| shaggydog, General Eisenhower commanded the Allied Forces landing in North Africa in November 1942; on D-Day in1944, and he was Supreme Commander of the troops invading France. However, these are strategic commands not operational or tactical commands. Now no matter how you slice it, he was the principal architect of the successful Allied invasion of Europe during WW-II. Furthermore, Eisenhower rise to fame during World War II was very impressive especially when you consider he went from a lieutenant colonel in 1941 to a five-star general in 1945. As supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, let’s also not forget that he commanded the most powerful force ever assembled under one man. He is one of the few generals ever to command major naval forces; he directed the world's greatest air force; and other than Generals Schwarzkopf and Franks, Eisenhower was the first man ever to command successfully an integrated, multinational alliance of ground, sea, and air forces. Despite these accomplishments, I think his greatest trait was his diplomatic ability to juggle egos and hold together the Allied units and their commanders through the entire European campaign that followed, concentrating everyone's attention on a single objective..........the defeat of Nazi Germany. |