United States Army in World War II
The War Department
Washington Command Post: The Operations Division
byRay S. Cline
Contents
Chapter Page I. THE ARMY HIGH COMMAND BEFORE PEARL HARBOR 1 Principles of Command 4 Territorial and Tactical Elements of the Army in 1941 8 Origins and Development of the General Staff 14 The War Department after World War I 19 General Staff Doctrine and Procedure 24 II. THE WAR PLANS DIVISION 29 Strategic Planning Agency for the Army 29 WPD and the GHQ Concept 31 War Planning: 1921-40 34 Staff Authority 37 III. EARLY INTERSERVICE AND INTERNATIONAL STAFF PLANNING 40 Politico-Military Coordination 41 Joint Board Machinery 44 International Military Collaboration 47 IV. DEVELOPMENTS IN 1941 50 Organization, Duties, and Strength of WPD 52 War Planning: 1941 55 Expansion of the Functions of GHQ 61 The Army Air Forces Drive for Autonomy 67 Early Proposals for Reorganization of the War Department 70 V. TRANSITION INTO WAR 75 The Failure of Follow-Up 75 WPD and Actual Operations 79 Strength, Personnel, and Organization of WPD 83 The First Wartime International Conference 87 VI. ORGANIZING THE HIGH COMMAND FOR WORLD WAR II 90 Reorganization of the War Department 90 The "Streamlined" War Department 93 National and International Planning 96 Development of the Joint and Combined Chiefs of Staff System 98 Military Planning and National Policy 104 VII. THE NEW ARMY COMMAND POST 107 Functions of the Operations Division 108 Staff Procedure after the Reorganization 111 OPD's Relations with Other War Department Agencies 114 Unique Function of OPD 118 VIII. INSIDE OPD 120 Group Organization and Duties 123 Records, Procedures, and Personnel 133 The New Planning Process 135 The New Theater Orientation 137 Basic Administrative Practices 139 IX. CASE HISTORY: DRAFTING THE BOLERO PLAN 143 The Search for a Common Strategy 143 WPD's Recommendations on Strategy 147 JCS Decision on Deployment Policy 152 The BOLERO Plan 154 British Acceptance of the Marshall Memorandum 158 Machinery for Executing the BOLERO Plan 160 X. THE TORCH PERIOD 164 Redefinition of Levels of Planning 166 Staff Work in the Joint Committee System 169 Theater Group Organization 174 Expansion of Logistics Group Activities 175 Personnel and Personnel Problems 178 OPD's Role in TORCH 180 Case History in Confusion 183 XI. TRANSITION TO THE LATER WAR YEARS 188 Staffing the Command Post (1943-45) 191 Officer Personnel (1943-45) 195 The Secretariat 201 Army Planning and Control of Operations (1943-45) 202 New Patterns of Staff Work in OPD 209 XII. MIDWAR INTERNATIONAL MILITARY CONFERENCES 213 Casablanca Conference: 14-23 January 1943 215 TRIDENT: 12-25 May 1943 219 QUADRANT: 14-24 August 1943 222 SEXTANT: 22 November-7 December 1943 226 Through OVERLORD 232 XIII. OPD AND JOINT PLANNING (1943-45) 234 Need for Better Joint Planning 235 Reorganization of the Joint Staff System 237 Joint War Plans Committee 239 Army Versus Joint Advice for the Army Planner 242 Joint Strategic Preparation for CCS Discussions 247 Planning with Army Air Forces 249 Control of Army Air Operations Overseas 252 Joint Logistic Planning 257 Creation of the Joint Logistics Committee 262 OPD and Joint Logistic Planning 265 XIV. CONTROLLING TROOPS AND MATEÉRIEL 269 The General Staff and the Army Service Forces 270 Logistics Inside the General Staff 274 The Issue of Staff Authority 275 The Issue of Staff Organization in OPD 278 Logistics and Troop Movements (October 1943-September 1945) 284 XV. LINKS WITH THE OVERSEAS THEATERS 290 Special Trip for the Chief of Staff, 1943 293 Preview of Amphibious Assault 296 The OVERLORD Period and After 299 Liaison with Commands in the Pacific and Far East 303 Strategic Planning Liaison 306 Attitudes of the Theater Commanders 309 XVI. MILITARY PLANNING AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS 312 Liaison with the White House 312 Liaison with the State Department 317 Early Politico-Military Committee Work 320 State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee 326 Staff Action by OPD 327 The International Conferences of 1944 and 1945 330 XVII. CASE HISTORY: PLANNING THE END OF THE WAR AGAINST JAPAN 333 Initial American Strategy 334 Planning for a Prolonged Pacific War 340 Evolution of the Terminal Surrender Formula 345 The Atomic Bomb 346 Surrender Documents and Occupation Plans 350 XVIII. AFTER OPD 352 Postwar Study of Army Organization 352 Reorganization in 1946 358 National Security Act 361 Appendix A. DIVISION, GROUP, AND SECTION CHIEFS IN OPD, 21 FEBRUARY 1942-2 SEPTEMBER 1945 363 B. U.S. ARMY COMMANDERS IN MAJOR THEATER COMMANDS, DECEMBER 1941-SEPTEMBER 1945 373 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE AND GUIDE TO FOOTNOTES 382 GLOSSARY OF ABBREVIATIONS AND CODE NAMES 390 INDEX 395
Charts
No. Page 1. War Plans Division, War Department General Staff, 15 September 1941 51 2. War Plans Division, War Department General Staff, 21 December 1941 85 3. War Plans Division, War Department General Staff, 12 May 1942 126 4. War Plans Division, War Department General Staff, 27 April 1945 193
Illustrations
No. Page 1. Officers of the War Plans Division 84 2. Gen. George C. Marshall and Lt. Gen. Joseph T. McNarney 90 3. Maj. Gen. Thomas T. Handy 166 4. Lt. Gen. John E. Hull 192 All pictures in this volume are from U.S. Army photographs.
