George Marshall: Defender of the Republic - Hardcover

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

David L. Roll is the author of The Hopkins Touch: Harry Hopkins and the Forging of the Alliance to Defeat Hitler and the coauthor of Louis Johnson and the Arming of America, a biography of Harry Truman's defense secretary. He is Senior Counsel at Steptoe & Johnson LLP, a Washington DC-based international law firm, Nonresident Fellow at the German Marshall Fund, and founder of the Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation, a public interest organization that provides pro bono legal services to social entrepreneurs around the world.

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Chapter 1

Harvest of Death

George Marshall's ascent to power and prominence began on January 27, 1914, "under the shade of a bamboo clump." Nearly five thousand U.S. Army soldiers had just completed an amphibious landing on the island of Luzon in the Philippines and were gathering to attack Manila, some sixty miles to the north. Marshall, then a thirty-three-year-old first lieutenant, was sitting in the mud with his back against one of the trees, surrounded by officers awaiting orders. The wide brim of his felt campaign hat was tipped up, revealing closely cropped sandy hair and deep-set blue eyes. Staring intently at a map, he slowly and confidently dictated orders detailing a choreography of infantry, cavalry, field artillery, signal corps, Filipino scouts, field kitchens, surgical tents, wagons, and hundreds of pack animals. They were to move north day and night on mucky trails through patches of jungle, fields of sugarcane, towering razor grass, and mountain passes. One of the officers who witnessed Marshall's performance that day was Henry "Hap" Arnold, a West Pointer who would rise to become head of the army air force during World War II. Arnold was so impressed that in a letter to his wife he wrote that he had "met a man who was going to be chief of staff of the army some day."

Over the next eight days, Marshall's invasion forces outwitted the enemy defenders and captured successive objectives on the way to Manila. It was just an exercise, a mock invasion and attack, but those who were there spread word throughout the officer ranks that Marshall was a military genius, one of the most promising future wartime leaders in the army.

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Instigated by the War Department in Washington, the 1914 maneuvers had been designed to test the army's readiness to defend the Philippine archipelago against a possible invasion by Japan. Following victory in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05, and the complete annexation of Korea five years later due to the assassination of a prominent Japanese statesman by a Korean, Japan had become the preeminent power in the Pacific. The Philippines, symbol of U.S. imperialism, stood directly in the path of Japan's increasingly aggressive designs to dominate East Asia. To simulate a Japanese attack, a "White Force" was to land at Batangas Bay, south of Manila, and try to overwhelm the "Brown Force" charged with defending the capital.

Given the importance and high-profile nature of the maneuvers-the largest ever in the Philippines-it was unlikely that a mere first lieutenant like Marshall, no matter how competent, would command the White Force. In fact, General J. Franklin Bell, head of the Philippine Department, had initially selected a hard-drinking colonel to take charge. "A courtly gentleman, a very nice fellow," recalled Marshall, although he couldn't-or preferred not to-remember his name. Referring to the man's propensity for strong drink, Marshall wrote that the colonel would ride beside him in a "spring wagon" with a "zinc-lined suitcase," and every time they stopped he would open the suitcase and "refresh himself against the Philippine heat."

Under the colonel-his name was William Cathcart Buttler-the first stage of the attack, the amphibious landings by the White Force, had to be delayed a week due to a snafu in procuring an adequate number of landing boats. Marshall, an adjutant assigned to the colonel's staff, stepped into the chaos and coolly secured the boats, arranged to have stalls built for the pack animals, and organized the amphibious landings. The umpires for the maneuvers, having lost confidence in Colonel Buttler, proposed that he be removed from command. At some risk to his own career, Marshall presumptuously suggested that to save face the colonel be left in nominal command, but that he, Marshall, be allowed to act as Buttler's alter ego in planning and leading the attack, along with Marshall's close friend, Captain Jens Bugge, the White Force chief of staff. The umpires agreed. The next day Bugge suffered a malarial attack and had to return to Manila. The umpires and General Bell had no choice. Marshall was the only one with knowledge of the White Force plans, forces, and officers. With the War Department in Washington and the garrison in Manila watching, the maneuvers had to go on. First Lieutenant Marshall was in sole command of almost five thousand men.

Except for Marshall's failure to commit enough of his forces to the first day's objective, his performance was regarded by the umpires as outstanding. Under pressure day and night for two weeks, he was imperturbable. With courtesy and self-effacement, he cut through the reluctance of colonels and other senior officers to accept orders from him. The clarity and precision of Marshall's field orders evidenced his grasp of the situations he confronted and his attention to tactical details. The landings of the men, animals, food, and equipment on the beaches at Batangas went smoothly despite the fact that the boats could not stand in closer than three-quarters of a mile and there was no dock. On the way to Manila, Marshall kept his units intact so that attacks on the enemy defenders could be made in strength. He managed three successful mock battles and several skirmishes and cavalry forays, reaching the capital on February 4.

One superior officer wrote in Marshall's efficiency report that he was the best leader of large bodies of troops in the entire American army. Another gushed that "there are not five officers in the Army as well qualified as [Marshall] to command a division in the field." Although the umpires ended the maneuvers without declaring Marshall's White Force a clear winner, the tales that grew out of his performance, and the dazzle that surrounded his name, guaranteed him a reputation in the small officer corps of the Regular Army that few if any of his rank could equal. Beneath the overblown legend, however, certain facts stood out: Marshall's White Force executed a successful amphibious invasion, and then proceeded to outsmart and overwhelm the Brown Force defenders, thus providing the army with vital lessons for the future. Much later, when a confrontation with Japan was far more than a possibility, these lessons were incorporated into the army's war plans.

Whether or not Marshall's performance deserved all of the plaudits it received, there is no doubt that an aura surrounded him, an emanation of controlled power. "His figure," wrote Dean Acheson, "conveyed intensity . . . It spread a sense of authority and calm." Physically, Marshall was lean, erect, square-shouldered, and tall for his era, slightly under six feet. He had a way of carrying himself that conveyed order and self-restraint. His face was pleasing and dignified, though with a long, thin upper lip and receding chin he could hardly be described as handsome. Professionally, Marshall was stern, deliberately reserved, yet he exhibited "nothing of the martinet." In social situations he was typically genial, friendly, and sometimes even warm and charming. Yet his emotions, including his explosive temper, were usually masked, his fears and vulnerabilities well hidden.

Marshall tried but could not conceal his susceptibility to the effects of the enormous stress he was under throughout the war games' days and nights. After the maneuvers were suspended, he was hospitalized in Manila for about two weeks, suffering for the second time from what the doctors of that era called "neurasthenia," a catchall term for a variety of nervous conditions short of insanity such as chronic fatigue, anxiety, depression, and nervous breakdown. Where he fit into this spectrum is unknown. Following these episodes, Marshall realized that he was working himself to death and...