The High Command for Operation Overlord, except for Supreme Commander General Dwight Eisenhower and U.S. First Army Commander Omar Bradley, was predominately made up of veterans of the Great War, who had all seen notable service in that conflict. In some cases, such as Bernard Montgomery's, they also survived serious wounds.
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| SHAEF's High Command |
WWI Service: RFC/RAF
D-Day, 6 June 1944: Deputy Supreme Allied Commander
Air Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory
WWI Service: Lancashire Fusiliers and RFC/RAF
D-Day, 6 June 1944: Air Forces Commander
Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay
WWI Service: Commander HMS Broke
D-Day, 6 June 1944: Naval Forces Commander
General Bernard Law Montgomery
WWI Service: 47th Division, among several
D-Day, 6 June 1944: 21st Army Group Commander (Land Forces Commander)
Lt. General Miles Dempsey (Not shown)
WWI Service: Royal Berkshire Regiment
D-Day, 6 June 1944: Second British Army
Lt. General Walter Bedell Smith
WWI Service: 4th Division
D-Day, 6 June 1944: Chief of Staff SHAEF
Further, a number of the divisional commanders that led their units in airborne drops or onto the beaches were also notable veterans of the First World War. The first two on this list, Clarence Heubner and Charles Gerhardt, were earlier involved in the first "D-Day" in history, the U.S. First Army's St. Mihiel Offensive, 12 September 1918, for which the designations "D-Day" and H-Hour" were coined.
MG Clarence Huebner
WWI Service: 1st Division
D-Day, 6 June 1944: Commander, 1st Division
MG Charles Hunter Gerhardt
WWI Service: 89th Division
D-Day, 6 June 1944: Commander, 29th Division
MG Raymond O. Barton
WWI Service: 8th Division (Occupation Only)
D-Day, 6 June 1944: Commander, 4th Division
MG Richard Nelson Gale
WWI Service: Machine Gun Corps,
D-Day, 6 June 1944: Commander, 6th Airborne Division
MG Douglas Alexander Henry Graham
WWI Service: 1st Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)
D-Day, 6 June 1944: Commander, 50th Division
Our Virtual Tour of the Western Front returns next Friday.
It is also of note that Douglas Macarthur and George Patton both served with note in WWI but neither were involved in D-Day. One might say Patton was because he was a decoy in northern England.
ReplyDeletePolitics. Patton was the commander the Germans feared most. Decoy. What a waste of materiel.
ReplyDeleteThe names under the photo do not match the photo. I.e., no Bradley, etc.
ReplyDeleteT Morgan