And Marshall would be in Washington, D.C., far from Europe or the Pacific, creating military strategy and assisting the commander in chief, President Franklin D. MacArthur would be leading his troops from island to island in the Pacific toward the Japanese homeland. Then, in World War II, Patton would be drilling into Nazi-held territories with his tanks.
The three officers-MacArthur, Patton, and Marshall-were experiencing on a small scale in 1918 what they would be doing a quarter-century later on a much grander scale in World War II. Pershing, commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe, would never lead troops in combat. The overall plan they were part of of had been drawn up by a young officer whose extraordinary talent at planning, organizing, and administrative work kept him chained to a desk, the combat command he wanted so badly eluding him. The troops they were commanding were moving toward the French town of Essey, as part of the battle plan for the St. Today, they are famous for viewing themselves as almost bullet-proof, and on that day, just a few months before World War I ended, it seemed that they were. What each one said to the other is not certain, but what is not in dispute is that this is how Brig. The two officers, however, stood out in the open, talking as they prepared for their next moves. The two officers, who knew of each other but had never met, stopped to chat on a French battlefield for a few minutes.Īn artillery barrage burst around them, sending infantrymen diving for cover. Rode, 111-SC-17592, RG 111)Īs the American forces fought the German army in a World War I battle in September 1918, the commander of a brigade of infantrymen from the 42nd “Rainbow” Division encountered the commander of a U.S. Patton, Jr., next to a tank in France, July 1918.
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