Crusade in Europe

Media:	Paperback
Author:	Dwight David Eisenhower
Publisher:	The Johns Hopkins University Press
Release date:	01 June, 1997
List price:	~~$19.95~~
Our price:	$13.97 that is 30% off!

Crusade in Europe

Average rating: Stars

Should Be Required High School, College Reading

This should be required reading in high schools and universities. The description of battles is not the primary focus. The book is about the political and military personalities, the political and economic considerations, the benefits and problems of press coverage, risk management, planning and preparation, limitations of material and transportation, the justification of risking lives, military vs. social issues, the impossibility of knowing everything and always being right, individual efforts (from generals to troops), the consequences of weather, seasonal considerations, the importance of unified command, team building, and morale. Morale is critical, requiring many factors and constant effort.

It is the fleshed out, rounded picture of war and people that makes it interesting. Of course, he is an politically astute, or he would not have been able to do the job; so, he doesn't really give the dirt on people even while indicating problems.

He fully understands the critical issues of logistics and the productive capacity of a nation at war. (For an even deeper understanding of this, and how it fails under dictatorships from ancient Sparta and Rome to modern Germany and Japan, see the chapter, "The Energy Circuit in Wartime," in Paterson's "The God of the Machine.")

Given the various failures and miscalculations of large operations, the reader can easily imagine that given the attitudes of modern press coverage of Iraq by shallow minded news anchors and politicians, neither Eisenhower, nor Bradly, nor Montgomery, nor Patton would have been able to keep their jobs.

One lesson: It takes months, even years to properly plan and prepare for major military operations, depending on the strength of the enemy. In this case, from the need to design and build new types of landing craft to the need for feeding the civilians of Europe.

Crusade in Europe - Dwight David Eisenhower

Ike's Manifesto

Very good book for someone seeking the view of the War in Europe from Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, essentially the CEO of the war in the west. Not a ghostwritten account, and at times it's difficult to keep straight the one-star and two-star generals, as Ike mentions the name, what he did, and whether he was British, Canadian, or American. A professionial writer (although this is still a very readable book) would add a physical desription, and when the name comes up again, that writer would refer to him as "the British general."

I read Churchill's "Second World War" before this, and it's interesting to see Churchill's various rebuttals to criticisms by Ike of the Prime Minister. (There weren't that many of them).

One almost comical account was Churchill's insistance that he visit the Normandy beaches--on D-Day! Luckily, King George stepped in and resolved the situation and kept the 69 year-old Prime Minister in London on June 6.

Ike does a pretty good job of keeping the Zeus-like egos of Montgomery, Patton and DeGaulle in check, too.

In my opinion, Eisenhower doesn't get as much credit as he deserves, as just getting a force of the size of the Allied Expeditionary Force supplied with ammnuniton, fuel, food and the like was a monumental task.

Dwight David Eisenhower - Crusade in Europe

Ike 's PROFILES IN COURAGE

While I can certainly appreciate the political problems Dwight David Eisenhower had to deal with while executing the liberation of Europe, I find this, his own description of D-DAY to VE-DAY quite wanting in the historical perspective.

There is little doubt that being between FDR, Marshall and Churchill was quite a daunting assignment. What is most intriguing about Ike's account of the lengths The US War Department went to help Bataan is just how many pages Ike devotes to apologizing for virtually abandoning it. Is there a new study on why the US Defense Department abandoned Bataan here?
Are the facts as Ike spelled them out, a coverup?

Much of this book has been repeatedly cited in the numerous WWII
European war studies that have come out since its initial publication. Ike's prose is elegant and witty. It is a good read if you are interested in Ike's opinions on his military staff and his personal war experiences. But as a study on the European and African theatres of WWII it lacks scholarship.

But, if you were going to run as a candidate for President of the United States(or was being drafted by the Republicans and Democrats at the time), this is sure a nice book to base a Presidential campaign on.

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