claude, living in a bachelor flat near Buckingham Palace, went down to Lewes, Sussex, for a divorce. He named Sir Richard as corespondent, charging adultery with Lady Auchinleck. The judge's decree broke up the Auchinleck marriage after 24 years. Apparently vivacious, bright-eyed Lady Jessie, like everyone else in the CBI area, had become confused over the relationships.

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