A General’s Life (an autobiography by Bradley, Omar Nelson)

792 Pages·1983·52.244 MB·English

by  Clay Blair ( Collaborator ), Omar Nelson Bradley

V,
**y*
u
i
/>.
i ^
'<>,
L
i
AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY BY
i'
1
i]
AND
CLAY BLAIR
TM
H.
I
I
<V
-v-
>
.«
A ^Tj
Inthefinal yearsofhislonglife, five-starGeneralof
theArmyOmarBradleybegantheambitioustaskof TouUn
writing his autobiography He chose to"wf5rK>wirt} CORSICAX\Jf HHooAmnmeie-i*c
Clay Blair, an expert on World War II, and granted
Mr. Blairnumerous interviews and full access to all SARDINIA
o
hispersonalpapers.Theresultofthiscollaborationis
an extraordinary autobiography, vivid and compel-
sicPamla
ling, a sweeping and vital slice of"American history TORCH
Omar Bradley grew up in near-poverty in rural n/a/42 Bmrte
Bone
Missouri. He won an appointment to West Poiht
when the prime candidate failed the rigorous Bnfuiax
entrance examinations. A good student and out-
standing athlete, Bradley missed action in France in
WorldWarI andbelievedhiscareertoberuinedasa
result. Nevertheless,hesteadilyadvancedinapeace-
time army reduced to barely 100,000 men until he •CHCTTT
RTH AFRICA
caughtthe eye ofGeneral George C. Marshall, who
<ND SICILY
sent Bradley to serve with General Dwight Eisen-
howerinNorthAfricaearlyinWorldWarII. Bradley 1942,-AUG.30,J943
provedhimselfaskilledbattlefieldgeneral thereand
inSicily, andhewaschosentoleadAmericantroops BNC;U5HCHANNEL
in the D-Day invasion of France. He eventually Cherbow
&
commanded four field armies (1.3 million men) in
>
Europe, the largest American fighting force in his-
tory. His victorious campaign in Europe has earned O
General Bradley an esteemed place in American
history.
Whatdistinguishesthisautobiography isnotonly
the enthralling narrative ofthese events but General
Bradley's total candor in evaluating his wartime
colleagues. Bradley rates Eisenhower as an able
diplomatbutapoorbattlefield manager; he assesses
George Patton as a leader with so many grave
personal faults that Patton was only reluctantly
chosen to participate in the invasion ofFrance; and
BradleydepictsMontgomeryasanoverratedgeneral
whose style of warfare was already outmoded and
whosemegalomaniamadehimnearly impossibleto
work with.
GeneralBradley'spost-WorldWarIIcareerisless
well known but no less important. As head of the
Veterans Administration, he managed the enormous
task of coping with 15 million new veterans, com-
pletely transforming the VA in the process. He
(continuedon backflap)

Digitized by the Internet Archive
2012
in
http://archive.org/details/generalslifeautOObrad

ArnoldNewman
A
GENERAL'S
LIFE
**
AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY
B^i
GENERAL OF THE ARMY
OMAR BRADLEY
N.
and Clay Blair
SIMON AND SCHUST1 R
NEW
\ (>Rk
Grateful acknowledgment is made to thefollowingfor permission to reprint the materials
listed:
ThePattonPapers, Vol. II(1940-1945), edited by Martin Blumenson. Copyright © 1974by
Martin Blumenson. Reprinted by permissionofHoughton Mifflin Company.
Triumph in the West (Vol. II ofThe Alanbrooke Diaries), edited by Arthur Bryant. Copy-
right © 1959by Arthur Bryant. Reprinted by permission ofDoubleday & Company, Inc. and
Collins Publishers, London.
ThePapers ofDwightDavidEisenhower, nine volumes, edited by Alfred D. Chandlerand
Louis Galambos. Copyright © 1970-1978. Reprinted by permission ofThe Johns Hopkins
University Press.
Memoirsby BernardMontgomery. Copyright © 1958by BernardLaw,ViscountMontgom-
eryofAlamein. Reprinted by permission ofCollins Publishers, London.
The Eisenhower Diaries (Vol. IV), edited by Robert H. Ferrell. Copyright © 1981. Re-
printed by permission ofW.W. Norton and Company, Inc.
Maps copyright © 1983 byRafaelD. Palacios Commelin.
Copyright © 1983 by Estate ofGeneral ofthe ArmyOmarN. Bradley and Clay Blair
All rights reserved
includingthe rightofreproduction
inwhole orin part in anyform
Published by Simon and Schuster
A Division ofGulf& WesternCorporation
Simon & SchusterBuilding
RockefellerCenter
1230Avenue ofthe Americas
New York, New York 10020
Simon and Schusterandcolophonare trademarksofSimon & Schuster
Designedby Eve Kirch
Productionby Richard L. Willett
Photo research by Vincent Virga
Manufactured in the United States ofAmerica
Library ofCongress Catalogingin Publication Data
Bradley, OmarNelson, 1893-
Ageneral's life.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. B—radley, OmarNelso—n, 1893- . 2. United
—States History,—Military 20th century. 3. Generals
United States Biography. 4. United States.
Army—Biography. I. Blair, Clay, 1925- .
II. Title.
E745.B693 1983 940.54'2i'0924 [B] 82-19404
ISBN 0-671-41023-7
To Kitty, my beloved wife, who saved my life
and filled every day ofit—withjoy.
Omar N. Bradley