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At 64, and back on Luzon, Krueger can outwalk men many years his junior. His 175 pounds fit well on his 5 ft. 10 in. frame, with no paunch. His grey hair is parted right of center now, and cropped close except where he has a mole over the right ear. He smokes incessantly (cigarets and a brier pipe). Only for reading does he need spectacles; he uses an old fashioned, steel-rimmed model.
Krueger's temperament complements MacArthur's perfectly. In many outward matters they are vastly different, but in one essential they are notably alike. As
Krueger says of his chief : he has the most important quality of keeping the enemy in his sights and going after him with singleness of purpose.
For the campaign whose history Krueger is writing across the map of Luzon, the strategy is MacArthur's; the tactics, Krueger's. Says the latter: "MacArthur, and he alone, decides what landings are to be made, how much we've got in men, shipping and supplies. When that's decided, I take over." Initial planning for the liberation of Luzon was done at Brisbane last July. On Nov. 15, when the end of the Leyte campaign was not yet in sight, and Krueger was still commanding an army in bitter combat with a reinforced foe, the Luzon show was laid on. Krueger took both jobs in his measured stride.
What Not to Do. His staff, under chubby Brigadier General George H. Decker, smoothly set up the operation. Krueger concerned himself only with the larger aspects of the job — the "imponderables." Says he: "Don't ask me about details — my staff attends to them." There are lots of times, he admits, "when I don't know what to do — but I know what not to do."
Despite his deliberate refusal to worry, Krueger is concerned about history's verdict on his campaigns, especially the long, bloody struggle on Leyte: "History may criticize the Leyte campaign — but we did win it." He insists there is no such thing as a military expert; that "battles are not scenarios, with a beginning and an end; no one really knows the answers at the start." But he pays homage to basic principles — principles so basic as to seem hackneyed: "Simplicity in strategic conception, perfection in technique, firmness in execution." Beyond firmness, he worships boldness. In his 46 years of soldiering, war's techniques have changed, but boldness remains a constant. "Decisive results can be achieved by the offensive only."
When his patrols were pushing down Highway 3 toward Tarlac and Manila, Krueger rode to San Fabian, the northernmost beachhead, and on to Damortis, where his Sixth Army's left flank was being extended.
The inspection satisfied him that the landings had been properly planned and executed. "Landings farther north would have been fine from the enemy's viewpoint," he reported. "I've inspected that ridge country behind the beaches up there.
They'd have been looking down our necks if we'd come in there." Last week, nobody was looking down Krueger's neck as he retraced his youthful steps into Tarlac, toward Angeles and Manila.