Dwight D Eisenhower
World War II
In 1940, at the age of 50, Eisenhower obtained leave to return to troop duty in the US, and became a colonel and chief of staff of the 3rd Army. From then on, and especially following the entry of the US into World War II in December 1941, his rise within the armed forces was nothing short of meteoric.
In February 1942, he moved on to become assistant chief of the War Plans Division of the War Department general staff. Although back behind a desk, his ability to work 14 hours a day, seven days a week, impressed General George C Marshall, the army chief of staff (later famous for the post-war Marshall Plan), and within a month, he had made Eisenhower a major general and head of the Operations Division.
Eisenhower was then sent as liaison officer to London and, on 25 June 1942, was appointed commander of the US forces in the European theatre of operations and promoted to commanding general. The following month he travelled to London for strategy discussions with the British.
Assuming command
Having been carefully groomed by Marshall for the responsibility, on 8 November 1942 Eisenhower assumed command of the Allied forces mustered for Operation Torch, the amphibious invasion of French North Africa. His appointment was something of a surprise because he had not served in Europe during World War I – what was seen as a minimum qualification for such a post.
However, although without experience of high command, he was perceptive and able to absorb information easily, and rapidly learned to translate strategic theory into practical action. At the same time, he exhibited a rare genius for smoothly coordinating the activities of a staff made up of personnel from the different Allies – in the eyes of many, perhaps his most valuable contribution to the war effort.
Kay Summersby
One member of his multinational staff was the Anglo-Irish Kay Summersby, his driver and secretary. They worked closely together – proof of which can be found in Eisenhower’s recently discovered diaries from those years, which were mainly written by Summersby – and were quite close. Well after the war, rumours spread that they had, in fact, been lovers.
Ike Was My Boss, Summersby’s 1948 memoir of the war years, makes no mention of her ‘affair’ with Eisenhower, but her 1976 autobiography – Past Forgetting: My love affair with Dwight D Eisenhower – suggests that it was common knowledge in wartime London and Washington. Those close to Eisenhower, however, have maintained that any adulterous relationship – which, even by Summersby’s own account, did not include any sexual act beyond kissing – was strictly a fantasy on her part, and have also questioned the authenticity of the second autobiography, which was not published until after her death.
It is, however, acknowledged that Eisenhower’s wife Mamie was jealous of Summersby’s closeness to her husband, whether or not there was a sexual element to it.
Operation Overlord
As Allied commander-in-chief, Eisenhower oversaw the successful invasion of North Africa (November 1942), Sicily (July 1943) and Italy (September 1943). His successful conduct of these campaigns – plus the overwhelming American element in the forces earmarked for Operation Overlord – led to his selection, in December 1943, as supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, gearing up for the 1944 cross-Channel invasion of the continental mainland. He had a staff of more than 16,300 officers and enlisted men to help him.
On 6 June 1944, he launched the D-Day landings despite unnervingly capricious weather conditions. He first postponed them and then ordered them to proceed the next day despite seemingly terrible weather. He simply trusted his meteorologist, whose forecasts he had been monitoring for a month. The weather cleared and the landings were a success.
A campaign too far?
In September, Eisenhower followed his armies to the Continent to direct the final advance into Germany. The Allied frontline was then nearing the enemy’s western frontier and Eisenhower was called on to make the most important operational decision of his military career.
His strategic preference was to advance towards a crossing of the Rhine on a broad front. Instead, he decided to adopt the plan of one or other of his commanders: Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery and General George Patton. He could only choose one – the Germans’ hold on the ports and the Allies’ over-efficient bombing of the railways had reduced supplies to a trickle. It was Montgomery’s plan that got Eisenhower’s backing – Operation Market Garden, an airborne descent on the Rhine bridges, followed by a swift armoured dash to relieve the parachutists.
The campaign at Arnhem in the Netherlands – later filmed as A Bridge Too Far – was a disaster. Eisenhower – with his sincerity, concern for the common good and lack of personal ambition – never reproached Montgomery (or, for that matter, Patton for surging ahead beyond the Seine without permission). Indeed, despite the fact that both commanders were notoriously difficult to handle, his relationships with them were surprisingly warm.
‘The hearts of men’
Montgomery didn’t think much of Eisenhower (or anyone else) as a soldier, but he appreciated his other attributes. ‘His real strength lies in his human qualities,’ said the British field marshal. ‘He has the power of drawing the hearts of men towards him as a magnet attracts the bit of metal. He merely has to smile at you and you trust him at once.’
Historian Stephen Ambrose was struck by Eisenhower’s generosity of spirit: ‘Eisenhower never used the word "I". It was always "we", except one time when he wrote out the message that would be handed to the press in the event the [D-Day] landings failed. And there he used the personal vertical pronoun: "It’s my fault, I did it." Otherwise it was always "we".’
However, the failure at Arnhem did reveal that Eisenhower was not a general in the strict sense, but rather a chairman and conciliator – characteristics that would stand him in good stead during his post-war political career. Yet, in the opinion of some historians, his refusal to push on beyond the Elbe and occupy Berlin, and his acceptance of the hasty dismantling of the Anglo-American armies, resulted in the Soviet Union’s emergence as the leading military power in Europe.
