George Marshall (31 Dec. 1880 - 16 Oct. 1959)
Marshall was Army Chief of Staff when the war began. In this role he would oversee the largest military expansion in the history of the United States, modernising equipment, techniques and strategy. He never led troops into battle; however he was proficient at organisation.
Marshall was tasked with the duty of creating an army of eight million soldiers by 1942. In order to achieve this, the army itself was poorly trained in the modern combat techniques being taught in Europe at the time. This meant that when American forces arrived in Europe, they were not trained in the correct procedures used.
One of the largest issues that Marshall had to overcome was the replacement system, by which new recruits would replace casualties individually. This created the obvious problems of not having well-trained units or veteran soldiers fighting on the front line. As well as this, there was poor morale among the new units – some of whom could not even operate their own rifles. AWOLs, fatigue and self-inflicted wounds were common. Marshall received much criticism for this.
However, Marshall was heavily involved with the plans for the invasion of Europe. Initially, Marshall planned Operation Overlord for 1943, but was forced to delay by Churchill. It is an interesting point of alternate history as to whether the invasion would have cut the war short or whether it would have been a disaster. When the job of Supreme Commander of Overlord came up, Roosevelt did not choose Marshall because the president did not want Marshall out of the country.
He was named Man of the Year 1943 by Time magazine. He became a General of the Army in December 1944. For the rest of the war he organised the Allied operations in the European and Pacific theatres.
For more information on George Marshall:
Cray, Ed. General of the Army: George C. Marshall, Soldier and Statesman (New York: Cooper Square Press), 2000.
Frye, William. Marshall: Citizen Soldier. (Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill), 1947.
Marshall was tasked with the duty of creating an army of eight million soldiers by 1942. In order to achieve this, the army itself was poorly trained in the modern combat techniques being taught in Europe at the time. This meant that when American forces arrived in Europe, they were not trained in the correct procedures used.
One of the largest issues that Marshall had to overcome was the replacement system, by which new recruits would replace casualties individually. This created the obvious problems of not having well-trained units or veteran soldiers fighting on the front line. As well as this, there was poor morale among the new units – some of whom could not even operate their own rifles. AWOLs, fatigue and self-inflicted wounds were common. Marshall received much criticism for this.
However, Marshall was heavily involved with the plans for the invasion of Europe. Initially, Marshall planned Operation Overlord for 1943, but was forced to delay by Churchill. It is an interesting point of alternate history as to whether the invasion would have cut the war short or whether it would have been a disaster. When the job of Supreme Commander of Overlord came up, Roosevelt did not choose Marshall because the president did not want Marshall out of the country.
He was named Man of the Year 1943 by Time magazine. He became a General of the Army in December 1944. For the rest of the war he organised the Allied operations in the European and Pacific theatres.
For more information on George Marshall:
Cray, Ed. General of the Army: George C. Marshall, Soldier and Statesman (New York: Cooper Square Press), 2000.
Frye, William. Marshall: Citizen Soldier. (Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill), 1947.