Supreme commander of the allied forces full#

and Allied forces and personalities, including Air Chief Marshal Arthur Tedder, Adm. There he gained greater knowledge of U.S. Army forces in the European Theater of Operations, but almost immediately he moved to the Mediterranean to conduct offensives in North Africa and Sicily during 1942–43. In June 1942 Eisenhower was appointed to command U.S. Meanwhile, Eisenhower represented the United States during British planning for bringing American forces in the United Kingdom. The foundation was being laid for Eisenhower’s eventual appointment as supreme commander for the invasion of France. Within a few months Eisenhower pinned on his second star and was addressing joint operations with the navy and other Allied forces. In the War Plans Division, Eisenhower renewed his acquaintance with Marshall, then chief of staff, reporting to him on plans and operations. By year end he was a brigadier general- exceptional progress, considering that he had been a major for sixteen years.

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He was promoted to full colonel in March 1941, and as chief of staff of the Third Army he enhanced his reputation during extensive maneuvers involving nearly half a million troops in Louisiana. In 1940–41 Eisenhower commanded a battalion of the Third Infantry Division and served as division and corps staff officer. Such praise from the megalomaniacal army chief of staff was almost unprecedented. MacArthur said of Lieutenant Colonel Eisenhower, ‘‘This is the best officer in the army’’ and predicted great things for him. Interwar assignments included duty in the Panama Canal Zone and France before joining MacArthur’s staff in Washington and the Philippines, where the former tanker and infantryman learned to fly. His supporters and contemporaries included leaders such as Douglas MacArthur, George C.

‘‘Ike’’ was first in his Command and Staff School class, and he was an early selectee for the Army War College. However, his considerable administrative and political skills were soon noted, and he was promoted to major in 1920-a rank he held until 1936. During World War I Eisenhower was largely engaged in training units of the U.S. Lieutenant Eisenhower was assigned to San Antonio, Texas, where he met Mamie Doud, whom he married in 1916. It was called ‘‘the class the stars fell on’’ including Eisenhower and Omar Bradley, sixty-one of the class’s 164 second lieutenants achieved general-officer rank during their careers, an astonishing 37.2 percent ratio. Born in Texas and reared in Kansas, Eisenhower graduated sixty-fifth in the West Point class of 1915.