soc.history.war.world-war-ii

On Sat, 29 Mar 2008 10:01:10 -0400, thornley@visi.com (David Thornley)
wrote:

>>The fact that he didn't have to is a reflection on his capacity;
>
>What makes you think he didn't have to?

Aside from the competitive Patton/Monty jockeying which demands the
denigration of Alexander as a matter of course to legitimise their own
egotistical posturing, what makes you think that he did have to?

>Alexander exerted no grip on the situation in Sicily, except at
>Montgomery's request.

What do you mean by 'no grip', though? Who should have have sacked
and why? Meanwhile, his record in Tunisia and Sicily can arguably be
taken to indicate that he was open-minded enough to change plans at
both Montgomery's and Patton's request. Where can we distinguish the
difference between 'lack of grip' and 'responsiveness to subordinate's
initiative'?

>He completely failed to control Clark,
>and was extremely frustrated by the man.

He was, but then my thesis is that Alexander - correctly - understood
that Clark was irreplaceable and essentially uncontrollable for
political reasons, as Eisenhower correctly judged Monty in a similar
context. Meanwhile Alexander showed a propensity to facilitate the
removal of US Corps commanders on a scale which would have caused
severe post-facto criticism if Monty had summoned the temerity to try
it....

>Had Alexander gotten things done in Sicily and Italy according to
>his will, without confrontation, that would be impressive. That,
>however, is precisely what didn't happen. He let his subordinates
>run him and defy him without consequence.

Did he though? The critical point is how far his ability to coerce
conformity with his wishes actually extended. The inter-allied
command experience of Eisenhower and even Clark suggests that the
political limitations on commanders to compel operational compliance
from their subordinate commanders was in fact more limited than many
might suspect. In which case defining the instances where Alexander
appreciably failed to impose his will demands a considered examination
of the alternatives courses available to him at the time. Plus the
detrimental impact this might have had on the more critical areas of
his responsibilities, such as his social entertaining.

Gavin Bailey


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