Omar Nelson Bradley KCB (February 12, 1893 – April 8, 1981) was one of the main U.S. Army field commanders in North Africa and Europe during World War II and a General of the Army in the United States Army. He was the last surviving five-star commissioned officer of the United States. He was the first officer assigned to the post of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Bradley did not receive a frontline command until early 1943 after Operation Torch. He had been given VIII Corps but instead was sent to North Africa to be Eisenhower's front-line troubleshooter. At Bradley's suggestion, II Corps, which had just suffered the devastating loss at the Kasserine Pass, was overhauled from top to bottom, and Eisenhower installed George S. Patton as Corps Commander. Patton requested Bradley as his deputy, but Bradley retained the right to represent Eisenhower as well.[2] Bradley succeeded Patton as head of II Corps in April and directed it in the final Tunisian battles of April and May. He then led his corps, by then the only corps in Patton's Seventh Army, on to Sicily in July. In the approach to Normandy Bradley was chosen to command the substantial US First Army, which alongside the British Second Army made up General Montgomery's 21st Army Group. He embarked for Normandy from Portsmouth aboard the heavy cruiser USS Augusta (CA-31). During the bombardment on D-day Bradley positioned himself at a steel command cabin built for him on the deck of the Augusta, 20 feet by 10 feet, the walls dominated by Michelin motoring maps of France, a few pin-ups and large scale maps of Normandy. A row of clerks sat at typewriters along one wall, while Bradley and his personal staff clustered around the large plotting table in the center.[citation needed] Much of that morning, however, Bradley stood on the bridge standing next to Task Force Commander Admiral Alan G. Kirk observing the landings through binoculars, his ears plugged with cotton to muffle the blast of Augusta's guns. Bradley has been criticized for his insistence on foregoing a longer and heavier naval bombardment of the American beaches in order to achieve surprise. Some say that this lack of support contributed to the heavy casualties accrued by the US assault forces at Omaha Beach.[citation needed] On 10 June General Bradley and his staff left the Augusta to establish headquarters ashore. During Operation Overlord he commanded three corps directed at the two American invasion targets, Utah Beach and Omaha Beach. Later in July he planned Operation Cobra, the beginning of the breakout from the Normandy beachhead. As the build-up continued in Normandy, the US Third Army was formed under Patton, Bradley's former commander, while General Hodges succeeded Bradley in command of the US First Army; together they made up Bradley's new command, the 12th Army Group. By August, the 12th Army Group had swollen to over 900,000 men and ultimately consisted of four field armies. It was the largest group of American soldiers to ever serve under one field commander. |