Sublime

But to his own commanders—Montgomery, Bradley, Ramsay, and Leigh-Mallory—he issued an explicit order to preserve historic shrines whenever possible. Military necessity would inevitably require that some sites be destroyed. “But there are many circumstances in which damage and destruction are not necessary and cannot be justified. In such cases, thr

Clark kept Ike up until 3 a.m. arguing that victory was possible. When Clark finally ran out of steam, Eisenhower told him to forget it. “I know just how you feel, militarily,” said Ike, “but I have a mandate from the people to stop this fighting. That’s my decision.”21

In postwar interviews, as well as in their memoirs, Eisenhower, Clark, and Bedell Smith planted the idea that much of Fifth Army’s problem at Salerno was attributable to Montgomery’s failure to move up from Messina more rapidly.31 It is another illustration of Ike’s ability to reshape the record.

Three weeks later he was promoted to lieutenant general, leapfrogging sixty-six major generals (including George Patton and Jacob Devers) who were considerably senior.

Lieutenant General Walter Krueger, Eisenhower’s new commander, was an amalgam of Fox Conner and Kenyon Joyce—a military intellectual who relished leading troops in the field. Universally regarded as “a soldier’s soldier,” Krueger was a combat infantryman at heart. He was also widely respected as one of the Army’s best educated and most perceptive o

But when the prime minister suggested that the Allies destroy specific German cities in a tit-for-tat reprisal, Eisenhower refused.32 A week later, when the British chiefs of staff proposed using poison gas against the launch sites, Ike blew his stack. “Let’s for God’s sake, keep our eye on the ball and use some sense,” he told Air Chief Marshal Si

When generals in Europe were disappointed in decisions made at SHAEF, they usually blamed Bedell rather than Ike. So, too, in Washington. Politicians of both parties focused their ire on Sherman Adams when their requests were denied by the White House.

A one-man obstacle course, the colonel was opposed to any kind of change except in his rank.