|
Post by Chuck T on Apr 25, 2011 18:21:13 GMT -5
Lou: Try and get a book by Eisenhower ----Stories I Tell My Friends. It tells more of the man than Crusade in Europe or his others. You will enjoy it.
|
|
|
Post by Herb on Apr 26, 2011 10:51:38 GMT -5
Lou, a visit to West Point, is something I think every member of this froum would enjoy. I'd point out a number of things to see, but if you have a son who is a cadet, you've no doubt already seen them. IF he can get you into the storage rooms (normally off limits, but to staff and cadets) of the museum, you'll have a field day. Besides my memories are very dated!!! I've studied Patton quite intensivily, and though he is a popular figure, I think he has gotten a pretty bad and undeserved rap. I attribute most of this due to the professional jealousy of Bradley, who like Libby out survived everybody, and colored much of the history (even the movie PATTON, was based on Bradley's A Soldier's Story). IF you ever read the controversial portions of Bradley's two books - written long after Patton's death, then read Patton's diary entries for the same day - a remarkably different version appears. I'm not saying Patton was blameless, the slapping incidents, and the Hamelburg raid, are blatant errors in judgment to say the least. While, it made a great Hollywood moment at the time, and the incident is fundamentally true, Patton was not relieved of his command for wanting a war with the Russians, but was relieved for pubically saying he was not going to "denazify" all the minor officials with winter coming on, and the general population facing starvation. This was of course the same policy being followed by most of the other Allied military governors - Patton just admitted it publically and on the record, something Eisenhower could not tolerate. Well, sidebar over!
|
|
|
Post by loucapitano on Apr 29, 2011 12:20:45 GMT -5
Herb, you're right about Patton. I don't have his dairy, but his book, "War as I Knew it" is a really good peek into his mind and soul. It's clear his talent was leadership in war, not politics. I don't know if he actually said it, but George C. Scott's statement near the end of the film went something like: A general should be killed by the last bullet fired in a war. I doubt if we'll ever see or need a warrior like him again.
|
|
|
Post by Allen Wiener on Apr 29, 2011 13:22:41 GMT -5
Let's hope not. The right man at the right time, but we don't need times like that.
|
|
|
Post by Chuck T on Apr 29, 2011 17:19:05 GMT -5
Lou: Supplement War As I Knew It with the Patton Papers edited by Blumenson. These are a must to understand him. War As I Knew It was posthumus. It was greatly influence by Harkins and Bea Patton herself. I suspect Codman also had a hand in it. So be careful. Another you should read is Lucky Forward. Can't remember who wrote it, (maybe Codman) but it is one you will enjoy.
The best book on Patton has yet to be written. I think we are still to close to his time.
|
|
|
Post by Herb on May 1, 2011 10:26:27 GMT -5
Let's hope not. The right man at the right time, but we don't need times like that. I'll take the opposite track, what we need is an Army that develops warrior leaders, rather than promoting self-serving politiicans. The definitive work on Patton, though dated remains Ladislas Farago's PATTON: Ordeal and Triumph. IIRC, it was written before declassifcation of the ULTRA, Enigma, and other WWII secrets. Martin Blumenson, probably researched Patton more than anyother author and wrote several volumes on or related to him. Blumenson editted the Patton Papers (Volume II deals with WWII) and it is far more thorough than War as I Knew It, Carlo de Este wrote a good biography, that includes the now unclassified info from WWII A Genius for War. The problem with books about Patton, is much like Custer and Crockett, there is a lot of garbage out there .... It's surprising, but other than Bradley's autobiographys, there are no really serious biographys solely about him.
|
|
|
Post by loucapitano on May 2, 2011 15:58:03 GMT -5
There are many other generals from WWII that could use some definitive biographies. I recently stumbled over a massive book titled "General of the Army - George C. Marshall Soldier and Statesman written by Ed Cray in 1990. With over a hundred pages of notes and bibliography, it could be the signature work about this greatly under appreciated leader. Are any of you guys familiar with it? Generals will always facinate us armchair historians. I like what JFK was purported to say about Air Force general Curtis LeMay. "If we have to go in, I want him in the first plane, but I never want him to decide whether we should go in." Few military leaders have been able to selflessly balance war and politics, but Marshall was just the right man at that time to do it.
|
|
|
Post by Allen Wiener on May 2, 2011 16:44:18 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by loucapitano on May 2, 2011 17:01:25 GMT -5
Thanks Allen - you always come through. This fits the bill just fine.
|
|