Beetle: The Life of General Walter Bedell Smith (American Warriors Series)

Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. May 05, Pam Davidson rated it really liked it. This is a tome -- a door stop but I do recommend it. Walter Bedell Smith was the ultimate insider and except for his name probably being the inspiration of the cartoon Beetle Smith, you never hear him mentioned historically.

He was Eisenhower's right hand and left hand man, the go-to guy to talk with Roosevelt and Churchill. He did l This is a tome -- a door stop but I do recommend it. He did lots of the dirtly work for Eisenhower and had the ulcers to prove it. What was particularly fascinating is how World War II was being run by a huge bureacracy. It's amazing that anything ever was accomplished with some many layers of decisions that needed to be made.

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The description of Ike is not particulary flattering. He is the first president I can remember. If this book has been written before he ran for President, well he wouldn't have been elected. It portrays the British as initially fighting for their existence and then once that was assured, fighting to keep their position as a major world power against the up and coming United States. It was a futile battle. Jul 12, Dustin rated it it was amazing. Let me first say I am biased by the fact that Dr. Crosswell, the author of this book, was one of my professors and a man I greatly admire.

That being said, this is an immensely comprehensive and interesting historical work. Yes, it is very acronym heavy, but it is a work that simply needs to be. It is a historical text, intended for those with scholarly interest in history.

It may not be for the regular Joe who enjoys history then again it may be for some , but it is an incredible work by an in Let me first say I am biased by the fact that Dr. It may not be for the regular Joe who enjoys history then again it may be for some , but it is an incredible work by an incredible historian. Crosswell has an amazing understanding for, and a seemingly endless knowledge of, history not only WWII, but history in general , and this book is a clear example of that.

Jan 18, Lee rated it liked it Shelves: Good grief, this was huge!! I lost interest sometime in , and skipped ahead to the part I wanted to read: Unfortunately, it seemed like there were two books here at least , and the one that was the biography of Smith was way overshadowed. I had difficulty whenever the book tried to cover the snarled lines of supply that bedeviled the Allies in The author ma Good grief, this was huge!!

The author may have been as confused as I was, because I could not make heads or tails of what the problem was, what the suggested solution was, or what the results were. I did gather that Eisenhower didn't want to make a hard decision, and so left a lot of things lie. The Eisenhower that emerges here, by the way, is a very different one than I have sometimes read, but agrees with other detractors. As I said above, he tried to avoid hard decisions, and preferred to hide behind woolly memos that weren't really orders. Feb 20, Scott rated it really liked it.

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If I had tried reading this book more than five years ago, I would have found it boring. The story provided yet another data point of amazement that anything ever gets accomplished. The author did not paint a very favorable picture of Dwight D. Kuter paid Patton a visit at his headquarters. Their meeting was interrupted by a German air raid that convinced the airmen that General Patton had a point. Coningham withdrew his written criticisms and he apologized. To Eisenhower, this command arrangement meant a reversion to the old British "committee system".

He drafted a cable to the Combined Chiefs of Staff demanding a unified command structure, but Smith persuaded him to tear it up. Disagreements arose between Allied commanders over the operational plan, which called for a series of dispersed landings, based on the desire of the air, naval, and logistical planners concerning the early capture of ports and airfields. General Bernard Montgomery , the commander of the British Eighth Army , objected to this aspect of the plan, since it exposed the Allied forces to defeat in detail.

Montgomery put forward an alternate plan that involved American and British forces landing side by side. He convinced Smith that his alternate plan was sound, and the two men then persuaded most of the other Allied commanders.

Montgomery's plan provided for the early seizure of airfields, which satisfied Tedder and Cunningham. The fears of logisticians like Major General Thomas B. Larkin that supply would not be practical without a port were resolved by the use of amphibious trucks. While Castellano had hoped to arrange terms for Italy to join the United Nations against Nazi Germany , Smith was empowered to draw up an armistice between Italy and Allied armed forces , but he was unable to negotiate political matters. Churchill reluctantly gave way at Eisenhower's insistence. Brooke released Gale only after a strong appeal from Smith, [43] but refused to transfer Strong.

A heated exchange resulted, and Brooke later complained to Eisenhower about Smith's behavior. This was the only time that a senior British officer ever complained openly about Smith. Betts as his deputy. Smith was promoted to lieutenant general and also made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in January This was according to Eisenhower's expressed desire not to have his headquarters inside of a major city.

By the time Overlord began, accommodations had been provided for officers and 6, enlisted men and women.

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Eisenhower and Smith's offices were in a subterranean complex. Smith's office was spartan, dominated by a large portrait of Marshall. The forward headquarters was remote and inaccessible, and it lacked the necessary communications equipment. By November , Strong was reporting that there was a possibility of a German counteroffensive in the Ardennes or the Vosges. Smith sent Strong to personally warn Bradley, who was preparing an offensive of his own.

He felt Bradley had been given ample warning. Once battle was joined, Eisenhower acted decisively, committing the two armored divisions in the 12th Army Group's reserve over Bradley's objection, along with his own meager reserves, two airborne divisions. Whiteley and Betts visited the U. First Army headquarters and they were unimpressed with the way its commanders were handling the situation.

Strong, Whiteley, and Betts recommended that command of the armies north of the Ardennes be transferred from Bradley to Montgomery. Smith's immediate reaction was to dismiss the suggestion out of hand. He told Strong and Whiteley that they were fired and should pack their bags and return to the United Kingdom. On the next morning, Smith apologized. He had had second thoughts, and he informed them that he would present their recommendation to Eisenhower as his own. He realized the military and political implications of this, and knew that such a recommendation had to come from an American officer.

On December 20, he recommended it to Eisenhower, who telephoned both General Bradley and Montgomery, and Eisenhower ordered it. This decision was greatly resented by many Americans, particularly in 12th Army Group, who felt that the action discredited the U. Army 's command structure. Steps were taken to divert men from Communications Zone units. Lee , persuaded Eisenhower to allow soldiers to volunteer for service "without regard to color or race to the units where assistance is most needed, and give you the opportunity of fighting shoulder to shoulder to bring about victory".

Smith immediately grasped the political implications of this. He put his position to Eisenhower in writing:. Although I am now somewhat out of touch with the War Department's Negro policy, I did, as you know, handle this during the time I was with General Marshall. Unless there has been a radical change, the sentence which I have marked in the attached circular letter will place the War Department in very grave difficulties.

It is inevitable that this statement will get out, and equally inevitable that the result will be that every Negro organization, pressure group and newspaper will take the attitude that, while the War Department segregates colored troops into organizations of their own against the desires and pleas of all the Negro race, the Army is perfectly willing to put them in the front lines mixed in units with white soldiers, and have them do battle when an emergency arises.

Two years ago I would have considered the marked statement the most dangerous thing that I had ever seen in regard to Negro relations. I have talked with Lee about it, and he can't see this at all. He believes that it is right that colored and white soldiers should be mixed in the same company. With this belief I do not argue, but the War Department policy is different. Since I am convinced that this circular letter will have the most serious repercussions in the United States, I believe that it is our duty to draw the War Department's attention to the fact that this statement has been made, to give them warning as to what may happen and any facts which they may use to counter the pressure which will undoubtedly be placed on them.

The policy was revised, with Negro soldiers serving in provisional platoons. In the 12th Army Group these were attached to regiments, while in the 6th Army Group the platoons were grouped into whole companies attached to the division. The former arrangement were generally better rated by the units they were attached to, because the Negro platoons had no company-level unit training. On 15 April , the Nazi governor Reichskommissar of the Netherlands , Arthur Seyss-Inquart , offered to open up Amsterdam to food and coal shipments to ease the suffering of the civilian population.

After threatening Seyss-Inquart with prosecution for war crimes, Smith successfully negotiated for the provision of food to the suffering Dutch civilian population in the cities in the west of the country, and he opened discussions for the peaceful and complete German capitulation in the Netherlands, to the First Canadian Army , that did follow on the 5th of May.

Smith had to conduct another set of surrender negotiations, that of the German armed forces, in May Once again, Strong acted as an interpreter. Smith took a hard line, threatening that unless terms were accepted, the Allies would seal the front, thus forcing the remaining Germans into the hands of the Red Army , but he made some concessions regarding a ceasefire before the surrender came into effect. Smith briefly returned to the United States in June In August, Eisenhower nominated Smith as his successor as commander of U.

Walter Bedell Smith - Wikipedia

Smith was passed over in favor of General Joseph McNarney. Secretary of State James F. Smith's service as the American ambassador was not a success. Although no fault of Smith's, during his tenure the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union deteriorated rapidly as the Cold War set in.

Smith's tenacity of purpose came across as a lack of flexibility, and it did nothing to allay Soviet fears about American intentions. He became thoroughly disillusioned and turned into a hardened cold warrior who saw the Soviet Union as a secretive, totalitarian and antagonistic state. We dare not allow ourselves any false sense of security. We must anticipate that the Soviet tactic will be to wear us down, to exasperate us, and to keep probing for weak spots, and we must cultivate firmness and patience to a degree we have never before required. Smith returned to the United States in March Built on the Johns Hopkins University Campus.

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Without cookies your experience may not be seamless. Crosswell Book Published by: The University Press of Kentucky Series: A valued adviser and trusted insider in the highest echelon of U. His bulldog tenacity earned him an opportunity to work with General George C. Marshall in , playing an essential role in forming the offices of the Combined and Joint Chiefs of Staff; and after his appointment as chief of staff to Dwight D. Among his many duties, Smith negotiated and signed the surrenders of the Italian and German armed forces on May 7, Despite his contributions to twentieth-century American military and diplomatic history, the life and work of Smith have largely gone unappreciated.

Crosswell offers the first full-length biography of the general, including insights into his close relationships with Marshall and Eisenhower.