VIKINGS, VISION AND SOLDIER’S SOULS

This picture shows what might have been the greatest amount of distilled combat leadership in the European Theatre. Left to right;

BG Teddy Roosevelt, Jr

MG Terry Allen

LTG George Patton

Mythology points to Vikings as the penultimate symbol of the Gods of War and the leaders of men in mortal moments. These three are reasonable facsimiles with the added quality of being real.?

If one wishes to understand why soldiers fight, it is in the skills embedded within their leaders.?These men demonstrated a core combat competency that was both deeply admired and equally disconcerting….to others.

This photo is in North Africa where all three awoke our Army and built a quality fighting force-TR and Allen in the 1st ID and Patton with a Corps.?They would go on to lead 7th Army in Sicily and make a permanent record of greatness.

To understand them better, one needs to understand our Army when it landed in North Africa.?It was raw, eager, untested and filled with leadership ranging from old National Guard cronies to untested but eager leaders-most lacked combat experience and compensated by either enthusiasm or inappropriate preconceived manners of behavior.

The Regulars were salted with veterans of WW I who understood combat, but not the nature of the newly demonstrated warfare executed by an invincible German Wehrmacht. This would rapidly change.

Their soldiers were equally raw-the short-term production result from the Depression and a vastly expanded military. While prepared to fight, they with few exceptions, did not know how and most of the leadership initially failed them. Then these three arrived on the cusp of defeat at Kasserine.

The shambles of the Pass became a blank check for adaptable leadership to emerge which it quickly did. These three understood intuitively, that creating soldier self-worth, pride in oneself as a soldier and the application of combined arms would be the nutrition upon which the Army would grow and regain its sense of self-worth.

Each went about his task in similar but also different ways. Patton fired lax officers, promoted the brighter he could find and demanded basic soldier discipline.?All this before any specific training.?He was seen everywhere which forced his subordinates to be seen more often. He also served as a symbol soldiers could adhere to as a leader worthy of the led. He gave the Army heart.

Allen, as Commanding General of the 1st Infantry, made quality training a basic aspect of his force.?In the hard scrub of Tunisia, he constantly ran his units through combined arms live fires until they were more in fear of him than the Germans.?In so doing, they gained the unquantifiable, but essential quality of a first class unit-Pride in skills well done.

Roosevelt took his cue as the leader and father figure. As an overage guy with a weathered face and a cane, he was more appropriate on a porch than a firing range.?But he was constantly up front, at night, in bad weather and at the cusp of the forward edge of engaged units.?If the Old Man can be here, we can do this. He gave the Army Soul.

Between the three, they rebuilt our Army to where it became the master of the battlefield- a fact recognized by the Germans before the British.?The future successes of Sicily, France and the Bulge are directly attributed to Patton’s drive, Allen’s training and Roosevelt’s presence.

This triumvirate of personality recognized that armies are built on intangibles rather than weaponry and mass. To effectively employ resources, the person must be the primary resource-from that all else flows. These three were the Vikings for our Odin of War.