Us general during WW2

Answer 1

There were several thousand of them. The most illustrious, and one hardly heard of today, was General George C. Marshall. Marshall became commanding general (Chief of Staff) of the US Army September 3, 1939, two days after Nazi tanks rolled into Poland starting WWII. He inherited an an army which was the 21st largest in the world (right behind Bulgaria) and equipped and trained to refight World War One. Six years later Marshall commanded a force of more than eight million men, which was victorious around the globe, with new weapons, equipment and organization, all Marshall's work. The Air Force was still a part of the army during WWII so Marshall also had responsibility for several million more men in the US Army Air Force and their thousands of airplanes. Postwar Marshall went on the serve as one of the best US Secretaries of State, and is best remembered today for designing the "Marshall Plan", which got Europe back on its feet after the war.

A previous Chief of Staff of the army was General Douglas MacArthur, who had "retired" in 1935, taking a position as "Field Marshal" of the Philippine Army. MacArthur was recalled to active duty in 1941 and commanded the Southwest Pacific Theater of Operations during the war, and after headed the Military Government in Japan. MacArthur was the initial UN commander in Korea until fired by President Truman in 1951.

General Hap Arnold commanded the US Army Air Force. Some of his notable subordinates were James Doolittle, Lewis Brereton, Carl Spaatz and Curtis LeMay.

After the invasion of Europe the Allied Supreme Commander was Dwight Eisenhower, Marshall's protege. Marshall had always intended to take the field himself and command in Europe in person, but President Roosevelt told him he would be unable to sleep at night if Marshall was away from Washington. Marshall took this in good grace, and resigned himself to the historical shadows, while his boy, Eisenhower, garnered all the fame and glory and rode that to the White House, becoming the 34th President of the US in 1953.

In Europe the US had two Army Groups. These were led by Omar Bradley and Jacob Devers.

The US had three field armies in the Pacific, the 6th under Robert Eichelberger, the 8th under Walter Kreuger, and the 10th Under Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr, until Buckner was killed on Okinawa. Buckner and Lesley McNair (killed by friendly fire in France, a former commander of Army Ground Forces) were the highest ranking Americans killed in the war.

In Italy the US had the 5th Army, under Mark Clark. After Clark was promoted to Theater Command 5th Army was led by Lucian Truscott.

In France the US had the 1st Army (Courtney Hodges), 3rd Army (George S. Patton), 7th Army (Alexander Patch) and 9th Army (Bill Simpson). The 15th Army was also activated in France, but saw no real action.

The 2nd and 4th Armies were training commands in the states.

The US had over 20 Army Corps, each usually commanded by a three star Lieutenant General, and over ninety army divisions, each commanded by a two star Major General.

The US Marine Corps had six divisions, each under a major general. There were several Marine Lieutenant Generals. Thomas Holcomb was the first Marine to be promoted to full, four star general, but this came when he retired from being Commandant of the Marine Corps in 1944. His successor, Alexander Vandergrift, was the first Marine to serve on active duty as a four star.

See Russell Weigley's excellent two volume "Eisenhower's Lieutenants" for a study of the general officers in Europe.

Answer 2

Eisenhower