Question

What is one difference between each of the following pairs of military leaders' contributions to the allied victory in world war II?
Omar Bradley and George Marshall:

Dwight D. Eisenhower and Chester W. Nimitz:

Douglas MacArthur and George S. Patton:

Answer 1

Omar Bradley and George Marshall: Omar Bradley was a very polite and well-mannered general. He was an efficient and loyal administrator and did everything by the book but did not know his soldiers very well and did not like independently-minded subordinates. He was a successful general but in conventional terms. George Marshall never led troops in Combat but he was a genius of logistics and a superb organizer. He oversaw the biggest reorganization of the American Army, transforming it from a small pre-war offensive force of 200,000 to 8 million soldiers by 1942. He also selected the best generals for WWII, including Eisenhower and Patton.

Dwight D. Eisenhower and Chester W. Nimitz: Dwight D. Eisenhower never was in the front lines himself. He was however very skillful in organizing his troops and very gifted for command and cooperation with international allies. He became Supreme Commander and oversaw the Invasion of North Africa (Operation Torch) and France (Operation Overlord). Chester W. Nimitz was the Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet. He was a cunning tactician and strategist who was able to push back the Japanese when the US Navy was still recovering from the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor. He eventually became a fleet admiaral and managed to destroy most of the Japanese Navy. He oversaw the conversion of the US navy vessels from oil power to nuclear powered.

Douglas MacArthur and George S. Patton: Douglas MacArthur was a very authoritarian and corrupt serviceman. He took money from Filipino politicians for simply doing his job and defending the Philippines. He had several mistresses. He failed to execute contingency plans to prevent the invasion of the Philippines by the Japanese and abandoned his men and fled when the island fell.  However, he was quite aggressive and fierce when pushed against a wall. He was able to reorganize his forces in Australia and transform them into a very powerful and aggressive military expeditionary force. He was able to re-conquer the Philippines and was put in charge of the entire Occupation of Japan.  George S. Patton was one of the most successful and colorful generals of the United States. He developed the theory of mechanized warfare during WWI and perfected it during WWII. His tank divisions were extremely fast and successful and he always pushed his troops to the limits. He was a very skilled orator and very blunt and assertive with others. His troops idolized him and he did love the attention. The Germans feared him over all US generals and the Allies used his persona to make the Germans panic and wonder where he would invade France. He was the most important US decoy for WWII.