The Generals: Patton, MacArthur, Marshall, and the Winning of World War II
Winston Groom
Language: English
Pages: 496
ISBN: 1426215495
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Celebrated historian Winston Groom tells the intertwined and uniquely American tales of George Patton, Douglas MacArthur, and George Marshall - from the World War I battle that shaped them to their greatest victory: leading the allies to victory in World War II. These three remarkable men-of-arms who rose from the gruesome hell of the First World War to become the finest generals of their generation during World War II redefined America's ideas of military leadership and brought forth a new generation of American soldier. Their efforts revealed to the world the grit and determination that would become synonymous with America in the post-war years.
Filled with novel-worthy twists and turns, and set against the backdrop of the most dramatic moments of the twentieth century, The Generals is a powerful, action-packed book filled with marvelous surprises and insights into the lives of America's most celebrated warriors.
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Life. 16 Ibid.; D’Este, Bitter Victory. 17 Ibid. 18 Bradley and Blair, A General’s Life. 19 Blumenson, Patton Papers: 1940–1945. 20 Winston Groom. The Aviators: Eddie Rickenbacker, Jimmy Doolittle, Charles Lindbergh, and the Epic Age of Flight (Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2013). Chapter Ten: “I Shall Return” 1 Jonathan M. Wainwright. General Wainwright’s Story (New York: Doubleday, 1945). 2 Douglas MacArthur. Reminiscences: General of the Army (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964). 3
Nannie, Ruth’s sister, who soon revealed a terrible secret: Georgie was “slow to learn,” in reading, writing, and mathematics, and showed few signs of improvement. What is known now through medical examination of his correspondence is that Patton was dyslexic, a condition then unknown, and even today much misunderstood. The most apparent affliction of dyslexia is an inability to spell, reversing some letters or spelling phonetically, and a confusion of numbers in math. Patton got by with a
wharves and docks on the island of Leyte, for instance—but soon turned deadly in November 1903, when he led a party into the jungle looking for logs for pilings. MacArthur was aware that the jungle was dangerous, and that some previous patrols had been ambushed, but the fact was he had been directed to build the piers and needed the timber. His detail hadn’t gone far when trouble sought them out. Two insurrectos waylaid the patrol, one on each side of the narrow jungle trail, and the one to the
armies had never dreamed of: what the British army termed “wastage,” for example, was approximately one thousand deaths a day—from random artillery, snipers, lingering gas, illness, accidents, and other mortal causes not associated with a regular battle. It was the same in the French army. It was the same in the German army. And it would be the same in the American army. GEORGE PATTON WAS FURIOUS—which is to say he was in his customary mood—after learning that General Pershing had persuaded the
bad fall in polo [that] affected his drinking capacity for the rest of his life.” Not only that, he was angry about growing old, and he began seeking the company of younger people including “the eternal harpies who are always standing in the wings of successful marriages hoping the wife will falter and the man will be there for them to feast on.”5 Among these latter, unfortunately for everyone concerned, was twenty-one-year-old Jean Gordon, daughter of Beatrice’s half sister Louise, who came
