Welcome to the WWII Forums! Log in or Sign up to interact with the community.

who is this 2 star general in italy ?

Discussion in 'Italy, Sicily & Greece' started by Owen, Mar 10, 2016.

  1. Owen

    Owen O

    Joined:
    May 14, 2006
    Messages:
    2,765
    Likes Received:
    760
  2. McCabe

    McCabe Active Member

    Joined:
    Nov 1, 2013
    Messages:
    282
    Likes Received:
    53
    Location:
    Virginia
    Could very well be Major General Ernest J. Dawley. Is that a XI VI on the left side of the front fender? He was certainly a 2-star general, at least for a while... he commanded XI VI Corps for Salerno, but was sent back to the States by Mark Clark shortly after.
    [​IMG]
     
  3. Owen

    Owen O

    Joined:
    May 14, 2006
    Messages:
    2,765
    Likes Received:
    760
    More likely a VI as it was VI Corps at Salerno, :)
     
  4. McCabe

    McCabe Active Member

    Joined:
    Nov 1, 2013
    Messages:
    282
    Likes Received:
    53
    Location:
    Virginia
    Lol I meant VI
     
  5. Owen

    Owen O

    Joined:
    May 14, 2006
    Messages:
    2,765
    Likes Received:
    760
    for reference to those who don't know , could someone explain what command each type of star general had?
    division , corps , army etc.
    cheers
     
  6. Owen

    Owen O

    Joined:
    May 14, 2006
    Messages:
    2,765
    Likes Received:
    760
    not Troy Middleton is it?

    [​IMG]
     
  7. Highway70

    Highway70 Member

    Joined:
    Aug 7, 2009
    Messages:
    156
    Likes Received:
    39
    Location:
    Challenge, CA
    Not certain, but I think it is Major General Dawley. The nose looks to be the same shape and the shadow on the upper lip could be a his mustache..
     
  8. Owen

    Owen O

    Joined:
    May 14, 2006
    Messages:
    2,765
    Likes Received:
    760
    cheers chaps , that's 3 of us that think that then.
     
  9. TD-Tommy776

    TD-Tommy776 Man of Constant Sorrow

    Joined:
    Jun 3, 2011
    Messages:
    7,217
    Likes Received:
    1,270
    Location:
    The Land of 10,000 Loons
    Those were my thoughts as well. In the jeep photo, his face looks much thinner than the other photo, but that could be explained in a couple of ways.

    BTW, would it be in poor taste to point out that he seems to be knuckle-deep in the photo?
     
  10. Terry D

    Terry D Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2015
    Messages:
    602
    Likes Received:
    264
    Location:
    Huerta, California
    Two star...? My first thought was Robert Frederick, but he didn't get his second star until December 1944. Ernest Harmon had the mustache but he was stockier than the man in the photo.
     
  11. RichTO90

    RichTO90 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 7, 2015
    Messages:
    2,562
    Likes Received:
    1,036
    Its difficult to explain. You see, for may years the American Army was general shy. And for may years the highest Regular rank was major general (two star). All other lieutenant generals (three star) and general (four star) ranks were either temporary or specially conferred by Congress to people like Washington, Grant, and Sheridan. During World War I all three and four star ranks were temporary and after the war, the three star rank was discontinued, the four star rank was only allowed for the general officer appointed the Chief of Staff and for General Pershing. In 1939, the rank of lieutenant general was re-instituted for army commanders, but still the only four star was the Chief of Staff.

    During the war, most of the corps commands were held by senior major generals, with lieutenant generals as army commanders, and theater commanders as four stars. However, by the end of the war the expansion of general ranks led to most generals who held corps being promoted to three star, army commanders to four star, and the most senior generals, including Chief of Staff Marshall, to five star.
     
    Owen likes this.

Share This Page