oldtanker said: (quoted from post at 15:53:49 10/21/14)
Bret4207 said: (quoted from post at 04:20:43 10/21/14) MacA had a god complex 2nd to none. He did good stuff and some lousy, ignorant things. He was a classic example of being your own worst enemy. But the had a great group of men in front of him doing the fighting.
Actually he was at the front pretty often. There is ample testimony to that. Sure not every guy saw him on the lines but the records show he was up there some. Not in the same way that Chesty Puller was but then when Puller was up on the line he wasn't wearing stars. Yes, he was considered arrogant but was also considered a military genius. When the Japanese invaded the islands he pulled his men back to the Bataan Peninsula that was good defensible terrain instead of trying to fight a delaying action in terrain that favored the enemy. He could also be petty. Like every man he had faults.
I don't care how good of men you have if you are a poor leader they don't perform well. They are many examples of that in military history. A great leader can get poor performers to perform well while a poor leader can destroy a good fighting force fast, and not by getting them killed, just by destroying their will to succeed. And it doesn't take long for troops to figure out a leader.
Rick
I have yet to read anything that McA did that moves him into the genius class. Rommel was a genius, Yamamoto, Guderian, Halsey maybe. OTOH, I have read a lot of what MacA said about himself that promoted him as a genius. Sorry, I just don't see it. He made some good decisions and some poor ones. Above all else he had the pedigree and personality to present himself as a genius. He was brave in his youth but he belonged to an earlier era where the blue bloods sent the cannon fodder into the fight while they directed the drama. I know he made good moves in addition to bad, but I don't see him so much as a great general as a self promoting emperor in waiting.
This post was edited by Bret4207 at 04:47:20 10/22/14.
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