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  Generals of the Army

  AMERICAN WARRIORS

  Throughout the nation’s history, numerous men and women of all ranks and branches of the U.S. military have served their country with honor and distinction. During times of war and peace, there are individuals whose exemplary achievements embody the highest standards of the U.S. armed forces. The aim of the American Warriors series is to examine the unique historical contributions of these individuals, whose legacies serve as enduring examples for soldiers and citizens alike. The series will promote a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the U.S. armed forces.

  SERIES EDITOR: Roger Cirillo

  An AUSA Book

  GENERALS

  OF THE

  ARMY

  Marshall, MacArthur,

  Eisenhower, Arnold,

  Bradley

  Edited by

  James H. Willbanks

  Foreword by

  General Gordon R. Sullivan, USA (Ret.)

  Copyright © 2013 by the Command and General Staff College Foundation, Inc.

  Published by The University Press of Kentucky,

  scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth,

  serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern

  Kentucky University, The Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College, Kentucky

  Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State

  University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, University of

  Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University.

  All rights reserved.

  Editorial and Sales Offices: The University Press of Kentucky

  663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008

  www.kentuckypress.com

  17 16 15 14 13 5 4 3 2 1

  Maps are courtesy of the U.S. Army Center of Military History.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Generals of the Army : Marshall, MacArthur, Eisenhower, Arnold, Bradley / edited by James H. Willbanks ; foreword by General Gordon R. Sullivan, USA (Ret.).

  pages cm. — (American warriors series)

  Includes bibliographical references and index.

  ISBN 978-0-8131-4213-5 (hbk : alk. paper) —

  ISBN 978-0-8131-4214-2 (epub) — ISBN 978-0-8131-4212-8 (pdf)

  1. Generals—United States—Biography. 2. Fort Leavenworth (Kan.)—Influence. 3. Marshall, George C. (George Catlett), 1880-1959. 4. MacArthur, Douglas, 1880-1964 5. Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969 6. Arnold, Henry Harley, 1886-1950. 7. Generals—United States—History—20th century. I. Willbanks, James H., 1947- II. Title: Marshall, MacArthur, Eisenhower, Arnold, Bradley.

  D736.G46 2013

  940.54’12730922—dc23

  2013000346

  This book is printed on acid-free paper meeting the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials.

  Manufactured in the United States of America.

  Member of the Association of

  American University Presses

  To all those who have served

  at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas—

  the intellectual center of the U.S. Army

  Contents

  List of Maps and Illustrations

  Foreword

  General Gordon R. Sullivan, USA (Ret.)

  Introduction

  James H. Willbanks

  1. Officer Education and the Fort Leavenworth Schools, 1881–1940

  Jonathan M. House

  2. George Catlett Marshall

  Christopher R. Gabel

  3. Douglas MacArthur

  Tony R. Mullis

  4. Dwight D. Eisenhower

  Sean N. Kalic

  5. Henry H. “Hap” Arnold

  John M. Curatola

  6. Omar Nelson Bradley

  Joseph R. Fischer

  Afterword

  Ethan S. Rafuse

  Acknowledgments

  List of Contributors

  Index

  Maps and Illustrations

  Maps

  The ABDACOM Area, January–February 1942

  The Philippines, 1942

  The Inch’on Landing, 15–16 September 1950

  Allied Operations in World War II, 1942–1945

  Taking the Bridgehead, 20 April–13 May 1943

  The Fight for Sicily, 12 July–17 August 1943

  The Final Overlord Plan

  First Army Breakout, 24 July–4 August 1944

  The Battleground, 15 December 1944

  The Ardennes, 15 December 1944

  Wacht am Rhein, 16–25 December 1944

  Erasing the Bulge, 26 December 1944–25 January 1945

  Illustrations

  United States Infantry and Cavalry School, Class of 1907

  World War II mobilization class for staff officers

  George C. Marshall in dress blues

  Marshall’s first class picture

  George C. Marshall, chief of staff, 1940

  Roosevelt and Churchill during the Atlantic Charter Conference, 1941

  Krueger, MacArthur, and Marshall at a field headquarters, 1943

  Lieutenant Douglas MacArthur at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 1909

  Major MacArthur

  Brigadier General MacArthur in France, September 1918

  General MacArthur with the Eisenhowers and President Quezon

  General MacArthur with Major General Jonathan Wainwright, 1943

  General MacArthur, 1945

  MacArthur at the front lines above Suwon, Korea

  Eisenhower as a West Point cadet

  Major Eisenhower

  General Eisenhower at Green Common Airfield, England, 1944

  President Dwight D. Eisenhower

  Hap Arnold in a Wright Flyer in Dayton, Ohio, 1912

  Major Arnold, 1927

  Arnold with a B-10 from his 1934 Alaskan expedition

  General Arnold as chief of staff, Army Air Forces

  Arnold inspecting the Memphis Belle

  Omar Bradley as chief of staff

  Bradley as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

  Foreword

  The eminent British historian John Keegan once referred to Fort Leavenworth as one of the United States Army’s “most sacred places.”* Fort Leavenworth was established in 1827 to support the opening of the West. In 1881 it became the Army’s schoolhouse to capitalize on the lessons learned from the American Civil War. Today the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College is the Army’s leader-development center, standing on the frontier of knowledge and learning in the military arts. Officers educated at Leavenworth have served the nation with distinction in every conflict since the Indian Wars. In particular, Leavenworth left an indelible impression on the Army’s conduct in World War II, when Leavenworth graduates filled the great majority of higher-level command and staff positions. Five officers, educated at Fort Leavenworth, who served with distinction in World War II attained the highest military rank that this nation bestows—General of the Army. Though Leavenworth graduates have served with distinction in every conflict since its founding, this book is a tribute to Generals of the Army George C. Marshall, Douglas MacArthur, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Henry H. “Hap” Arnold, and Omar N. Bradley; to the venerable military post that molded and shaped them; and to every officer who ever has served or ever will serve at Fort Leavenworth. The Leavenworth legacy continues.

  Gordon R. Sullivan

  General, U.S. Army (Ret.)

  CGSC Class of 1969

  CGSC Deputy Commandant, 1987–88

  Thirty-first Chief of Staff, U.S. Army

/>   President, Association of the U.S. Army

  * John Keegan, Six Armies in Normandy (New York: Viking Press, 1982), 24.

  Introduction

  James H. Willbanks

  Five-star flag rank is the highest rank awarded within the U.S. military establishment in modern times. There were four five-star fleet admirals and five five-star Generals of the Army named during World War II and the years immediately after. To put those promotions in the proper context, it is appropriate to review the evolution of the highest ranks in the U.S. military establishment.

  The highest rank ever conferred in the U.S. military is General of the Armies of the United States. Only two officers in our history have been awarded that rank, George Washington and John J. Pershing, although only General Pershing actually held the rank. During the Civil War, Congress conferred the rank of General of the Army on Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, who would eventually wear four stars as the insignia of his new rank. Lieutenant General William T. Sherman, Grant’s successor as Commanding General of the Army after the war, was also appointed General of the Army on March 4, 1869. After Sherman’s death in 1891, however, the title ceased to exist as a military rank.

  Sherman’s successor was Lieutenant General Philip H. Sheridan. In June 1888, shortly before Sheridan’s death, Congress enacted legislation that discontinued the grade of lieutenant general and merged it with that of General of the Army. This rank was conferred on Sheridan and was discontinued when he died, while still on active duty, on August 5, 1888.

  Congress revived the rank of General of the Armies of the United States (which had never before been bestowed) by Public Law 66-45, approved on September 3, 1919, and awarded the title to General John J. Pershing for his wartime service. Pershing continued to wear four stars as the insignia of his rank. No other person held this rank until 1976, when President Gerald Ford posthumously appointed George Washington General of the Armies of the United States and specified that he would rank first among all officers of the Army, past and present.

  On December 14, 1944, the temporary rank of General of the Army was reestablished by the passage of Public Law 78-482. Army Regulation 600-35 specified that Generals of the Army would wear five stars arranged in a pentagonal pattern, their points touching. The rank of General of the Army was created in wartime to give the most senior American commanders parity of rank with their British counterparts holding the rank of field marshal. The temporary rank was declared permanent on March 23, 1946, by Public Law 333, passed by the Seventy-ninth Congress. The law also created a comparable rank of Fleet Admiral for the Navy.

  The five five-star Generals of the Army were George C. Marshall (appointed December 16, 1944), Douglas MacArthur (appointed December 18, 1944), Dwight D. Eisenhower (appointed December 20, 1944), Henry H. Arnold (appointed December 21, 1944), and Omar N. Bradley (appointed September 20, 1950). Arnold was redesignated General of the Air Force on May 7, 1949. The first three five-star Fleet Admirals were William D. Leahy (December 15, 1944), Ernest J. King (December 17, 1944), and Chester W. Nimitz (December 19, 1944). William F. Halsey was promoted to Fleet Admiral on December 11, 1945.

  During the course of their careers, all the Army five-star generals served and studied at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. This experience had a seminal influence on the development of their careers. Marshall, for example, observed that “Leavenworth was immensely instructive; not so much because the course was perfect—because it was not—but the associations with the officers, the reading and discussion that we did and the leadership … of a man like Morrison [one of his Leavenworth instructors], had a tremendous effect on me.”1 Eisenhower called his time at the Staff College “a watershed” in his career.2 Not surprisingly, Marshall, Eisenhower, and the other Army five-star generals have been enshrined in the Leavenworth Hall of Fame for their contributions in the service of the nation.

  In 2010, following a two-year campaign, the Command and General Staff College Foundation at Fort Leavenworth succeeded in shepherding a bill through Congress to authorize the minting of commemorative coins to honor the Army five-star generals who led U.S. forces to victory in World War II and to recognize the institution they all attended. President Barack Obama signed the bill into law on October 8, 2010.

  The book that follows is meant to be a companion piece to the issuance of the special commemorative coins by providing a brief look at the lives of these remarkable men and the contributions they made to the defense of the nation. Since each of these officers worked and studied at Fort Leavenworth and was shaped by the “Leavenworth experience,” it is appropriate to begin with a discussion of officer education and the Leavenworth Army schools during the period when these men served and studied at the installation. Following that discussion are separate chapters on Marshall, MacArthur, Eisenhower, Arnold, and Bradley that focus on their early upbringing, their entrance into military service, the evolution of their careers, and their wartime and postwar contributions. What is intended is not hagiography, but rather an objective examination of five men who stand tall in the history of this nation. The book will conclude with an afterword that addresses the Command and General Staff College and its evolution from the days of Marshall, MacArthur, Eisenhower, Arnold, and Bradley to the institution that it is today.

  Notes

  1. Larry I. Bland, ed., George C. Marshall: Interviews and Reminiscences for Forrest C. Pogue, Transcripts and Notes, 1956–57 (Lexington, Va.: George C. Marshall Research Foundation, 1986), 134.

  2. Dwight D. Eisenhower, At Ease: Stories I Tell to Friends (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1967), 200.

  1

  Officer Education and the Fort Leavenworth Schools, 1881–1940

  Jonathan M. House

  For many people, the term Army education refers to the various institutions by which men and women first enter the Army—the military academy at West Point, the Reserve Officers Training Corps, or perhaps basic combat training. In fact, however, these schools are only the first steps in military education. Like any other profession, being a soldier and especially an officer requires lifelong study as well as the study of complex concepts and procedures. Advances in rank bring new responsibilities and constant increases in the intricacies of military operations. If anything, the armed services invest more time and resources in educating their members than do many civilian businesses and institutions because officers can’t practice their profession fully in peacetime. Thus, quite apart from acquiring technical skills such as piloting or parachute training, more than 10 percent of a typical Army officer’s career is spent in the classroom.

  School of Application

  The officer education system began in 1881, when General William Tecumseh Sherman created the School of Application for Infantry and Cavalry at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Thoughtful observers had sought such a school for years because of the poor state of education in the officer corps. Many Army officers had gained their commissions as Civil War volunteers or by promotion from the ranks, and they needed grounding in general education, military administration, and tactics. Even graduates of West Point tended to stagnate intellectually when scattered among the tiny garrisons on the frontier. These officers were highly proficient in small unit operations but not in the complexities of modern warfare involving hundreds of thousands of soldiers in various types of units. There were a few specialized courses, such as an artillery school at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, or an engineer school at Willet’s Point in New York; the latter was moved to Washington, D.C., in 1901. For the bulk of the officer corps, however, there was no formal postgraduate education.

  Initially, therefore, Sherman directed that each regiment of Infantry or Cavalry send one officer each year to the new school. Given the slow rate of promotion in the peacetime Army, virtually all these students were lieutenants. Over the next several years, the Army assembled four Infantry companies, four Cavalry companies, and an Artillery battery at Fort Leavenworth so that students could actually observe and maneuver a significant-si
zed force of the various combat arms. Fort Leavenworth was large enough to accommodate such a force, while sitting near the junction of multiple railroads that connected it to points throughout the country. Thus, this garrison provided a central reserve for an Army that still had to plan for possible war against the Native American tribes.1

  During the first decade of its existence, the School of Application gradually evolved from a remedial class for poorly educated officers into a model institution that taught its students to command and administer tactical units of various sizes and types. Much of the initial instruction was based on that of the German Army, which dominated European military thought in the later 1800s. Over time, however, Fort Leavenworth developed both its own faculty and a body of distinctive American military doctrine. Colonel Arthur L. Wagner, for example, analyzed the U.S. Army’s own historical experience to encourage simplified tactics that emphasized the individual initiative of soldiers at every level.

  The Root Reforms and the Army Schools

  Still, the School of Application focused on units of a few hundred to a few thousand men, not on the higher-level aspects of warfare. When the United States emerged as a world power in the late 1800s, its military institutions proved woefully inadequate in comparison to the professional military forces of Europe. In retrospect, it seems obvious that we needed to produce officers who could analyze the larger issues of national strategy and direct the Army in accomplishing more modern, complex missions. At the time, however, the very idea of American involvement in such wars on the European continent or elsewhere was almost inconceivable to most civilians and soldiers in this country.

  The Spanish-American War of 1898 highlighted the absence of such a professionally educated officer corps. On the one hand, the United States suddenly acquired new territories in the Philippines and Puerto Rico, with all the attendant problems of guerrilla warfare, nation building, and colonial administration. On the other, the war revealed a variety of problems involved in fighting a modern conflict, problems ranging from poor sanitation to a lack of effective planning at every level of command. To fight a counterinsurgency campaign in the Philippines, the regular Army grew from 28,000 in 1897 to 81,000 in 1902 and 85,000 in 1908. Similarly, the officer corps almost doubled in size, from 2,179 in 1897 to 4,049 by 1902.2 This expansion meant that older officers, veterans of the frontier conflicts, advanced rapidly in rank, so that almost all of them needed more military education for their new positions. During an era when politicians of both parties believed in government efficiency, the U.S. Army was a prime candidate for reform.