man in the Army who fully appreciated its possibilities. Its value would be demonstrated during the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943. From 14 December 1942 to 28 January 1943, Devers went on an inspection tour of the battlefields in North Africa, along with Major General Edward H. Brooks and Brigadier General Williston B. Palmer from the Armored Force, and Gladeon M. Barnes from the Ordnance Department. He spoke with key British generals, including Harold Alexander, Bernard Montgomery, and Richard McCreery, and U.S. commanders including Eisenhower, Patton, Thomas B. Larkin and Orlando Ward, and received a great deal of feedback about American equipment. Eisenhower was defensive since he was suspicious that Marshall may have sent Devers to replace him and was nervous when Devers had critical comments about the handling of the 1st Armored Division. Devers noted that the M4 Sherman was superior to the M3 Lee with which the 1st Armored Division was equipped, but he urged the development of the more powerful 76mm gun. The intelligence that was gathered was nearly lost when their B-17 lost its way returning to England and crashlanded in Athenry, Republic of Ireland. Fortunately, nobody was injured, and the entire group, with the critical intelligence, made their way by train to Northern Ireland early the following morning. In 1943, McNair took an axe to the armored division organization and dramatically downsized it. For all but the 2nd and 3rd Armored Divisions, the number of armored battalions was reduced to three. Devers favored the older larger organization. The surplus armored battalions were utilized as separate armored battalions and so by the end of 1943, there were 54 armored battalions in armored divisions and 65 non-divisional battalions. By then, the planned number of Army Ground Force divisions had been dramatically cut to 90, and McNair considered that only ten armored divisions were required and suggested for six of the sixteen armored divisions already active to be broken up. His proposal was not accepted, and the number of armored divisions was frozen at sixteen. European Theater of Operations, United States Army (ETOUSA) On 3 May 1943, while on an aerial inspection tour, Lieutenant General Frank M. Andrews, European Theater of Operations, United States Army (ETOUSA) commander since replacing Eisenhower on 5 February 1943, was killed in an air crash in Iceland. Marshall appointed Devers to replace Andrews. Devers arrived in England on 9 May 1943.