The Supreme Commander

  AEF Allied Expeditionary Force

  AFHQ Allied Force Headquarters

  AKA Cargo ship, attack

  ANVIL Invasion of south of France, 1944

  ARCADIA Chiefs of Staff meeting, Washington, 1941

  AVALANCHE Invasion of Italy at Salerno, 1943

  BCOS British Chiefs of Staff

  BOLERO Build-up of U.S. forces in U.K., 1942

  BUTTRESS Planned operations against Italian toe, 1943

  CCS Combined Chiefs of Staff

  CIGS Chief of the Imperial General Staff

  COBRA U. S. First Army breakout in Normandy, 1944

  COM Z Communications Zone

  CORKSCREW Invasion of Pantelleria, 1943

  COSSAC Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander (Designate) and his staff

  CROSSBOW Operations against German rockets and pilotless aircraft, 1944

  DRAGOON Invasion of south of France, 1944

  DUKW Amphibious truck (duck)

  EAC European Advisory Commission

  ECLIPSE Posthostility plans for Germany, 1944–45

  EM Eisenhower Manuscripts

  EP The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower

  ETO European Theater of Operations

  ETOUSA European Theater of Operations, United States Army

  FCNL French Committee of National Liberation

  FORTITUDE Cover and deception plan for OVERLORD, 1944

  G-l Personnel section of divisional or higher staff

  G-2 Intelligence section

  G-3 Operations and training section

  G-4 Logistics section

  G-5 Civil affairs section

  GIANT II Plan to drop 82d Airborne Division near Rome, 1943

  GOODWOOD Offensive across the Orne River south of Caen, by 21st Army Group, 1944

  GRENADE Ninth Army supporting attack for VERITABLE, 1945

  GYMNAST Proposed invasion of French North Africa, 1942

  HUSKY Invasion of Sicily, 1943

  JCS Joint Chiefs of Staff

  KINGPIN Code name for Henri Giraud

  LCA Landing craft, assault

  LCI Landing craft, infantry

  LCI (L) Landing craft, infantry (large)

  LCT Landing craft, tank

  LSD Landing ship, dock

  LSI Landing ship, infantry

  LST Landing ship, tank

  LUMBERJACK Offensive to close the Rhine north of the Moselle, 1945

  MARKET-GARDEN Airborne operation in Nijmegen-Arnhem area, with a ground operation to open a corridor from Eindhoven northward

  MTO Mediterranean Theater of Operations

  MULBERRY Artificial harbor off Normandy

  NATO North African Theater of Operations

  NEI Netherlands East Indies

  OPD Operations Division, War Department General Staff

  OVERLORD Invasion of France at Normandy, 1944

  PLUNDER 21st Army Group crossing of the Rhine, 1945

  POINTBLANK Combined strategic bombing assault on Germany

  QUADRANT CCS meeting, Quebec, 1943

  ROUNDUP Proposed 1943 invasion of France

  SCAEF Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force

  SGS Secretary General Staff

  SHAEF Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force

  SHINGLE Invasion of Italy at Anzio, 1944

  SITREPS Situation reports

  SLEDGEHAMMER Proposed suicide invasion of France, 1942

  SOS Services of Supply

  TIDALWAVE Air attack at oil refineries at Ploesti, Rumania, 1943

  TRIDENT CCS meeting, Washington, 1943

  TORCH Invasion of North Africa, 1942

  UNDERTONE 6th Army Group offensive to breach West Wall and cross the Rhine, 1945

  V-l Flying bombs; pilotless aircraft

  V-2 Supersonic rocket

  VERITABLE Canadian First Army attack between the Maas and the Rhine, 1945

  WPD War Plans Division, War Department General Staff

  Notes

  BOOK ONE

  PART 1

  1. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe (New York, 1948), pp. 14–15; Forrest C. Pogue, George C. Marshall, 2 vols. (New York, 1963–66), Vol. II, Ordeal and Hope 1939–1942, p. 238.

  2. Pogue, Ordeal and Hope, p. 237.

  3. Ibid., pp. 238–39; Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, pp. 16–18.

  4. “Steps to Be Taken,” in Alfred P. Chandler (ed.), The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower (5 vols., Baltimore, 1970), No. 1, hereinafter cited as EP. See also Louis Morton, Strategy and Command: The First Two Years, in Kent Roberts Greenfield (ed.), The United States Army in World War II (Washington, 1962), pp. 90–91, and Maurice Matloff and Edwin M. Snell, Strategic Planning for Coalition Warfare, 1941–1942, in Greenfield (ed.), U. S. Army in World War II (Washington, 1953), pp. 87–88. On Eisenhower’s typing the document himself, my source is an interview with Eisenhower on October 11, 1967.

  5. Pogue, Ordeal and Hope, p. 239; Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, pp. 21–22; interview with Eisenhower, October 11, 1967.

  CHAPTER 1

  1. Dwight D. Eisenhower, At Ease, Stories I Tell to Friends (New York, 1967), pp. 185–89, 195; interview with Eisenhower, October 11, 1967.

  2. MacArthur’s comments are in Eisenhower’s 201 file in the Pentagon; the best biography is Kenneth S. Davis, Soldier of Democracy: A Biography of Dwight Eisenhower (New York, 1945); see also Eisenhower, At Ease, pp. 1–233.

  3. There are many competent accounts of WPD. Especially good are Pogue, Ordeal and Hope, pp. 289–301, and Ray S. Cline, Washington Command Post: The Operations Division, in Greenfield (ed.), U. S. Army in World War II (Washington, 1951), pp. 90–106.

  4. Cline, Washington Command Post, p. 28.

  5. Eisenhower to Krueger, December 20, 1941, EP, No. 13.

  6. Interview with Eisenhower, December 14, 1964.

  7. See Eisenhower’s speech in Addresses Delivered at the Dedication Ceremonies of the George C. Marshall Research Library (Lexington, Virginia, 1964), pp. 14–15.

  8. Morton, Strategy and Command, pp. 148–53; Matloff and Snell, Strategic Planning, pp. 72–73, 82–84.

  9. Marshall to Brett, December 17, 1941, EP, No. 6. On War Department outgoing messages, the drafter’s initials appear in the top right-hand corner.

  10. Morton, Strategy and Command, pp. 152–53.

  11. Marshall to MacArthur, December 24, 1941, EP, No. 24 fn. 1. Morton, Strategy and Command, p. 153.

  12. Eisenhower to Marshall, September 25, 1944, EP, No. 1994.

  13. Marshall to MacArthur, February 8, 1942, EP, No. 120.

  14. Louis Morton, The Fall of the Philippines, in Greenfield (ed.), U. S. Army in World War II (Washington, 1953), pp. 240–42; Matloff and Snell, Strategic Planning, pp. 114–19; Pogue, Ordeal and Hope, p. 244.

  15. Eisenhower’s desk pad entry of January 17, 1942, EP, No. 66.

  16. Desk pad entry of January 30, 1942, EP, No. 97; Wesley Frank Craven and James Lea Cate (eds.), Plans and Early Operations, January 1939–August 1942, in The Army Air Forces in World War 11, Vol. I (Chicago, 1948) p. 375.

  17. Matloff and Snell, Strategic Planning, p. 108.

  18. Eisenhower desk pad entry of January 12, 1942, EP, No. 53.

  19. Matloff and Snell, Strategic Planning, pp. 137–38.

  20. Eisenhower desk pad entries of January 4 and January 24, 1942, EP, Nos. 36 and 79.

  21. Eisenhower desk pad entry of January 22, 1942, EP, No. 73.

  22. Ibid.

  23. Eisenhower to Edgar Eisenhower, March 30, 1942, EP, No. 216.

  24. Eisenhower desk pad entry of January 17, 1942, EP, No. 66; Marshall to Brett, January 17, 1942, EP, No. 67; Pogue, Ordeal and Hope, pp. 244–46.

  25. Pogue, Ordeal and Hope, p. 246.

  26. MacArthur to Marshall, #226 and #227, February 8, 1942, quoted in EP, No. 120, fn. 1.

  27. Pogue, Ordeal and Hope, p. 247.

  28. Roosevelt to MacArthur, #1029, February 9, 1942, EP, No. 122.


  29. MacArthur to Marshall, #252, February 11, 1942, quoted in EP, No. 123, fn. 2.

  30. Pogue, Ordeal and Hope, pp. 249–51; Morton, Strategy and Command, pp. 194–95.

  31. Eisenhower desk pad entry of March 31, 1942, EP, No. 219.

  CHAPTER 2

  1. Forrest C. Pogue, George C. Marshall, 2 vols. (New York, 1963–66), Vol. I, Education of a General, 1880–1939; Pogue, Ordeal and Hope, pp. 95–98.

  2. Interview with Eisenhower, December 14, 1964.

  3. Eisenhower, At Ease, pp. 248–50.

  4. Pogue, Ordeal and Hope, p. 338.

  5. On ARCADIA, see ibid., pp. 261–88, and Matloff and Snell, Strategic Planning, pp. 97–118.

  6. Matloff and Snell, Strategic Planning, pp. 99–102. The quotation is from Maurice Matloff, “The American Approach to War,” in Michael Howard, (ed.), The Theory and Practice of War (London, 1965), p. 234.

  7. Pogue, Ordeal and Hope, p. 288.

  8. Matloff and Snell, Strategic Planning, p. 101.

  9. Undated paper [December 25, 1941], “Methods of Cooperation between U. S. Air and Allied Forces in the Southwestern Pacific,” EP, No. 22.

  10. Quoted in EP, No. 23.

  11. EP, No. 24; see also Matloff and Snell, Strategic Planning, pp. 123–25.

  12. Pogue, Ordeal and Hope, pp. 277–79.

  13. Ibid., pp. 282–85; Matloff and Snell, Strategic Planning, pp. 125–26.

  14. The JCS operated on an informal basis, never receiving formal approval.

  15. Eisenhower desk pad entries of January 4 and 24, 1942, and February 28, 1942, EP, Nos. 36, 80, and 161. Eisenhower to Lutes, December 31, 1941, in Lutes Scrapbook; interview with Milton Eisenhower, March 13, 1965. Eisenhower was also involved in numerous conferences and meetings, as the Stimson diary entry of December 24, 1941, Yale University Library, indicates.

  16. Eisenhower’s notes of March 11, 1942, EP, No. 189.

  17. Eisenhower desk pad entry of February 6, 1942, EP, No. 119.

  18. The best account is Cline, Washington Command Post, pp. 90–141.

  19. Eisenhower desk pad entry of February 23, 1942, EP, No. 145.

  20. Eisenhower desk pad entry of January 27, 1942, EP, No. 89.

  21. Eisenhower’s undated paper is in EP, No. 160.

  22. EP, No. 162.

  23. Cline, Washington Command Post, pp. 147–49.

  CHAPTER 3

  1. Cline, Washington Command Post, p. 153.

  2. Ibid., p. 151.

  3. Ibid., pp. 149–50.

  4. Eisenhower’s desk pad entry of March 10, 1942, EP, No. 185, indicated that he agreed with Handy.

  5. “Critical Points in the Development of Coordinated Viewpoint as to Major Tasks of the War,” March 25, 1942, EP, No. 207.

  6. Pogue, Ordeal and Hope, pp. 305–6; Cline, Washington Command Post, p. 155.

  7. See Gordon A. Harrison, Cross-channel attack, in Greenfield, ed., U. S. Army in World War II, (Washington, 1951), pp. 12–19.

  8. Pogue, Ordeal and Hope, pp. 306–20; Cline, Washington Command Post, pp. 156–60.

  9. Cline, Washington Command Post, p. 160.

  10. Eisenhower desk pad entry of April 20, 1942, EP, No. 254.

  11. Memo for Record, April 20, 1942, EP, No. 255.

  12. Marshall to Roosevelt, May 4, 1942, EP, No. 276.

  13. See ibid., espc. fn. 1.

  14. Eisenhower desk pad entries of May 5 and 6, 1942, EP, Nos. 278 and 280.

  15. See EP, No. 292, fn. 2.

  16. “Notes on Bolero organization charts attached hereto,” May 11, 1942, EP, No. 292.

  17. Eisenhower desk pad entry of May 21, 1942, EP, No. 314.

  18. Eisenhower kept a diary of his BOLERO trip; see EP, No. 318. See also Kay Summersby, Eisenhower Was My Boss (New York, 1948), pp. 5–9.

  19. Mark W. Clark, Calculated Risk (New York, 1950), p. 19; Eisenhower’s diary, EP, No. 318.

  20. Sir Arthur Bryant, The Turn of the Tide: Study Based on the Diaries and Autobiographical Notes of Field Marshal the Viscount Alanbrooke (London, 1957), p. 285.

  21. Eisenhower desk pad entry of June 4, 1942, EP, No. 320.

  22. “Command Arrangements for Bolero,” June 3, 1942, EP, No. 319.

  23. “Command in England,” June 6, 1942, EP, No. 325.

  24. “Establishment of Western Theater of Operations,” May 12, 1942, EP, No. 293; Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, p. 50.

  25. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, p. 50.

  26. Pogue, Ordeal and Hope, pp. 338–39.

  27. Eisenhower desk pad entry of June 8, 1942, EP, No. 328.

  28. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, p. 51.

  29. Pogue, Ordeal and Hope, pp. 330–35.

  30. Eisenhower kept the minutes of the meeting; see EP, No. 344.

  31. Winston S. Churchill, The Second World War, 6 vols. (Boston, 1948–53), Vol. IV, The Hinge of Fate, p. 383.

  32. Eisenhower to Akin, June 19, 1942, EP, No. 341.

  CHAPTER 4

  1. Summersby, Eisenhower Was My Boss, p. 24.

  2. Captain Harry C. Butcher, My Three Years with Eisenhower (New York, 1946), p. 7.

  3. Eisenhower to Marshall, June 26, 1942, EP, No. 353.

  4. Interview with Eisenhower, October 11, 1967; Butcher, My Three Years, p. 7.

  5. Interview with Eisenhower, October 11, 1967.

  6. Butcher, My Three Years, pp. 25–26.

  7. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, pp. 55–56.

  8. Eisenhower to Somervell, July 27, 1942, EP, No. 398.

  9. Same to same, June 26, 1942, EP, No. 355.

  10. Same to same, July 27, 1942, EP, No. 398.

  11. Butcher, My Three Years, pp. 35–36; Eisenhower to Handy, July 16, 1942, EP, No. 378.

  12. John Gunther, Eisenhower, the Man and the Symbol (New York, 1951), p. 75.

  13. Summersby, Eisenhower Was My Boss, pp. 25–26.

  14. Ibid., p. 28.

  15. Eisenhower to Russell Hartle and others, July 19, 1942, EP, No. 382.

  16. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, pp. 58–59; Eisenhower to Hartle and others, July 19, 1942, No. 382. Eisenhower often put into his personal letters to members of his family or old friends a paragraph or two on the need for discipline.

  17. Eisenhower to Prichard, August 27, 1942, EP, No. 457.

  18. Life, July 27, 1942.

  19. Butcher, My Three Years, p. 23.

  CHAPTER 5

  1. Eisenhower to Marshall, June 30, 1942, EP, No. 358.

  2. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, p. 67.

  3. Churchill, The Hinge of Fate, p. 433.

  4. Ibid., pp. 345–46.

  5. Ibid., pp. 381–82.

  6. Ibid., pp. 344–45.

  7. Eisenhower to Marshall, July 11, 1942, EP, No. 370.

  8. Matloff and Snell, Strategic Planning, p. 276.

  9. Marshall to Eisenhower, #2135, July 13, EP, No. 371, fn. 1.

  10. Richard M. Leighton and Robert W. Coakley, Global Logistics and Strategy, 1940–43, in Greenfield, (ed.), U. S. Army in World War II, (Washington, 1955), pp. 385–86.

  11. Pogue, Ordeal and Hope, pp. 342–43.

  12. Eisenhower reported making this statement in a cable to Marshall, July 14, 1942, EP, No. 371.

  13. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, pp. 70–71.

  14. See Harry Hopkins’ remarks, quoted by J. M. A. Gwyer, Grand Strategy, in J. R. M. Butler (ed.), History of the Second World War, (London, 1964), Vol. III, Pt. 1, pp. 125–26.

  15. Sir Ian Jacob, “A Year Late?” The Economist, September 28, 1946.

  16. Bryant, Turn of the Tide, p. 341.

  17. Churchill, The Hinge of Fate, p. 439.

  18. Ibid., pp. 434–38.

  19. EP, No. 379.

  20. Ibid., No. 381.

  21. Eisenhower memo for record, July 21, 1942, EP, No. 386.

  22. Eisenhower note of July 20, 1942, EP, No. 384.

  23. Eisenhower to Somervell, July 27, 1942, EP, No. 398.

  24. Eisenhower note of July 2
2, 1942, EP, No. 387.

  25. Matloff and Snell, Strategy Planning, pp. 276–78; Leighton and Coakley, Global Logistics and Strategy, p. 387.

  26. Robert E. Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins: An Intimate History (New York, 1948), p. 610.

  27. Butcher, My Three Years, pp. 29–30.

  28. Eisenhower memo for Marshall, July 23, 1942, EP, No. 389.

  29. Pogue, Ordeal and Hope, p. 347; Matloff and Snell, Strategic Planning, pp. 272–81; George F. Howe, Northwest Africa: Seizing the Initiative in the West, in Greenfield (ed.), U. S. Army in World War II (Washington, 1957), pp. 7–10.

  30. Butcher, My Three Years, p. 23.

  CHAPTER 6

  1. Eisenhower, At Ease, p. 252.

  2. Pogue, Ordeal and Hope, p. 348; E. Dwight Salmon, et al, History of AFHQ, lithograph copy in author’s possession, p. 2; Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, p. 71; interview with Eisenhower, December 7, 1965.

  3. Salmon, History of AFHQ, p. 6.

  4. Ibid., p. 8.

  5. Ibid., p. 17.

  6. Interview with Eisenhower, October 11, 1967.

  7. Hastings L. Ismay, The Memoirs of General Lord Ismay (New York, 1960), pp. 258–59, 263.

  8. Butcher, My Three Years, p. 49.

  9. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, pp. 54–55; interview with Eisenhower, October 11, 1967; interview with Sir Frederick Morgan, July 17, 1965; interview with Sir Ian Jacob, July 21, 1965.

  10. Interview with Dr. Forrest Pogue, September 11, 1967.

  11. Eisenhower to Gailey, September 19, 1942, EP, No. 510; interview with Eisenhower, October 11, 1967.

  12. Quoted in Salmon, History of AFHQ, p. 13.

  13. Howe, Northwest Africa, p. 16.

  14. Eisenhower to Ismay, October 10, 1942, EP, No. 541.

  15. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, p. 82; the best biography is Ladislas Farago, Patton: Ordeal and Triumph (New York, 1964).

  16. Interview with Eisenhower, October 11, 1967; see Eisenhower’s tribute to Cunningham in Crusade in Europe, p. 89.

  17. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, p. 77.

  18. Butcher, My Three Years, p. 47.

  19. This discussion is based on Leo J. Meyer, “The Decision to Invade North Africa (TORCH),” in Kent Roberts Greenfield (ed.), Command Decisions (Washington, 1960), pp. 188–89.