Customer Reviews

George C. Marshall, Vol. 2: Ordeal and Hope, 1939-1942

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I read the first volume of this great biography and thought that I would stop there as I had wanted to know more about Marshall and had read many books about World War II. Then, I decide to go on and was not disappointed. I thought this volume might be a bit dull but it was not. The tremendous task of trying to get the country and the army ready for another war was a staggering burden for the few men who were prepared. Marshall found his job was immediately plunged into crisis as his appointment as Chief of Staff was followed immediately by the German invasion of Poland and the start of the war. He knew that we would be drawn in but this was an era of isolationism and the army was still in the thrall of a peacetime routine of promotion by seniority and penny pinching. Roosevelt was devious and Marshall feared the influence of Churchill on him right up to the Torch invasion of north Africa which ends the book. There is not a great deal of action but the account of Marshall's efforts to organize an army and fight off the influences that made his job so difficult makes surprisingly good reading. It is at this point when he begins to groom younger men for command and to weed out the incompetent. The army headquarters staff system was one of his problems but resisted solution until very late. His time was over scheduled and he had to find ways to delegate authority. Here is where Eisenhower and Mark Clark came to power. The story of the north African landings, which Marshall opposed even as he organized them, is a highlight. He feared that Torch would make impossible the 1943 invasion of France that he was determined to fight for as long as he could. In this he was wrong, I believe, as the army needed the experience of the north African campaign before it faced the German army. I agree that the Italian campaign was a side show but that is to anticipate the next volume which is in the mail. This is an excellent biography and highly recommended.

I would stronly recommend Pogue's series if you want to learn about Marshall. According to Pogue Marshall did all he could to help the U.S. win WWII. What is probably less known is that he gave through pure tenacity everything he could to the fighting man except as Pogue pointed out girls for the flyers. That they had to find on their own. When he found out the Army needed something he acted quickly. He even helped soldiers he found out about through letters.
Marshall's role in Pearl Harbor was exhaustively researched by Pogue. Marshall is stronly questioned by Pogue but it is uncharacteristic for Marshall to have sacraficed people to enter the war. Marshall didn't have a very strong relationship with FDR as history alluedes to. I'm up to the Sicily campaign and Marshall seems to have as much say as Stimson on the war and less access to the President than Harry Hopkins.

John Navarra
Daytona Beach, Florida