Eisenhower.

 This is coolbert:

Here from the January 2014 "Armchair General" article by Jerry D. Morlock, PhD:

"Eisenhower UNDER FIRE, 1944-45"

Extracts and commentary:

"Ike's war fighting strategy and his military competence were the targets of savage attacks by America's British Allies."

MacArthur in his memoirs having described the various campaigns in the European Theater [ETO] during the Second World War [WW2] as "timid".

Timid that term most pejorative in the military sense, suggestive of uninspired and unimaginative effort, military operations not accomplished with the necessary assertiveness and aggressiveness.

Ike with second-guessing in the aftermath of the war seen by some as a commander "uninspired and unimaginative", too "timid", EVEN THAT THE WAR PROLONGED IN THE ETO BY MONTHS!!

1. Eisenhower in those year prior to American entry into the Second World War [WW2] by reputation considered to be the BEST officer in the U.S. Army.

"Working with MacArthur not only taught Ike how to deal with difficult, strong-willed personalities, it also lead an officer efficiency report in which MacArthur - - the U.S. Army's ranking officer, - - called then - - Major Eisenhower 'the best officer in the Army'"

[Understand BEST as meaning more correctly understood as STAFF officer. BEST of course that subjective judgment but again understand that Ike during his career not the commander of a combat arms unit OR indeed never even the commander of ANY unit of any type at all. That reputation of Eisenhower as a pedagogue, an instructor, a man skilled at training troops but most significant, a long and distinguished record of staff work that was without equal!]

2. That broad front advance of the western allies as described and characterized in the aftermath of the Normandy Campaign more correct understood as a DUAL AXIS advance.

"Eisenhower's strategy developed by his SHAEF staff and agreed upon in May 1944 before the D-Day invasion, called for advancing along dual axes, with Montgomery's 21 Army Group in the north and General Omar N. Bradley's 12th Army Group further south . . . [and] The southern flank of that dual axis advance was to be guarded and supported by General Jacob J. Devers' U.S/French 6th Army Group after it landed in Southern France in mid-August."

3. That ability of the German combat commander to form ad hoc combat units that were able to perform in a proficient manner on the battlefield especially on the defensive also recognized.

"The German army soon demonstrated an almost miraculous capacity to regenerate and quick reorganize its seemingly 'defeated' forces."

[those ad hoc units consisting quite often of a regiment of trained and experienced infantry, a company of armor [tanks], a battery each of artillery and air defense, several battalions of Kriegsmarine sailors, Luftwaffe ground crews and Hitler Youth inducted into the army, called a "division" on-paper STILL with superior generalship a credible fighting force to be taken into account.]

"The German army's incredible resilience, and its ability to create new fighting forces seemingly out of thin air and launch devastating counter-strokes, had already - - and often - - been demonstrated on the Eastern Front in the wake of Red Army offensives"

[Those German generals very good at sealing a rupture in the defense, a break through, and responding with alacrity and resourcefulness. Ike having a healthy respect for the combat command presence of the German enemy commander.]

4. AND perhaps most importantly. NOT even mentioned in the article by Mr. Morlock.

That observation having been made and Ike keenly aware of that military forces comprising of coalitions rarely fight well.

At all time Eisenhower seeking to establish and maintain a high degree and level of harmony between the western Allies [English and Americans. Avoid to the greatest extent possible all discord, no unfocused and diffused energy allowed.

Ike in that period between the World Wars the foremost authority on the campaigns of Napoleon. Napoleon quite often aware of and able to take advantage of discord and disharmony among his coalition rivals, French battlefield success often a result.

That Dodecanese campaign the type of unfocused and diffused energy and military power the type of misadventure to be avoided at all cost by Ike.

coolbert.