Quote Originally Posted by wm View Post
If you want to tout WWII Allied Generals with "consistent competency," I suspect you need to include Patch and Lucian Truscott Jr.. Patch was also a significant leader in the Pacific (Formed the Americal Divison, later the overall commander on Guadalcanal) before moving to the European Theater. I cannot recall any other Allied General who has a similar claim to fame, but I look forward to being corrected if I am wrong.
You're correct on all counts wm, and I apologize for my negligence. And contrary to some accounts, the advance from the Riviera up the Rhone was rather less of a walk in the park as many histories might lead some to believe (principally out of negligence, again). After all, our man Audey Murphy won his MH in the wake of Anvil. Devens and Patch made remarkable time, even if the German retreat could have been better handled. Except for the outstanding Alpine Corps, the great majority of 1st French Army was a dead-weight on logistics, not to mention a political nuisance.

I believe Truscott, in addition to his superlative training and handling of his men and his formations, was the only subordinate general to ever go eyeball -to-eyeball with Patton, and come out of it (professionally) intact. One of the gutsiest moves any US General ever made beyond the direct observation and fire of the enemy during WWII.