General Jacob Devers

John A. Adams

Description

Of the leaders of the American Army in World War II, Jacob Devers is undoubtedly the "forgotten four star." Plucked from relative obscurity in the Canal Zone, Devers was one of four generals selected by General of the Army George Marshall in 1941 to assist him in preparing the Army for war. He quickly became known in Army circles for his "can do" attitude and remarkable ability to cut through red tape. Among other duties, he was instrumental in transforming Ft. Bragg, then a small Army post, into a major training facility. As head of the armored force, Devers contributed to the development of a faster, more heavily armored tank, equipped with a higher velocity gun that could stand up to the more powerful German tanks, and helped to turn American armor into an effective fighting force. In spring 1943, Devers replaced Dwight Eisenhower as commander of the European Theater of Operations, then was given command of the 6th Army Group that invaded the south of France and fought its way through France and Germany to the Austrian border. In the European campaign to defeat Hitler, Eisenhower had three subordinate army group commanders—British Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery, Omar S. Bradley, and Jacob Devers. The first two are well-known—here the third receives the attention he properly deserves.

List of Maps
Prologue
1. Early Years
2. The Interwar Years
3. Marshall Recognizes Devers
4. Chief of Armored Force
5. The Debate over Doctrine
6. Commander, ETO
7. Deputy Supreme Commander, Mediterranean Theater of Operations
8. The French and a Southern Front
9. Dragooned
10. Up the Rhône Valley
11. An End to Champagne
12. Into the Cold Vosges
13. Cross the Rhine?
14. Throw Down at Vittel and Its Aftermath
15. Nordwind Strikes Devers
16. The Colmar Pocket Finally Collapses
17. Undertone to Austria
18. Postwar
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Sujets

• HISTORY
• Histoire
• Segunda Guerra Mundial
• General officer
• Military
• World War II
• General
• Seconde Guerre mondiale

Informations

• Publié par: Indiana University Press
• Date de parution: 18 février 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780253015266
• Langue: English

Extrait

General Jacob Devers

General Jacob Devers
World War II s Forgotten Four Star
JOHN A. ADAMS
INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS
Bloomington Indianapolis
This book is a publication of
INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS Office of Scholarly Publishing Herman B Wells Library 350 1320 East 10th Street Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA
iupress.indiana.edu
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2015 by John A. Adams
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences - Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Adams, John A., [date]
General Jacob Devers : World War II s forgotten four star / John A. Adams.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-253-01517-4 (cloth : alk. paper) - ISBN 978-0-253-01526-6 (ebook) 1. Devers, Jacob L. (Jacob Loucks), 1887-1979. 2. Generals - United States - Biography. 3. World War, 1939-1945 - Biography. 4. United States. Army - Biography. I. Title.
E745.D48A64 2015
355.0092 - dc23
[B]
2014030025
1 2 3 4 5 19 18 17 16 15
This volume is dedicated to the memory of Thomas E. Griess.
While chairman of the history department of the Military Academy at West Point, Colonel Griess conducted a large number of interviews that are well cared for at the York Historical Society, York, Pennsylvania. The collection of papers and artifacts of a proud son of York, General Jacob Devers, has grown to over 1,200 items, primarily interviews and documents. They provide a solid basis for my humble attempt to tell the story of a great American.
Contents

List of Maps

Acknowledgments

Prologue
1 Early Years
2 The Interwar Years
3 Marshall Recognizes Devers
4 Chief of Armored Force
5 The Debate over Doctrine
6 Commander, ETO
7 Deputy Supreme Commander, MTO
8 The French and a Southern Front
9 Dragooned
10 Up the Rh ne Valley
11 An End to Champagne
12 Into the Cold Vosges
13 Cross the Rhine?
14 Throw Down at Vittel and Its Aftermath
15 Nordwind Strikes Devers
16 The Colmar Pocket Finally Collapses
17 Undertone to Austria
18 Postwar

Epilogue

Notes

Bibliography

Index
Maps
7.1 Central Italy
7.2 Anzio
9.1 South Coast of France
9.2 Breakout from the Blue Line
10.1 Allied Landings and Advance to Grenoble
10.2 Topography from Marseilles to Lyons
11.1 To Dijon and Linkup
12.1 Over the Vosges to Strasbourg
12.2 Into the Vosges
13.1 Plan of Possible Advance East of the Rhine
14.1 6th Army Group, 26 November 1944
15.1 Nordwind
16.1 Colmar Pocket
17.1 Third and Seventh Armies Surround Elements of Army Group G
17.2 Third and Seventh Armies Sweep South
Acknowledgments
Thanks to all of the helpful staff at the york Historical Society; Eisenhower Library, Abilene, Kansas; Marshall Library, Lexington, Virginia; Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania; and the Preston Library, Virginia Military Institute. Thanks to the editorial staff at Indiana University Press; to the faculty at the Virginia Military Institute, who gave me so much help and encouragement; and to my sister-in-law Geane Stevenson.

John A. Adams Vero Beach, Florida, 2015
At the turn of the twenty-first century, American armored forces ride in a honey of a fighting vehicle. The infantry version is called the M2 Bradley. Omar Bradley s service record as a senior commander during the famous battles in Western Europe is widely known, and naming the vehicle after him seems a fitting tribute. A somewhat more sophisticated version, the M3 Cavalry Fighting Vehicle, which carries the scouts into battle, was named after the other American army group commander in the European theater in World War II. Both vehicles, however, began to bear the name Bradley. Few can recall the other general s name. This is the story of Jacob Loucks Devers.
Prologue
When appointed chief of staff in 1939, george c. Marshall faced a seemingly impossible task. Out of a small, second-rate peacetime army, he had to create what became an 8-million-man machine tasked with beating both the horror of Nazi Germany and the Japanese scourge of the Pacific. One of the first people to whom he turned is little remembered today. Out of a bag of good ideas, Jacob Devers created the Armored Force of sixteen armored divisions and a host of separate battalions that led to the retaking of Europe. As one of two American army group commanders under Dwight Eisenhower (the other was Omar Bradley), Devers led the invasion of southern France, commanding most of the French Army as well as the U.S. Seventh Army as they rampaged across southern Germany and into Austria.
While he worked for Eisenhower, the two did not get along well. Marshall had his hands full keeping both his star prot g and one of his first picks for general highly motivated and productive. Here is the story of Devers and his rise to four stars.
ONE
Early Years

Born on september 8, 1887, in the pennsylvania dutch town of York, Jacob Loucks Devers was the oldest of four children born to the very upright couple of Philip and Ella Kate Loucks. Philip Devers was a sturdy, good-natured Irishman, 5 10 and 220 pounds or so, with a thick crop of curly hair, olive complexion, and a moustache. Oddly, the American who was to free Alsace descended on Ella Kate s side from stock that hailed from Strasbourg. A heavyset semi-invalid, she needed domestic help to raise her three sons and a daughter. Altogether they were a gregarious and friendly family - a touch of the Irish in Pennsylvania Dutch country.
Father worked his way up to become a highly skilled watchmaker and partner in the well-regarded jewelry store, Stevens and Devers. My father had to put those damned watches together - he had to do everything right or it didn t work. That impressed me, his son later commented. 1 Afterward, Philip became the only one in York who could repair the new high tech adding machines. As the junior partner in the jewelry business, he often had to work late hours. He was a Democrat active in civic affairs and a Thirty-Second Degree Mason. A boyhood friend remembered him as one of the great fathers I knew. He was a real companion to the boys. 2 Jacob s sister remembered him as a man s man : He had a horse and fancy pigeons which he trained. Father would come home from work for meals on the trolley car. For the boys he made the first skis in the area. He had a great deal of fun in him. Our childhood was happy and carefree. 3 The children remembered spending a lot of time with their father. He helped them to build a coaster that the boys endlessly took down hills. In warm weather, they might all go to the Susquehanna River and picnic. Honesty, integrity, dependability, and hard work were family trademarks.
In the autumn of his life, Jacob remembered his family as close-knit, even as they grew older. Family life was a source of strength. My mother always kept us well stuffed with food and made us toe the mark and be on time. Mom was active at St. Paul s Lutheran Church and remembered for her skill at baking. Another time, the general recalled, While she was warm and loving, there was always a cat-o-nine tails over the ice box. My mother never had to use it after the first time. Ella Kate disliked braggarts and admonished her children to be very reticent about their accomplishments. The Devers kids learned punctuality the hard way; be late for supper and you got none. From his mother, Jamie, as Jacob was called as a boy, inherited a dogged determination and self-reliance that were hard to shake, and a marked reticence that he overcame only with difficulty. Birthdays were a big deal, and Christmas was something to look forward to. We did have chores, but I knew we could not have had a happier life.
In those days before universal automotive transportation, many people walked. In the part of town where the Devers resided, the streets were lined with boardwalks. Late in the evening, some people returning from the downtown taverns would stagger by, smoking. Jacob s mother would say, See that man smoking? Putting another nail in his coffin. And if she said that once, Devers recalled, she repeated it a thousand times. I have never forgotten it and never had any desire to smoke. Besides, to play sports I had to run fast and if I smoked, I couldn t breathe. She counsels you when you really don t appreciate it. But you need it. But she always had several cans filled with cookies which you could share with your friends.
Devers also remembered the family s six mule teams that pulled great rock trucks used to fix the roads. The gravel came from quarries not too far from the house. We always seemed to meet our bills but sometimes they would pile up. In the jewelry business, most of your money came around Christmas, so we would catch up then. The farm provided much of our food including butter.
Jamie s two brothers, Frank and Philip, were close in age. The housekeeper remembered the three boys were so close together and active that it was like looking