Beetle: The Life of General Walter Bedell Smith (American Warriors Series)

Beetle: The Life of General Walter Bedell Smith

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    www.farmersmarketmusic.com: Beetle: The Life of General Walter Bedell Smith (American Warrior Series) (): D.K.R. Crosswell: Books. American Warriors Series In Beetle: The Life of General Walter Bedell Smith, D. K. R. Crosswell offers the first full-length biography of the general, including.

    Sign In Register Help Cart. This copy of Beetle: University Press of Kentucky. Russell Books Ltd Condition: Ships with Tracking Number! Buy with confidence, excellent customer service! Cloud 9 Books Condition: Life General Walter Bedell Smith. Ike's chief of Staff in the ETO. May not contain Access Codes or Supplements.

    Mega Buzz Inc Condition: Fine in Fine DJ. General Walter Bedell Smith's service to his country spanned more than forty years, three major American wars, and eight presidents. Chris Hartmann, Bookseller Published: Fine in Fine DJ Edition: The University Press of Kentucky. As New in As New dust jacket. First Edition; First Printing.

    Thick Hardcover, with photos. Book and DJ New. No markings of ANY kind. As New in As New dust jacket Edition: Press of Kentucky, Book has small bump on top edge of spine. Square, tight, bright copy with firm corners. No internal names, markings or notations. On The Road Books Published: University of Kentucky, Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. Upon his graduation on 27 November , he was directly commissioned as a second lieutenant.

    Smith was wounded by shell fragments during an attack two days later. Because of his wounds, Smith was returned to the United States for service with the U.

    Walter Bedell Smith

    In September , he was commissioned as a first lieutenant in the regular army of the United States. Smith was next sent to the newly formed th Infantry Regiment as its intelligence officer. The 95th Infantry Division was disbanded following the signing of the Armistice with Germany on 11 November In February Smith was assigned to Camp Dodge , Iowa , where he was involved with the disposal of surplus equipment and supplies.

    In March he was transferred to the 2nd Infantry Regiment , a regular unit based at Camp Dodge, remaining there until November , when it moved to Camp Sherman. The staff of the 2nd Infantry moved to Fort Sheridan, Illinois , in From to Smith worked as an assistant in the Bureau of the Budget. He then served a two-year tour of duty overseas on the staff of the 45th Infantry at Fort William McKinley in the Philippines. After nine years as a first lieutenant, he was promoted to captain in September Returning to the United States, Smith reported to the U. Army War College , from which he graduated in Officers like Smith who were commissioned between November and November made up Promotions were usually based on seniority, and the modest objective of promoting officers to major after seventeen years of service could not be met because of a shortage of posts for them to fill.

    When General George C. The Arcadia Conference , which was held in Washington, D. The same conference also brought about the creation of the Combined Chiefs of Staff , which consisted of the American Joint Chiefs of Staff and the British Chiefs of Staff Committee meeting as a single body. Brigadier Vivian Dykes of the British Joint Staff Mission provided the secretarial arrangements for the new organization at first, but General Marshall thought that an American secretariat was required.

    Since Dykes was senior in service time to Smith, and Marshall wanted Smith to be in charge, Smith was promoted to brigadier general on 2 February He assumed the new post a week later, with Dykes as his deputy. The two men worked in partnership to create and organize the secretariat, and to build the organization of the Combined Chiefs-of-Staff into one that could coordinate the war efforts of the two allies, along with the Canadians, Australians, French and others. Smith's duties involved taking part in discussions of strategy at the highest level, and he often briefed President Roosevelt on strategic matters.

    When Major General Dwight D.

    Beetle: The Life of General Walter Bedell Smith

    Eisenhower was appointed as the commander of the European Theater of Operations in June , he requested that Smith be sent from Washington as his chief-of-staff. Smith's record as a staff officer, and his proven ability to work harmoniously with the British, made him a natural choice for the post. AFHQ was a balanced binational organization, in which the chief of each section was paired with a deputy of the other nationality.

    Its structure was generally American, but with some British aspects. For example, Gale as CAO controlled both personnel and supply functions, which under the American system would have reported directly to Smith. By January its American component alone was 1, and its strength eventually topped 4, men and women.

    He acquired a reputation as a tough and brusque manager, and he was often referred to as Eisenhower's " hatchet man ".

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    Hughes became the Deputy Theater commander and the commanding general of the Communications Zone. Smith later accused Hughes of "empire building", and the two clashed over trivial issues. Smith conducted formal dinners at his villa , an estate surrounded by gardens and terraces, with two large drawing rooms decorated with mosaics , oriental rugs, and art treasures. Mockler-Ferryman was replaced by Brigadier Kenneth Strong. The debacle at Kasserine Pass strained relations between the Allies, and another crisis developed when II Corps reported that enemy aviation was operating at will over its sector because of an absence of Allied air cover.

    Kuter paid Patton a visit at his headquarters. Their meeting was interrupted by a German air raid that convinced the airmen that General Patton had a point. Coningham withdrew his written criticisms and he apologized. To Eisenhower, this command arrangement meant a reversion to the old British "committee system".

    He drafted a cable to the Combined Chiefs of Staff demanding a unified command structure, but Smith persuaded him to tear it up. Disagreements arose between Allied commanders over the operational plan, which called for a series of dispersed landings, based on the desire of the air, naval, and logistical planners concerning the early capture of ports and airfields. General Bernard Montgomery , the commander of the British Eighth Army , objected to this aspect of the plan, since it exposed the Allied forces to defeat in detail. Montgomery put forward an alternate plan that involved American and British forces landing side by side.

    He convinced Smith that his alternate plan was sound, and the two men then persuaded most of the other Allied commanders. Montgomery's plan provided for the early seizure of airfields, which satisfied Tedder and Cunningham.

    The fears of logisticians like Major General Thomas B. Larkin that supply would not be practical without a port were resolved by the use of amphibious trucks. While Castellano had hoped to arrange terms for Italy to join the United Nations against Nazi Germany , Smith was empowered to draw up an armistice between Italy and Allied armed forces , but he was unable to negotiate political matters. Churchill reluctantly gave way at Eisenhower's insistence. Brooke released Gale only after a strong appeal from Smith, [43] but refused to transfer Strong.

    A heated exchange resulted, and Brooke later complained to Eisenhower about Smith's behavior. This was the only time that a senior British officer ever complained openly about Smith. Betts as his deputy. Smith was promoted to lieutenant general and also made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in January This was according to Eisenhower's expressed desire not to have his headquarters inside of a major city. By the time Overlord began, accommodations had been provided for officers and 6, enlisted men and women.

    Eisenhower and Smith's offices were in a subterranean complex. Smith's office was spartan, dominated by a large portrait of Marshall. The forward headquarters was remote and inaccessible, and it lacked the necessary communications equipment. By November , Strong was reporting that there was a possibility of a German counteroffensive in the Ardennes or the Vosges. Smith sent Strong to personally warn Bradley, who was preparing an offensive of his own.

    He felt Bradley had been given ample warning. Once battle was joined, Eisenhower acted decisively, committing the two armored divisions in the 12th Army Group's reserve over Bradley's objection, along with his own meager reserves, two airborne divisions. Whiteley and Betts visited the U. First Army headquarters and they were unimpressed with the way its commanders were handling the situation. Strong, Whiteley, and Betts recommended that command of the armies north of the Ardennes be transferred from Bradley to Montgomery.

    Smith's immediate reaction was to dismiss the suggestion out of hand. He told Strong and Whiteley that they were fired and should pack their bags and return to the United Kingdom. On the next morning, Smith apologized. He had had second thoughts, and he informed them that he would present their recommendation to Eisenhower as his own. He realized the military and political implications of this, and knew that such a recommendation had to come from an American officer.

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    On December 20, he recommended it to Eisenhower, who telephoned both General Bradley and Montgomery, and Eisenhower ordered it. This decision was greatly resented by many Americans, particularly in 12th Army Group, who felt that the action discredited the U. Army 's command structure.

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    Director of Central Intelligence — By January its American component alone was 1, and its strength eventually topped 4, men and women. It remained to implement them. Buy with confidence, excellent customer service! He does a commendable job of limiting national or emotional bias in this book, which is something usually missing from niographies.

    Steps were taken to divert men from Communications Zone units. Lee , persuaded Eisenhower to allow soldiers to volunteer for service "without regard to color or race to the units where assistance is most needed, and give you the opportunity of fighting shoulder to shoulder to bring about victory". Smith immediately grasped the political implications of this. He put his position to Eisenhower in writing:.

    Although I am now somewhat out of touch with the War Department's Negro policy, I did, as you know, handle this during the time I was with General Marshall. Unless there has been a radical change, the sentence which I have marked in the attached circular letter will place the War Department in very grave difficulties.

    It is inevitable that this statement will get out, and equally inevitable that the result will be that every Negro organization, pressure group and newspaper will take the attitude that, while the War Department segregates colored troops into organizations of their own against the desires and pleas of all the Negro race, the Army is perfectly willing to put them in the front lines mixed in units with white soldiers, and have them do battle when an emergency arises.

    Two years ago I would have considered the marked statement the most dangerous thing that I had ever seen in regard to Negro relations. I have talked with Lee about it, and he can't see this at all. He believes that it is right that colored and white soldiers should be mixed in the same company.

    With this belief I do not argue, but the War Department policy is different. Since I am convinced that this circular letter will have the most serious repercussions in the United States, I believe that it is our duty to draw the War Department's attention to the fact that this statement has been made, to give them warning as to what may happen and any facts which they may use to counter the pressure which will undoubtedly be placed on them. The policy was revised, with Negro soldiers serving in provisional platoons. In the 12th Army Group these were attached to regiments, while in the 6th Army Group the platoons were grouped into whole companies attached to the division.

    The former arrangement were generally better rated by the units they were attached to, because the Negro platoons had no company-level unit training. On 15 April , the Nazi governor Reichskommissar of the Netherlands , Arthur Seyss-Inquart , offered to open up Amsterdam to food and coal shipments to ease the suffering of the civilian population. After threatening Seyss-Inquart with prosecution for war crimes, Smith successfully negotiated for the provision of food to the suffering Dutch civilian population in the cities in the west of the country, and he opened discussions for the peaceful and complete German capitulation in the Netherlands, to the First Canadian Army , that did follow on the 5th of May.

    Smith had to conduct another set of surrender negotiations, that of the German armed forces, in May Once again, Strong acted as an interpreter. Smith took a hard line, threatening that unless terms were accepted, the Allies would seal the front, thus forcing the remaining Germans into the hands of the Red Army , but he made some concessions regarding a ceasefire before the surrender came into effect.

    Smith briefly returned to the United States in June In August, Eisenhower nominated Smith as his successor as commander of U. Smith was passed over in favor of General Joseph McNarney.

    Secretary of State James F. Smith's service as the American ambassador was not a success. Although no fault of Smith's, during his tenure the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union deteriorated rapidly as the Cold War set in. Smith's tenacity of purpose came across as a lack of flexibility, and it did nothing to allay Soviet fears about American intentions. He became thoroughly disillusioned and turned into a hardened cold warrior who saw the Soviet Union as a secretive, totalitarian and antagonistic state. We dare not allow ourselves any false sense of security. We must anticipate that the Soviet tactic will be to wear us down, to exasperate us, and to keep probing for weak spots, and we must cultivate firmness and patience to a degree we have never before required.