Partners in Command: George Marshall and Dwight Eisenhower in War and Peace

This book shows the strength of the Marshall/Eisenhower relationship, and in particular how that relationship contributed to success in WWII ETO. It also highlights their shared values. (Both individuals owed a lot to Fox Conner, one of the must under-appreciated people in US Military History.) A previous reviewer recommended "15 Stars" 15 Stars: Eisenhower, MacArthur, Marshall: Three Generals Who Saved the American Century over this book. I completely disagree. I disliked "15 Stars" is mostly anecdotes/gossip, that fails to show the impact of the relationships. "Partners in Command" succeeds for that very reason. One thing to keep in mind as you read either "Partners in Command" or "15 Stars" is to compare the Marshall/Ike relationship (including Marshall's interactions with Henry Stimpson and FDR) to our two most recent examples of senior leadership in the Gulf wars (Desert Storm and our current efforts...) Strongly recommended, one of the best books I've read in a long time (and I have several shelves of stuff on Ike and Marshall.) dave

This excellent, original work essentially explores the top command issues of American participation in the European phase of WWII. Concentrating on the relationship between Eisenhower and Marshall, all the major players get mentioned. There is some interesting coverage of the post war careers of the two men, but the emphasis is on the what they faced in executing the shared objective of defeating Germany as fast as possible. Considerable attention is paid to the differences of opinion between Alan Brooke, Chief of the Imperial General staff, and Marshall on how to execute the war against Germany. The British command up through Churchill, until after the Southern France landings, continued to insist the principal road to victory was to continue to punch around the Mediterranean. (The so-called "soft underbelly" of the axis.) An interesting part of the Normandy assault planning was Montgomery's role. In the text, the author relates Montgomery pushed for widening the original COSSAC plan from three to five divisions. In a footnote, he reveals that Montgomery was following orders from Eisenhower who met with him before Montgomery left for London. Walter B. Smith was present. Even Gordon Harrison's official U. S. Army history of the assault gives the credit to Montgomery. Overall themes of this volume are the critical component to success Marshall's fight to insure there must be unifed command and that both Eisenhower and Marshall were determined to make the concept of a joint Allied endeaver work. The latter principal came from the influence on both men of Fox Conner. While there is modest coverage of the prewar careers of Eisenhower and Marshall, the real focus is how the two men interacted and coped with all the difficulties of meshing different nationalities together and staying absolutely on course to meet and defeat Germany on the plains of Europe within a short timeframe. Although well-written, there are a few minor edit mistakes that indicate the volume could have used a more accomplished copy edit. The book is highly recommended to students of military history, those interested in WWII, professional soldiers, general readers attracted to examination of how to deal with the compexities of high command and leadership at the top, and it should be in the library of every university.

The minute I saw this book I knew I had to read it. Not only am I satisified with the additional perspective it has given me on Eisenhower and Marshall, I am stunned and appreciative at the expanded perspective it has provided on Americans and democracies at war. The author Mark Perry weighs in early introducing a third historical personsage, Fox Conner, who, characterized as a mentor of both Dwight Eisenhower and George Marshall, told them: "Never fight unless you have to, never fight alone, and never fight for long." In the latter half of the book Perry adds, Conner knew that Americans didn't like war and weren't good at it. The aphorisms were to teach Eisenhower and Marshall how to WIN a war, given the temperament of Americans. What a turnaround on traditional perspectives, and what a thought-provoking prescience, looking now at Vietnam and Iraq in recent history! The theme of the book is the long-term successful partnership of Eisenhower the "people-person diplomat soldier", and Marshall the "people-chooser and organizer of victory". Both had decades of experience before being called to their wartime posts. War with Germany and Japan were predictable since Versailles, and both spent their early careers, in hindsight, preparing for the new kind of organization required in modern global warring of allies. Both continued with major roles AFter WWII, including Secretary of State and the Marshall Plan for Marshall, and NATO and the US Presidency for Eisenhower. Much is reported on the British manipulations of American participation by Churchill, Brooke, and Montgomery. The Brits were accurate: Americans were green and unblooded at the start of the war. Short satisfaction for them: They were also accurate America would take over the running of the war, brunting the majority of manpower and materials. Yet.. Yet.. Marshall and Eisenhower KNEW America alone could never win the war and needed Great Britain. That is where the new discipline of "soldier diplomat" came in. This book is a most satisfying piece of history telling that covers the time of WWII and places it in context from the Civil War and War of Independence to present day. If you've seen the movie Patton you've seen only one colourful character of those times. This book tells the stories of the most colourful characters of all, the ones who diplomated and organized democracies not so good at war to victory.

Many times "dual biographies" of contempories do not work, primarily because the personalities selected are not even from the same continent, much less the same country or even the same field of endeavor. "Partners in Command" by Mark Perry works because it takes a close look at how the colloboration of America's first and third 5-star generals, George C. Marshall (elevated to this rank 12-16-44) and Dwight D. Eisenhower (elevated 12-20-44)[in between was Douglas MacArthur, elevated 12-18-44], worked together: first to forge victory in the European theatre in World War II and then, after the war, to help create the Western alliance that thwarted the juggernaut of Soviet power that came about as consequence of Germany's defeat. Interestingly, although both men were career officers with over 20 years of service each neither man had ever met the other until after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Their meeting came about because at the time of Pearl Harbor Marshall was head of the Army's War Plans Division and friends recommended Eisenhower to Marshall as a capable and competent leader. Eisenhower, though, whose career had long been kept on hold (including a long tenure as MacArthur's chief of staff -- the bombastic, and jealous, MacArthur later derisively referred to Eisenhower as his best clerk ever) did not want another staff position and hoped for an assignment where he could command combat troops. Both men,however, had a common mentor in U.S. Army Major General Fox Connor, a little known (at least to the general public) strategist who was regarded in military circles as one of the Army's most brillant thinkers. Marshall worked under him in World War I when Connor was operations officer under U.S. General John J. Pershing, who headed America's Expeditionary Forces. Later, in the 1920s, Eisenhower was Connor's executive officer in Panama. (Eisenhower later called Connor the outstanding soldier of his era.) Connor taught both Marshall and Eisenhower about the necessity, and vicissitudes, of multinational alliances to achieve victory in any war that crossed multiple boundaries, like the First World War. Connor ingrained in both of them the maxim: "Never fight unless you have to, never fight alone, and never fight for long." "Partners in Command" is the story of how these two soldiers (whom many consider to be the two best overall leaders in the U.S. Army in World War II, see e.g., "15 Stars" by Stanley Weintraub) implemented Connor's mentoring to help achieve America's success in World War II and therafter. Although the author tells this story quite ably, there are what appear to be some glaring mistakes: First, the author repeatedly refers to Marshall and Eisenhower as the best American military duo since Robert E. Lee and "Stonewall" Jackson, however, Jackson, who died in 1863 (from pneumonia after being shot three times by his own men and having an arm amputated), was only involved in localized engagements, not the sweeping, multinatio

"Partners in Command" is the story of the two most important American military commanders of World War II - George Marshall and Dwight D. Eisenhower. It was Marshall, the powerful Chief of Staff of the United States military, that groomed Eisenhower for his role as the American Army's senior leader in Europe in World War II. And it was Eisenhower who devised the global strategy the United States would follow throughout the war. That strategy focused on defeating Germany first. Marshall and Eisenhower agreed early in the war that, once committed to fighting, the United States should fight as part of a grand coalition and avoid, to the greatest extent possible, peripheral operations to focus on striking the German heartland as soon as possible. "Partners in Command" is the brilliantly told story of two men and their seminal contribution in directing America's military machine in the defeat of Nazi Germany. Their path was not an easy one. Marshall, who detested the British, frequently had his strategic aims dislocated by Prime Minister Winston Churchill, while Eisenhower was responsible for keeping the Allied coalition working together effectively toward a single aim. In the end, however, both Marshall and Eisenhower succeeded in directing the Allied war effort toward an invasion of France in 1944, despite attempts by Churchill and the British to focus the Allied main effort in Italy and the Balkans. Author Mark Perry dispels a number of myths about Americans at war throughout this book. He discusses, for example, the huge numbers of deserters in Europe by the end of the war and the concern they caused Eisenhower, contradicting George Patton's claim that Americans love war. This is American military history at its very best!