Supreme Commander

by Stephen E. Ambrose

  21. Blumenson, Breakout and Pursuit, p. 622; Pogue, Supreme Command, p. 242; Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, pp. 297–98; Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, pp. 394–95.

  22. Blumenson, Breakout and Pursuit, p. 625.

  23. Eisenhower to Marshall, August 31, 1944, EP, No. 1925.

  24. Pogue, Supreme Command, p. 321.

  25. Ibid., pp. 322–23.

  26. Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, pp. 405–6.

  27. Pogue, Supreme Command, pp. 322–23.

  28. Eisenhower to Lee, September 16, 1944, EP, No. 1963.

  29. Pogue, Supreme Command, pp. 319–20.

  30. Caffery to Hull, reporting conversation with Eisenhower, October 20, 1944, in U. S. Dept. of State, Foreign Relations, 1944, Vol. III, pp. 742–43.

  31. U. S. Dept. of State, Foreign Relations, 1944, Vol. III, pp. 735–37.

  32. Pogue, Supreme Command, p. 325.

  33. Churchill, Triumph and Tragedy, pp. 246–49.

  34. Eisenhower to JCS, October 20, 1944, EP, No. 2049.

  CHAPTER 11

  1. Eisenhower to Marshall, August 7, 1944, EP, No. 1886.

  2. Same to same, August 17, 1944, EP, No. 1898.

  3. Eisenhower to Montgomery, August 19, 1944, EP, No. 1901.

  4. Ruppenthal, Logistical Support of the Armies, Vol. II, p. 124.

  5. Ibid., p. 5.

  6. Ibid., p. 6.

  7. Ibid.

  8. Eisenhower to Tedder, August 16, and to Brereton, August 22, 1944, EP, Nos. 1897 and 1906.

  9. Eisenhower to Marshall, August 24, 1944, EP, No. 1910.

  10. Ruppenthal, Logistical Support of the Armies, Vol. II, p. 8.

  11. Ibid.

  12. All these reports are quoted in Pogue, Supreme Command, pp. 244–45.

  13. Ibid., p. 245.

  14. Eisenhower to Marshall, August 31, 1944, EP, No. 1925.

  15. Pogue, Supreme Command, pp. 263–64.

  16. Marshall to Eisenhower, August 17, 1944, EP, No. 1900, n. 1.

  17. Eisenhower to Marshall, August 19, 1944, EP, No. 1900.

  18. Same to same, July 12, 1944, EP, No. 1822.

  19. Pogue, Supreme Command, p. 269.

  20. Brereton to Eisenhower, August 20, and Eisenhower to Brereton, August 22, 1944, EP, No. 1906.

  21. Eisenhower to Marshall, September 2, 1944, EP, No. 1930.

  22. Eisenhower to Arnold, September 3, 1944, EP, No. 1931.

  23. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, p. 308; Pogue, Supreme Command, pp. 272–74; Eisenhower to Marshall, September 25, 1944, EP, No. 1994.

  24. Pogue, Supreme Command, p. 277.

  25. This account of command structure in Europe is heavily based on Pogue’s Chapter XV, “Command Reorganization, June-October 1944,” Supreme Command, pp. 261–78.

  CHAPTER 12

  1. Montgomery, Memoirs, p. 240.

  2. Pogue, Supreme Command, pp. 249–50.

  3. Montgomery, Memoirs, p. 240; Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, p. 398.

  4. Montgomery, Memoirs, pp. 241–42; Eisenhower to Montgomery, August 24, 1944, EP, No. 1909.

  5. Ellis, Victory in the West, p. 461.

  6. Bryant, Triumph in the West, pp. 195–96.

  7. Eisenhower to Marshall, August 24, 1944, EP, No. 1910.

  8. Eisenhower to commanders, August 29, 1944, EP, No. 1920.

  9. Italics mine. Eisenhower sent Bradley a copy of his August 24 letter to Montgomery.

  10. Ellis, Victory in the West, p. 464.

  11. George S. Patton, Jr., War as I Knew It (Boston, 1947), p. 120; Wilmot, Struggle for Europe, p. 469.

  12. Eisenhower Office Diary, September 2, 1944.

  13. Pogue, Supreme Command, p. 253.

  14. Eisenhower to Marshall, September 4, 1944, EP, No. 1934.

  15. Directive of September 4, 1944, EP, No. 1933.

  16. Blumenson, Breakout and Pursuit, pp. 688–701.

  17. Marshall to Eisenhower, W-29970, September 13, 1944, Lutes Papers.

  18. Eisenhower to Montgomery, September 5, 1944, EP, No. 1935.

  19. Ellis, Victory in the West, p. 463.

  20. Interview with Sir Ian Jacob, May 8, 1968.

  21. Memorandum, December 6, 1943, EP, No. 1408.

  22. Blumenson, Breakout and Pursuit, pp. 696–701.

  23. Montgomery, Memoirs, pp. 243–46.

  24. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, pp. 305–6.

  25. Wilmot, Struggle for Europe, pp. 488–89.

  26. Tedder, With Prejudice, pp. 590–91.

  27. Summersby, Eisenhower Was My Boss, p. 170.

  28. Montgomery, Memoirs, pp. 246–47; Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, pp. 306–7.

  29. Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, p. 416.

  30. Pogue, Supreme Command, pp. 281–82.

  31. Tedder, With Prejudice, pp. 590–91.

  32. Montgomery, Memoirs, pp. 247–48.

  33. Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, pp. 416–18.

  34. Montgomery, Memoirs, p. 259.

  35. Tedder, With Prejudice, p. 591.

  36. Pogue, Supreme Command, pp. 283–84. The logistical movement is discussed in detail in Charles B. MacDonald, The Siegfried Line Campaign, in Conn (ed.), U. S. Army in World War II (Washington, 1963), pp. 199–239.

  37. Eisenhower to Bradley and others, September 13, 1944, EP, No. 1946.

  38. Tedder, With Prejudice, p. 596.

  39. Eisenhower to Marshall, September 14, 1944, EP, No. 1953.

  40. Eisenhower to Montgomery, September 16, 1944, EP, No. 1962.

  41. Eisenhower to Lee, September 17, 1944, EP, No. 1963.

  42. Eisenhower to Montgomery, September 15, 1944, EP, No. 1957.

  43. Montgomery, Memoirs, pp. 250–51.

  44. Eisenhower to Marshall, September 18, 1944, EP, No. 1968.

  45. Eisenhower to Montgomery, September 20, 1944, EP, No. 1975.

  46. Wilmot, Struggle for Europe, p. 536.

  47. Montgomery, Memoirs, pp. 250–51.

  48. Eisenhower to Marshall, September 21, 1944, EP, No. 1978.

  49. Wilmot, Struggle for Europe, pp. 533–34.

  50. Eisenhower to Montgomery, September 22, 1944, EP, No. 1979.

  51. Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, pp. 422–23; Pogue, Supreme Command, pp. 293–94; Wilmot, Struggle for Europe, pp. 533–34; Patton, War as I Knew It, p. 120.

  52. The best account is MacDonald, Siegfried Line Campaign, pp. 119–206.

  53. Eisenhower to Bradley and Montgomery, October 8, 1944, EP, No. 2028.

  54. Eisenhower to Montgomery, October 9, 1944, EP, No. 2031.

  55. Pogue, Supreme Command, p. 296.

  56. Eisenhower to Montgomery, October 10, 1944, EP, No. 2032.

  57. Interview with Sir Frederick Morgan, July 17, 1965.

  58. MacDonald., Siegfried Line Campaign, p. 220.

  59. Pogue, Supreme Command, pp. 299–301.

  60. Bryant, Triumph in the West, p. 219.

  61. Wilmot, Struggle for Europe, p. 670.

  62. Pogue, Supreme Command, p. 289.

  CHAPTER 13

  1. Montgomery, Memoirs, p. 257.

  2. Bryant, Triumph in the West, p. 213.

  3. De Guingand, Operation Victory, pp. 329–30.

  4. Pogue, Supreme Command, p. 259.

  5. Ibid., p. 260.

  6. Eisenhower to CCS, September 5, 1944, EP, No. 1937.

  7. Pogue, Supreme Command, p. 260.

  8. Ehrman, Grand Strategy, p. 380.

  9. Pogue, Supreme Command, pp. 289–90.

  10. Eisenhower to Montgomery, October 13, 1944, EP, No. 2038.

  11. Pogue, Supreme Command, p. 298.

  CHAPTER 14

  1. Eisenhower to Marshall, November 11, 1944, EP, No. 2114.

  2. Eisenhower to Bradley, Lee, and others, November 6, 1944, EP, No. 2106.

  3. Eisenhower to CCS, December 3, 1944, EP, No. 2148.

  4. Eisenhower to Handy, December 3, 1944, EP, No. 2150.

  5. Eisenhower to Marshall, November 27, 1944, EP, No. 2143.
>
  6. Eisenhower to Surles, October 6, 1944, EP, No. 2027, and EP for October and November generally.

  7. Eisenhower to Marshall, December 3, 1944, EP, No. 2149.

  8. Eisenhower to Aksel Nielsen, October 20, 1944, EP, No. 2051.

  9. Pogue, Supreme Command, pp. 305–6.

  10. Ibid., p. 306.

  11. Eisenhower to Marshall, October 20, 1944, EP, No. 2049.

  12. Same to same, November 27, 1944, EP, No. 2142.

  13. Robert R. Palmer, Bell I. Wiley, and William R. Keast, The Procurement and Training of Ground Combat Troops, in Greenfield (ed.), U. S. Army in World War II, (Washington, 1948), pp. 165–240.

  14. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, p. 323.

  15. Eisenhower to Early, December 26, 1944, EP, No. 2203.

  16. Tedder, With Prejudice, pp. 605–15; Eisenhower to Marshall, October 23, 1944, EP, No. 2063; Pogue, Supreme Command, pp. 307–9.

  17. Marshall to Eisenhower, November 16, 1944, EP, No. 2136, n. 1.

  18. Eisenhower to Marshall, November 22, 1944, EP, No. 2136.

  19. Eisenhower to CCS, November 20, 1944, EP, No. 2131.

  20. Same to same, November 20, 1944, and Eisenhower to Churchill, November 26, 1944, EP, Nos. 2131 and 2140.

  21. Eisenhower to Marshall, November 27, 1944, EP, No. 2142.

  22. Eisenhower’s directive of October 28, 1944, EP, No. 2074.

  23. Eisenhower to Marshall, November 11, 1944, EP, No. 2114.

  24. Bryant, Triumph in the West, p. 252.

  25. Ibid., p. 255.

  26. Ibid., p. 259.

  27. Ibid., p. 254.

  28. Ibid., p. 256.

  29. Ibid., pp. 258–60.

  30. Eisenhower to Montgomery, December 1, 1944, EP, No. 2145.

  31. Same to same, December 2, 1944, EP, No. 2146.

  32. Eisenhower to Marshall, December 5, 1944, EP, No. 2154.

  33. Tedder, With Prejudice, pp. 620–23; Montgomery, Memoirs, pp. 270–74; Pogue, Supreme Command, pp. 316–17; Bryant, Triumph in the West, pp. 264–65.

  34. Bryant, Triumph in the West, p. 266.

  35. Eisenhower to Marshall, December 13, 1944, EP, No. 2163.

  36. Pogue, Supreme Command, pp. 317–18.

  37. Wilmot, Struggle for Europe, pp. 573–74.

  38. Eisenhower to Montgomery, December 16, 1944, EP, No. 2173.

  CHAPTER 15

  1. Pogue, Supreme Command, p. 373.

  2. Ibid., p. 365.

  3. Ibid., p. 361.

  4. Ibid., p. 365.

  5. Memo of December 23, 1944, EP, No. 2198.

  6. Pogue, Supreme Command, p. 374.

  7. Eisenhower to Somervell, December 17, 1944, EP, No. 2177.

  8. Memo of December 23, 1944, EP, No. 2198; Pogue, Supreme Command, p. 374.

  9. Eisenhower to Bradley and Devers, December 18, 1944, EP, No. 2178; Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, p. 469–70.

  10. Pogue, Supreme Command, pp. 375–77.

  11. Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, p. 470; Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, p. 350.

  12. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, pp. 348–49.

  13. Eisenhower to CCS, December 19, 1944, EP, No. 2180; Eisenhower to army group commanders, December 20, 1944, EP, No. 2187; Pogue, Supreme Command, pp. 376–77.

  14. Eisenhower, At Ease, p. 292.

  15. Ulysses Lee, The Employment of Negro Troops, in Conn (ed.), U. S. Army in World War 11 (Washington, 1966–) pp. 688–98.

  16. Eisenhower to Handy, December 19, 1944, EP, No. 2182.

  17. Ruppenthal, Logistical Support of the Armies, Vol. II, pp. 323–25.

  18. Eisenhower to Churchill, December 23, 1944, EP, No. 2196.

  19. James Robb’s notes of meeting, December 27, 1944, EM.

  20. Eisenhower to Bradley and Lee, December 19, 1944, EP, No. 2183.

  21. Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, pp. 475–76.

  22. Butcher, My Three Years, pp. 727–28.

  23. Ibid., p. 728; Summersby, Eisenhower Was My Boss, p. 205.

  24. Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, pp. 468–69.

  25. Butcher, My Three Years, p. 728.

  26. Eisenhower to Montgomery, December 20, 1944, EP, No. 2184.

  27. Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, p. 476.

  28. Robb’s notes on December 20, 1944 meeting, EM.

  29. Bryant, Triumph in the West, p. 272.

  30. Ibid., p. 273.

  31. Eisenhower to CCS, December 20, 1944, EP, No. 2186.

  32. Pogue, Supreme Command, pp. 379–80.

  33. Eisenhower to Marshall, December 21, 1944, EP, No. 2191. Bradley did not get the promotion because Congress had adjourned.

  34. Eisenhower to Simpson, December 22, 1944, EP, No. 2193.

  35. Pogue, Supreme Command, p. 381; Eisenhower to Montgomery, December 22, 1944, EP, No. 2194.

  36. Order of the Day, December 22, 1944, EP, No. 2194; Robb’s notes on December 21, 1944 meeting, EM.

  37. Eisenhower to Marshall, December 23, 1944, EP, No. 2200.

  38. Hugh M. Cole, The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge, in Conn (ed.), U. S. Army in World War II (Washington, 1965), p. 422.

  39. Cole, The Ardennes, Ch. XIX.

  40. Tedder, With Prejudice, p. 629.

  41. Robb’s notes on December 21, 1944 meeting, EM.

  42. Eisenhower’s memo of December 23, 1944, EP, No. 2198.

  43. Bryant, Triumph in the West, p. 278.

  44. Robb’s notes on December 26, 1944 meeting, EM; Pogue, Supreme Command, pp. 382–83.

  45. Robb’s notes on December 26, 1944 meeting, EM.

  46. Wilmot, Struggle for Europe, p. 614.

  47. Bryant, Triumph in the West, p. 274.

  48. Robb’s notes on December 27, 1944 meeting, EM; Tedder, With Prejudice, p. 629.

  CHAPTER 16

  1. Forrest C. Pogue, “Political Problems of a Coalition Command,” in Harry L. Coles (ed.), Total War and Cold War (Columbus, Ohio, 1962), p. 108.

  2. Eisenhower to Montgomery, December 29, 1944, EP, No. 2206; Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, pp. 360–61; Montgomery, Memoirs, p. 284.

  3. Tedder, With Prejudice, p. 631.

  4. Ibid.

  5. Tedder, With Prejudice, pp. 632–33.

  6. Montgomery, Memoirs, pp. 284–85.

  7. Pogue, Supreme Command, p. 386.

  8. Eisenhower to Bradley and Montgomery, December 31, 1944, EP, No. 2211.

  9. Eisenhower to Montgomery, December 31, 1944, EP, No. 2210.

  10. De Guingand, Operation Victory, p. 348.

  11. Montgomery, Memoirs, p. 286.

  12. Ibid., p. 289.

  13. The section that follows is based on Eisenhower’s cable to Marshall of January 6, 1945, EP, No. 2224.

  14. Eisenhower to Devers for Le Clerc and de Tassigny, December 20, 1944, EP, No. 2185.

  15. Robb’s notes on meetings, January 1 and January 3, 1945, EM.

  16. The War Memoirs of Charles de Gaulle, Vol. III, Salvation, p. 166.

  17. Eisenhower to De Gaulle, January 2, 1945, EP, No. 2216.

  18. De Gaulle, Salvation, pp. 169–70.

  19. Robb’s notes on meeting of January 3, 1945, EM.

  20. Pogue, Supreme Command, pp. 400–1.

  21. Eisenhower to Marshall, January 6, 1945, EP, No. 2224; Eisenhower to De Gaulle, January 5, 1945, EP, No. 2221; De Gaulle, Salvation, pp. 169–70; Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, pp. 362–63.

  22. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, p. 356.

  23. Pogue, Supreme Command, pp. 387–88; Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, pp. 484–85.

  24. Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, pp. 486–88.

  25. Eisenhower to Marshall, January 10, 1945, EP, No. 2232.

  26. Same to same, January 10, 1945, EP, No. 2233.

  27. Same to same, January 12, 1945, EP, No. 2235.

  28. Pogue, Supreme Command, p. 395.

  29. Maurice Matloff, “90 Division Gamble,” in Greenfield (ed.), Command Decisions.

  30. Interview with Sir Ian Jacob, June 27, 1968. />
  31. Pogue, Supreme Command, p. 389.

  32. Bryant, Triumph in the West, pp. 282–83.

  33. Pogue, “Political Problems of a Coalition Command,” p. 124.

  34. Bryant, Triumph in the West, pp. 277–81.

  35. Ibid., p. 294.

  36. Eisenhower’s notes on conference with Marshall, January 28, 1945, EP, No. 2264.

  37. Eisenhower to Smith, January 31, 1945, EP, No. 2268.

  38. Summersby, Eisenhower Was My Boss, pp. 218–19; interview with Sir Ian Jacob, June 27, 1968.

  39. Bryant, Triumph in the West, p. 305.

  40. Tedder, With Prejudice, p. 663.

  41. Eisenhower to Brooke, February 16, 1945, EP, No. 2284.

  42. Eisenhower to Churchill, February 25, 1945, EP, No. 2294.

  43. Pogue, Supreme Command, p. 391.

  44. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, p. 286.

  45. Eisenhower to Marshall, February 20, 1945, EP, No. 2292.

  CHAPTER 17

  1. Eisenhower to Milton Eisenhower, January 3, 1939, quoted in introduction to EP.

  2. Pogue, Supreme Command, p. 534.

  3. Much of this chapter—indeed a large part of this book—is based on information given by Joseph P. Hobbs, the assistant editor of the Eisenhower Papers. For three years Hobbs has been working on a study of Smith’s wartime career, and during all of that time he has generously shared with me his great knowledge of Smith’s activities. This book certainly could not have been written without Hobbs’s help; I hope the introduction has adequately indicated how deep my debt is to him.

  4. Eisenhower to Nevins, January 14, 1945, EP, No. 2241.

  5. Eisenhower to Smith, September 30, 1944, EP, No. 2012.

  6. Same to same, December 15, 1944, EP, No. 2171.

  7. Same to same, September 30, 1944, EP, No. 2014.

  8. Same to same, September 30, 1944, EP, No. 2013.

  9. Eisenhower to Handy, December 14, 1944, EP, No. 2169.

  10. Eisenhower to Somervell, November 5, 1944, EP, No. 2100.

  11. Eisenhower to Bradley and others, October 25, 1944, EP, No. 2068.

  12. Eisenhower to Marshall, January 19, 1945, EP, No. 2251.

  13. Same to same, January 14, 1945, EP, No. 2238.

  14. Memo, February 1, 1945, EP, No. 2271.

  15. Eisenhower memo, December 26, 1944, EM.

  16. Eisenhower to Smith, October 30, 1944, EP, No. 2083; Marshall discussed the problem with Eisenhower at Marseilles in late January 1945; Eisenhower to Lear, January 30, 1945, EP, No. 2266.