Supreme Commander

by Stephen E. Ambrose

  21. Marshall to Eisenhower, and Eisenhower to Marshall, both August 1, 1942, EP, No. 403.

  22. See Matloff and Snell, Strategic Planning, pp. 286–89, for a discussion.

  23. Eisenhower to Marshall, August 9, 1942, EP, No. 418.

  24. Quoted in Pogue, Ordeal and Hope, p. 403.

  25. EP, No. 424, n. 1.

  26. Eisenhower to Handy for Marshall, August 13, 1942, EP, No. 424.

  27. Eisenhower, At Ease, p. 253.

  28. Butcher, My Three Years, p. 54.

  29. Eisenhower to Marshall, August 15, 1942, EP, No. 430.

  30. Butcher, My Three Years, p. 59.

  31. Eisenhower to Marshall, August 17, 1942, EP, No. 435.

  32. EP, No. 444, n. 1.

  33. Matloff and Snell, Strategic Planning, p. 289.

  34. Eisenhower to Ismay, August 22, 1942, EP, No. 444.

  35. Butcher, My Three Years, p. 68.

  36. Eisenhower to CCS through Ismay, August 23, 1942, EP, No. 445.

  37. Eisenhower to Marshall, August 24, 1942, EP, No. 447.

  38. Same to same, August 25, 1942, EP, No. 448.

  39. Butcher, My Three Years, p. 74.

  40. Eisenhower to Marshall, August 26, 1942, EP, No. 453.

  41. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, p. 62; interview with Eisenhower, October 11, 1967.

  42. Interview with Eisenhower, October 11, 1967.

  43. Eisenhower to Marshall, August 26, 1942, EP, No. 453.

  44. Same to same, August 29, 1942, EP, No. 463.

  45. Butcher, My Three Years, p. 79.

  46. Eisenhower to Handy, August 31, 1942, EP, No. 467.

  47. Eisenhower to Patton, August 31, 1942, EP, No. 468.

  48. Butcher, My Three Years, p. 80.

  49. Ibid., p. 85.

  50. Churchill, The Hinge of Fate, pp. 534–35.

  51. Ibid., p. 537.

  52. Eisenhower to Handy, September 5, 1942, EP, No. 483.

  53. Churchill, The Hinge of Fate, pp. 542–43.

  CHAPTER 7

  1. Quoted in Oliver Warner, Cunningham of Hyndhope: Admiral of the Fleet (London, 1967), p. 185.

  2. The subject of Roosevelt’s relationship with De Gaulle is enormously complex; see Arthur L. Funk, Charles De Gaulle-The Crucial Years, 1943–1944 (Norman, Okla., 1960) and William L. Langer, Our Vichy Gamble (New York, 1947).

  3. Murphy tells his own story in Diplomat Among Warriors (New York, 1964); see also Funk, De Gaulle, pp. 31–32, and Langer, Our Vichy Gamble, pp. 310–14.

  4. Murphy, Diplomat Among Warriors, pp. 104–5.

  5. Murphy to Atherton, July 6, 1942, U. S. Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, Diplomatic Papers, 1942, 7 vols. (Washington, 1960–63), Vol. II, Europe, pp. 331–32.

  6. Howe, Northwest Africa, p. 21.

  7. Funk, De Gaulle, pp. 34–35.

  8. Murphy made no attempt to contact General Alphonse Juin, commander in chief of the French Army in North Africa. Howe, Northwest Africa, p. 78; Funk, De Gaulle, pp. 34–35.

  9. Murphy, Diplomat Among Warriors, pp. 103–7.

  10. Eisenhower to Marshall, September 19, 1942, EP, No. 506.

  11. U. S. Dept. of State, Foreign Relations, 1942, Vol. II, p. 379.

  12. Eisenhower to Somervell, September 13, 1942, EP, No. 501.

  13. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, p. 195.

  14. Eisenhower to Marshall, September 10, 1942, EP, No. 491.

  15. Butcher, My Three Years, pp. 95–97.

  16. Eisenhower note of September 13, 1942, EP, No. 499.

  17. Eisenhower to Marshall, September 12, 1942, EP, No. 498.

  18. Same to same, September 21, 1942, EP, No. 513.

  19. Samuel Eliot Morison, The Battle of the Atlantic, 1939–1943, in History of United States Naval Operations in World War II (Boston, 1947), pp. 360–67.

  20. Eisenhower to Marshall, September 19, 1942, EP, No. 509; Butcher, My Three Years, pp. 90–93.

  21. Eisenhower to Marshall, October 12, 1942, EP, No. 943.

  22. Butcher, My Three Years, pp. 93–97.

  23. Eisenhower Office Diary, October 5, 1942.

  24. Murphy to War Department, October 15, 1942, and Murphy to Leahy, October 14, 1942, in U. S. Dept. of State, Foreign Relations, 1942, Vol. II, pp. 394–95.

  25. Eisenhower to Marshall, October 17, 1942, EP, No. 557.

  26. Same to same, October 17, 1942, EP, No. 558.

  27. Churchill, The Hinge of Fate, p. 630.

  28. Charles de Gaulle, The War Memoirs of Charles de Gaulle, Vol. II, Unity 1942–1944 (trans. Richard Howard, New York, 1959), pp. 412–14.

  29. Eisenhower to Gailey, September 19, 1942, EP, No. 510.

  30. Eisenhower to Marshall, October 20, 1942, EP, No. 559.

  31. Butcher, My Three Years, p. 152.

  32. Eisenhower to Marshall, October 27, 1942, EP, No. 567; Howe, Northwest Africa, pp. 77–82; Murphy (who was at the Clark-Mast meeting), Diplomat Among Warriors, pp. 118–19.

  33. Eisenhower to Marshall, October 29, 1942, EP, No. 569.

  CHAPTER 8

  1. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, p. 95.

  2. See note 1, Eisenhower to Giraud, November 4, 1942, EP, No. 582.

  3. Butcher, My Three Years, pp. 162–64.

  4. Ibid., pp. 170–72.

  5. Eisenhower to Marshall, November 7, 1942, EP, No. 585.

  6. Eisenhower to CCS, November 8, 1942, EP, No. 586; Butcher, My Three Years, pp. 165–70.

  7. Eisenhower to Marshall, November 7, 1942, EP, No. 585.

  8. Butcher, My Three Years, pp. 171–72.

  9. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, p. 101.

  10. Butcher, My Three Years, p. 188a.

  11. Eisenhower to Smith, November 9, 1942, EP, No. 592.

  12. Butcher, My Three Years, pp. 173–76.

  13. Eisenhower to CCS, November 8, 1942, EP, No. 590.

  14. Butcher, My Three Years, p. 177.

  15. Eisenhower note of November 8, 1942, EP, No. 589.

  16. Howe, Northwest Africa, pp. 249–53.

  17. Butcher, My Three Years, p. 178a.

  18. Eisenhower to Smith, November 9, 1942, EP, No. 592.

  19. Eisenhower to Marshall, November 9, 1942, EP, No. 594.

  20. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, p. 87.

  21. Eisenhower to Clark, November 10, 1942, EP, No. 599.

  22. Same to same, November 11, 1942, EP, No. 608; Howe, Northwest Africa, p. 258.

  23. Eisenhower to Smith, November 11, 1942, EP, No. 609.

  24. Milton Viorst, Hostile Allies, FDR and Charles de Gaulle (New York, 1965), pp. 119–21.

  25. Smith to Eisenhower, November 12, 1942, in EP, No. 615, fn. 1.

  26. Eisenhower to Smith, November 12, 1942, EP, No. 615.

  27. Same to same, November 12, 1942, EP, No. 616.

  CHAPTER 9

  1. The full text of the agreement is in Harry L. Coles and Albert K. Weinberg, Civil Affairs: Soldiers Become Governors, in Stetson Conn (ed.), U. S. Army in World War II (Washington, 1964), p. 36; Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, pp. 107–8.

  2. Butcher, My Three Years, pp. 190–93.

  3. Eisenhower to Smith, November 13, 1942, EP, No. 621.

  4. Churchill, The Hinge of Fate, p. 637.

  5. Langer, Our Vichy Gamble, p. 369; Funk, De Gaulle, p. 44.

  6. Eisenhower to CCS, November 14, 1942, EP, No. 622.

  7. Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins, pp. 648–55.

  8. Eisenhower to Churchill, November 14, 1942, EP, No. 623.

  9. Eisenhower to Smith, November 14, 1942, EP, No. 625.

  10. Milton Eisenhower visited Algiers in December and wrote a brief account of the American reaction, in author’s possession.

  11. Funk, De Gaulle, p. 42.

  12. U. S. Dept. of State, Foreign Relations, 1942, Vol. II, p. 445.

  13. Ibid., p. 446.

  14. Coles and Weinberg, Civil Affairs: Soldiers Become Governors, p. 35.

  15. U. S. Dept. of State,
Foreign Relations, 1942, Vol. II, pp. 442–43.

  16. Cordell Hull, The Memoirs of Cordell Hull, 2 vols. (New York, 1948), Vol. II, p. 1197.

  17. See Milton Eisenhower’s memorandum cited in n. 10 above.

  18. Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins, pp. 648–55.

  19. Darlan to Clark, November 21, 1942, EP, No. 644, fn. 4.

  20. Viorst, Hostile Allies, pp. 122–23.

  21. Eisenhower to Marshall, November 17, 1942, EP, No. 640.

  22. Eisenhower to Smith, November 18, 1942, EP, No. 641.

  23. Eisenhower to Smith, November 18, 1942, EP, No. 642.

  24. Eisenhower to Marshall, November 19, 1942, EP, No. 644.

  25. Eisenhower to Clark, November 19, 1942, EP, No. 645.

  26. Herbert Feis, Churchill-Roosevelt-Stalin: The War They Waged and the Peace They Sought (Princeton, 1957), p. 91.

  27. Eisenhower to John Eisenhower, April 8, 1943, EP, No. 939.

  28. Eisenhower to CCS, November 24, 1942, EP, No. 663.

  29. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, pp. 112–14.

  30. Viorst, Hostile Allies, p. 126.

  CHAPTER 10

  1. Butcher, My Three Years, pp. 198–99.

  2. Sir Ian Jacob diary (loaned to the author), entry of December 30, 1942.

  3. Eisenhower to Ismay, November 30, 1942, EP, No. 675.

  4. Tedder related his thoughts to Sir Frederick Morgan. Interview with Morgan, July 17, 1965.

  5. Eisenhower to Ismay, November 30, 1942, EP, No. 675.

  6. Butcher, My Three Years, pp. 202–3.

  7. Howe, Northwest Africa, pp. 299–310.

  8. Eisenhower to Marshall, November 30, 1942, EP, No. 673.

  9. Anderson to Eisenhower, December 2 and 4, 1942, EP, No. 685, fn. 1.

  10. Eisenhower to CCS, December 3, 1942, EP, No. 685.

  11. Eisenhower to Handy, December 7, 1942, EP, No. 698.

  12. Eisenhower Office Diary, December 9, 1942.

  13. U. S. Dept. of State, Foreign Relations, 1942, Vol. II, p. 473.

  14. Eisenhower to Marshall, December 3, 1942, EP, No. 683.

  15. Eisenhower to CCS, December 4, 1942, EP, No. 689.

  16. Eisenhower to P. A. Hodgson, December 4, 1942, EP, No. 687.

  17. Butcher, My Three Years, pp. 222–23; U. S. Dept. of State, Foreign Relations, 1942, Vol. II, p. 483.

  18. Marshall to Eisenhower December 8, 1942, and Eisenhower to Marshall, December 9, 1942, EP, No. 701.

  19. Eisenhower notes of December 10, 1942, EP, No. 705.

  20. Interview with Sir Ian Jacob, July 21, 1965. Jacob was no exception. “The U. S. Army is a mutual admiration society,” he declared on December 30, 1942, “and any failings in this theater can be comfortably blamed on the British.” Jacob diary.

  21. Butcher, My Three Years, pp. 225–26.

  22. Eisenhower to Churchill, December 16, 1942, EP, No. 724.

  23. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, p. 124.

  24. Eisenhower to CCS, December 24 (sent December 26), 1942, EP, No. 738.

  25. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, pp. 129–30.

  26. Michael R. D. Foot, SOE in France: An Account of the Work of the British Special Operations Executive in France, 1940–1944 (London, 1966), p. 221.

  27. Butcher, My Three Years, pp. 227–29; Eisenhower to Churchill, December 28, 1942, EP, No. 741.

  28. Clark, Calculated Risk, pp. 128–31.

  29. Coles and Weinberg, Civil Affairs: Soldiers Became Governors, p. 47.

  CHAPTER 11

  1. Eisenhower to CCS, December 29, 1942, EP, No. 742; Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, pp. 125–37. Fredenhall’s force was redesignated II Corps.

  2. Eisenhower to CCS, January 4, 1943, EP, No. 756.

  3. Eisenhower to Gailey, January 1, 1943, EP, No. 751.

  4. Eisenhower to Hartle and others, Jamuary 15, 1943, EP, No. 770.

  5. Eisenhower to Hartle and others, January 15, 1943, EP, No. 770.

  6. Churchill to Eisenhower, January 1, 1943, EP, No. 745, fn. 2.

  7. See note 1, Eisenhower to BCOS, December 31, 1942, EP, No. 747.

  8. Macmillan, The Blast of War, 1939–1945 (New York, 1968), p. 173.

  9. Churchill to Eisenhower, January 2, 1943, EP, No. 750, fn. 4. A good discussion is Funk, De Gaulle, pp. 89–91; see also Murphy, Diplomat Among Warriors, pp. 115–21.

  10. U. S. Dept. of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, Diplomatic Papers, 1943, 6 vols. (Washington, 1963–65), Vol. II, Europe, p. 24.

  11. Eisenhower to Smith, January 3, 1943, EP, No. 755.

  12. Eisenhower to Gailey, January 1, 1943, EP, No. 751.

  13. Bryant, Turn of the Tide, pp. 442–43; interview with Sir Ian Jacob, May 8, 1968.

  14. Albert N. Garland and Howard M. Smyth, Sicily and the Surrender of Italy, in Conn (ed.), U. S. Army in World War II (Washington, 1965), p. 11; Albert C. Wedemeyer (New York, 1958), Wedemeyer Reports!, p. 192.

  15. Eisenhower to Handy, January 28, 1943, EP, No. 796.

  16. Bryant, Turn of the Tide, p. 448; Sir Ian Jacob diary.

  17. Bryant, Turn of the Tide, pp. 452–55.

  18. Ibid., p. 447.

  19. See EP, No. 811, fn. 2.

  20. Eisenhower to Marshall, February 8, 1943, EP, No. 811.

  21. Howe, Northwest Africa, pp. 376–83.

  22. Eisenhower memo for G-3, January 19, 1943, EP, No. 781.

  23. Eisenhower memorandum of January 21, 1943, EP, No. 787.

  24. Eisenhower to King, January 25, 1943, EP, No. 789; Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, p. 149.

  25. Butcher, My Three Years, pp. 246–48.

  26. Summersby, Eisenhower Was My Boss, p. 59.

  27. Butcher, My Three Years, pp. 254–58.

  CHAPTER 12

  1. Eisenhower to CCS, February 3, 1943, EP, No. 805.

  2. Eisenhower to Fredendall, February 4, 1943, EP, No. 808.

  3. Martin Blumenson, Kasserine Pass (Boston, 1967), pp. 86–87.

  4. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, p. 141.

  5. Eisenhower to Fredendall, February 4, 1943, EP, No. 808.

  6. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, p. 146.

  7. Ibid., pp. 141, 147.

  8. Blumenson, Kasserine Pass, pp. 94–95.

  9. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, p. 142.

  10. Blumenson, Kasserine Pass, pp. 128–29; Eisenhower to Marshall, February 15, 1943, EP, No. 819.

  11. Eisenhower to Marshall, February 15, 1943, EP, No. 819.

  12. Blumenson, Kasserine Pass, p. 163.

  13. Ibid., pp. 175–76; Eisenhower to CCS, February 15, 1943, EP, No. 818. Howe, Northwest Africa, pp. 423–24.

  14. Blumenson, Kasserine Pass, pp. 71–112; Eisenhower to CCS, February 15, 1943, EP, No. 818.

  15. Eisenhower to Marshall, February 15, 1943, EP, No. 819.

  16. Same to same, February 21, 1943, EP, No. 832.

  17. Same to same, February 17, 1943, EP, No. 821; Blumenson, Kasserine Pass, p. 273.

  18. Eisenhower to Truscott, February 16, 1943, EP, No. 820.

  19. Blumenson, Kasserine Pass, pp. 278–79.

  20. Fredendall to Eisenhower, February 19, 1943, EP, No. 830, fn. 1.

  21. Eisenhower to Fredendall, February 20, 1943, EP, No. 830.

  22. Eisenhower to Marshall, February 21, 1943, EP, No. 832.

  23. Blumenson, Kasserine Pass, pp. 282–83; Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, pp. 145–46.

  24. Blumenson, Kasserine Pass, pp. 289–90.

  25. Blumenson, Kasserine Pass, pp. 297, 306.

  26. Eisenhower to Patton, March 6, 1943, EP, No. 865.

  27. Eisenhower to Gerow, February 24, 1943, EP, No. 841.

  CHAPTER 13

  1. Eisenhower to Prichard, March 1, 1943, EP, No. 854.

  2. Eisenhower to Marshall, April 5, 1943, EP, No. 927.

  3. Eisenhower to Patton, March 6, 1943, EP, No. 865.

  4. Farago, Patton, p. 253; Arthur Tedder (London, 1966), With Prejudice, p. 410.

  5. Tedder, With Pre
judice, p. 411.

  6. Eisenhower to Patton, April 5, 1943, EP, No. 928.

  7. Tedder, With Prejudice, p. 411.

  8. Howe, Northwest Africa, pp. 590–92.

  9. Butcher, My Three Years, pp. 285–88.

  10. Marshall to Eisenhower, April 14, 1943, EP, No. 945, fn. 1.

  11. Eisenhower to Marshall, March 29, 1943, EP, No. 910.

  12. Eisenhower to Marshall, April 16, 1943, EP, No. 946.

  13. Eisenhower to Marshall, April 15, 1943, EP, No. 945; and same to same, March 15, 1943, EP, No. 889.

  14. Eisenhower to Marshall, March 8, 1943, EP, No. 870.

  15. Eisenhower to Bradley, April 16, 1943, EP, No. 947.

  16. Butcher, My Three Years, p. 289.

  17. Eisenhower to Marshall, April 30, 1943, EP, No. 959.

  18. Eisenhower to Alexander, April 30, 1943, EP, No. 960.

  19. Bradley to Eisenhower, May 7, 1943, quoted in EP, No. 978, fn. 1.

  20. Eisenhower to Arthur Eisenhower, May 18, 1943, EP, No. 1013; Eisenhower to John Eisenhower, May 22, 1943, EP, No. 1016.

  21. Eisenhower to Marshall, May 8, 1943, EP, No. 973.

  22. Eisenhower memorandum of June 11, 1943.

  23. Marshall to Surles, May 8, 1943, COS Decimal File 1942–43, 000.7 Publicity, Modern Military Records, National Archives.

  24. Eisenhower to Marshall, May 13, 1943, EP, No. 992.

  25. Same to same, May 10, 1943, EP, No. 979.

  CHAPTER 14

  1. Macmillan, The Blast of War, pp. 241–43.

  2. Murphy, Diplomat Among Warriors, p. 180.

  3. Macmillan, The Blast of War, p. 265.

  4. Ibid., p. 250.

  5. De Gaulle, Unity, p. 95.

  6. Macmillan, The Blast of War, pp. 250–54.

  7. U. S. Dept. of State, Foreign Relations, 1943, Vol. II, pp. 111–13.

  8. Ibid., p. 113; Viorst, Hostile Allies, p. 54; Macmillan, The Blast of War, p. 205.

  9. Butcher, My Three Years, p. 318.

  10. Ibid., pp. 320–22.

  11. De Gaulle, Unity, pp. 120–21; Feis, Churchill-Roosevelt-Stalin, p. 138; U. S. Dept. of State, Foreign Relations, 1943, Vol. II, p. 134.

  12. Eisenhower to Churchill, June 7, 1943, EP, No. 1043.

  13. De Gaulle, Unity, pp. 125–27; Eisenhower to CCS, June 10, 1943, EP, No. 1050.