At 10:41 AM 8/30/2001 -0400, Kevin wrote:
>From: John Garcia
>If I had to list them (at least the top five), it would be Washington,
>Sherman, Grant, Marshall, and Nimitz.
>
>john
>
>John Paul Jones? Pershing? Patton?
I was thinking in terms of strategists and top level commanders.
John Paul Jones is called the father of the American Navy, and rightly so,
for his seamanship and fighting spirit. He is best known for his raids on
the English coast and his battle with the Serapis during the Revolution.
But Jones never rose above ship's captain, and never commanded an American
fleet (He did command a Russian fleet in operations against the Turks and
performed quite admirably.) He was not an innovator in naval tactics, and
while his exploits contributed much to Patriot morale, they did not affect
the outcome of the Revolution.
John J. Pershing commanded the American Expeditionary Force during World
War I. He was responsible for taking an army that was mostly dedicated to
frontier constabulary and colonial operations and transforming it into a
modern army. However, he did not have much of an opportunity to influence
WWI strategy, which was largely formulated by the French and British.
George S. Patton is arguably the greatest combat leader in American
history. He was a superb battlefield tactician and troop leader and
trainer. He had a very good combat record in WWI, and showed brilliance in
his operations in North Africa, Sicily, France and Germany. Probably his
greatest feat was to pull the Third Army out of combat, and turn it almost
90 degrees to smash the Wehrmacht's flank during the Battle of the Bulge.
But, although he was a very good tactician, his strategic skills were not
up to his tactical ones.
All of these men were able and sometimes brilliant tactical leaders.
However (with the exception of Pershing who had little opportunity to
demonstrate strategic thinking), they did not demonstrate the same
brilliance in the area of strategy.
john
(who would have sent this reply sooner, but a family medical emergency took
all my time. everything is fine now, thanks)
