General Eisenhower’s Battle For Control Of The Strategic Bombers In Support Of Operation Overlord
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Lt.-Col. Michael J. Finnegan
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General Eisenhower’s Battle For Control Of The Strategic Bombers In Support Of Operation Overlord - Lt.-Col. Michael J. Finnegan
This edition is published by PICKLE PARTNERS PUBLISHING—www.picklepartnerspublishing.com
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Text originally published in 1999 under the same title.
© Pickle Partners Publishing 2015, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.
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General Eisenhower’s Battle for Control of the Strategic Bombers in Support of Operation Overlord – A Case study in Unity of Command
Michael J. Finnegan, Lt Col, USAF
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS 4
ABSTRACT 5
INTRODUCTION 6
THE AIR COMMANDERS 7
Tedder 7
Leigh-Mallory 8
Spaatz 10
Harris 11
THE BATTLE FOR COMMAND 12
The ‘Chief Air Man’ 12
Cultural Divergence 16
The Parochial Interests Of The USSTAF And Bomber Command 19
Achieving Consensus 22
The Directive 25
ANALYSIS 27
SUMMARY 32
BIBLIOGRAPHY 33
REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 37
ABSTRACT
Joint Pub 1, Joint Warfare of the Armed Forces of the United States, has a one page summary of the OVERLORD campaign entitled, OVERLORD: A Classic Joint and Combined Operation.
In the narrative, the author(s) referenced the OVERLORD command structure with its subordinate commands for land, air, and naval forces and (after much dispute) what we would call today operational control over US and UK strategic air forces.
This paper is an examination of the parenthetical after much dispute.
Moreover, it is an appreciation of the dynamics surrounding General Dwight Eisenhower’s strategic leadership and his quest to achieve unity of command. Eisenhower believed unity of command was fundamental to the success of OVERLORD; he threatened resignation without it.
INTRODUCTION
On 29 November 1943, President Franklin Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin attended the second plenary session of the Teheran Conference. The issue as to who was to command OVERLORD, the cross-channel invasion of France, was at the top of the agenda. Stalin demanded a name because in his mind such an appointment would solidify the American and British commitment. The favorite for the position had been General George Marshall, US Army Chief of Staff. However, Roosevelt had expressed concern that he could not sleep at night with [Marshall] out of the country.
{1} Seven days later in Cairo, Roosevelt named General Dwight Eisenhower Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force, for OVERLORD.{2} James Roosevelt had asked his father, the President, why he had selected Eisenhower. The President replied that Eisenhower is the best politician among the military men. He is a natural leader who can convince other men to follow him, and this is what we need in his position more than any other quality.
{3}
Immediately after receiving the appointment, Eisenhower became mired in a four-month battle — from December 1943 until March 1944 — over his right to command the allied strategic air forces. At times it was a conflict that threatened, to undermine the coalition, a battle that tested Eisenhower’s leadership and political skill. It pitted Eisenhower, guided by the principle of unity of command, against Churchill and the British Chiefs of Staff, who commanded by committee. The weapons in this conflict were persuasion, guile, and compromise. Like most battles, there were missed opportunities, successes, and failures. Eisenhower’s objective was a unified air command, one that would enhance