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16 Army Hist. 1 (1990)

handle is hein.milandgov/aryhsy0016 and id is 1 raw text is: ARMY HISTORY TH PROESSIONAL BULLETiN OF ARMY HISTORY PBI 20t9l-3 (No. 16)Washington, D.C. a1 19911 A Shortage of Strategists Gerald 1P. Sadler Today. we are shtorl of military strategis.s General Uw ght I. Eisenhower was a strategial Ike valued lrItory altt Ii eloped an uuielrslanding f mililary strategy anchored on that foundation. One of the most imnpimans developments thal emerged within the Alnny oflicer corps of the I2s and 19Q0s was the rdb k hit although onliy a lew f likcrs ac quired it Uhis hahit was not nmcety a study of war or batleks ra pas leaderS -I en mpassed those, of c ourse, but also mm 1 1o1 it mclridd an un anding hai t history a n dr ulge toward a grasp of s ategy. General Fisenhower in his ook . At Ease, recalls a irt1nlu Sunday afteinoon at Furi Meade in 19210 when, aliclr dinner, hIe and George S. Palton were qes liintd c l rlety by an ot wer wh was interested in their views on taitk~s 1 he suhiect was not well developed in th .nds of oilt. rs in the US. Army a that time, in Endand1 Bii H. Liddet 1at and ohn F C. Fullr had been thoroughly critical ot the unimaginative use of l:mk s ur mg the First World War. Pation had led tanks m:I that onlht and headed the tank school at Langres. Hance, fut the U. Army was slow to encourage or even nllow the concepis 1 a nIorted w fare to develop, inorder strategic analysis ikewise languished in fact, it is pIohably chatitable to say that the Army of the t 9 ntis did not encourage itellet t d (in tosily as a vied 1imen o off tlicer developen Fortunately r Ike, a rna tr wa ahous to take on the r:talenge of stirrin Ike'& mItller ha l ur1osity The man who turned Ike around was F ez Conner, rlrrln a i hree year tour w ith 'oPa ir 's brigade its Panama, Ike began to study hislo y. Mme import:ntly. lu c1me to understand its Ielatiorrstip o stalegic think ing I le asignmret to 'ana a was a hItulnale foillsw on 1 that Sunday atternoor when ('orurer listened to lisenhower s and Patton view aout tank warfae Fo Comi r er'sMnal lhbrary contained the books that kcd Ike lo study the Am11ici air 1i1 War, as well a. Ohr w trs IF ur Npu nduA t crnr w to ithat Ike wa eiposed to a broad speinm of stategic thought in wins. It to mtiegrate his study of histo .arid he used their regular horseback rides on tactical reconnaissnces to find out what his student had leared lke's experience was not typical. Mor commonly, officers before World War 11 neglected the sludy of military history and strategy--and their Ietlationship one to another. The l920s and 19 40s are not a bright or inspiring part of the Army's history . We know many of the grim sales horn those two decades,as severe redluef ions in the srzeof the Army occurred despit repeated waings by successive comianding generals that mlitary strength had dropped below the dangert eveI Pay was redued. nore tItan once. During In mtn, there was no pay at all The force was equipped with old weapons, and tranig was neglected. The Army withdrew inside its forts. entertained ilself, talked to itself. and became increasingly isolated Iim lhb surrounding comrmun- tr. I tiruate pay and iperatuonal funds. as muoh a any fauel eo rributedTothe Army'.sense nfs tsolrn and malaise. The Army of the interwar years also seemed numb mentally. Yet a remarkable coritadiction of those de.- adies is that, despite the prevailng climate, there arose a small nucleus of thinkers and doers with well-devel- oped Intellectual capital 'Ihese officers received both a firm grounding in military history and the institu- wtonal enc uragement to use their mental skills. Their achievernent was remarkable since they were in an A^my flat on its back in so mamy ways. GeneralGeorge C. Marshall wasacatalyst forthese men while he was assistant comnandant at Fort $en ning. Aftermoo sessions on nhs porch brought togeuher like minded officers--ludent, stall, and faculty--for study and, nol iucidertally, for Marshall's evaluation. Marshall's biographer. Forrest a2. pogue, has idenfiled over I 51) stIdents and 50 Instructors from that period who rose so flag rank during World War IL. Marshall was not only teaching, but also measuring their per- forniance-and their potential Earier. Maj. John C Morson at Fort Leavenwoth had challenged his stu- dents, Marshall among them, to think creatively. He fi w ilty used military history as the wedge to drive

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