Jesus Christ himself Lee, John Courthouse Lee were some of the names given to him. One of the worst characters of the war in my opinion. Hard to find anything written that is positive about him, even by Ike in his books. By all acounts Ike should have sacked him, even wrote he was sorry he did not if you read between the lines. In my opinion I believe he is responsible for many deaths and injuries, maybe even prolonging the war. He had a son in the war who was quite a soldier it seems. Also wanted to use black troops in combat which may have been two of his good points. His rigid discipline, keeping the best hotels for himself and friends, and the horrible supply situation is what it seems he is best known for. Any thoughts on him and his service.
In Lee's defense, I will say that logistics for Western Europe was such a complex, uncertain undertaking affected by weather, shipping, and the speed of the front-line soldiers, that it would have been difficult for any person to manage. It's like the job of the Soviet Minister of Agriculture - a thankless task that can produce little good for one's reputation, but be devastating when things go wrong. That is about as far as I can go to defend Lee, other than to suggest that if he were promoted to Lt. Gen., he must have had some good qualities, other than being a friend of Marshall and Somervell. Everett Hughes (and probably Beetle Smith) urged Ike to fire Lee. He probably should have. Bradley was quite frustrated with Lee's men during the post-NEPTUNE buildup.
When I think of the amount of gear that was left over after the war and either abandoned, sold for scrap, or surplus and compare that to the amount of frozen feet, starving infantryman, and needless suffering and deaths I say he should never have been in place to begin with. I agree the war was spread over a wide front, but disagree with his effectiveness on any level so far as I know. Ike was quick with others, but thise in his inner circle, top ranking people, he was weak.
I think you're spot-on about the abysmal situation on the front compared to the supply echelons, where goods piled up. The problem was what to do about it, and how much of the blame belongs to Com-Z as opposed to advance field planning. Patton, for instance, did well combatting trench foot in November 1944 because he had the foresight to order extra socks (Eisenhower lit a fire to get them to Third Army). So while many supplies were lacking, the job could be done at times, and was. The bigger problem was how to get supplies generally moved up to the line without a good rail network. An army-sized load of socks was one thing, but add to that P.O.L., ammunition, and the myriad of other types of supplies an army needs huge quantities of, and you have a probably-insurmountable challenge. Lee, a bleeding ulcer on the supply system, made it worse, but Lucius Clay probably could not have done substantially better (though probably he would have been something of an improvement, and he certainly wouldn't have alienated the officer corps as much as the arrogant Lee). Again, this is only a limited defense of Lee. He does stand out as one of the poorer senior generals. He was odd about that. Quick in 1942 to chop heads for anti-British sentiments. Also got rid of Mockler-Ferryman for poor G-2 interpretation before Kasserine. Slow to relieve field commanders (he knew there was a problem with Fredendall before Kasserine, and he gave Patton enough rope to hang a brigade). I think he thought Lee was a favorite in Washington and he didn't want to alienate either Somervell or Marshall.
Your right but I have seem to grown fond of Lucius Clay however. I think his performance in Berlin both times, in 45 and 61 shows he was a tough, get the job done kind of man. Having read both Decision in Germany by Clay, Frank Howley's book, and The Candy Bombers on CD he appears as if his time in Washington was mis-spent. The few three weeks he spent in France in Theater, he cleaned up the port who's name I forget in no time, but was summoned back to D.C. by Marshall. It was Clay who kept the Office of Price Control powerful and feared. It was Clay who made sure production did not waver in the states. I do believe this when I say the biggest mistake was letting go of wounded infantryman. They should have been kept in theater to do these jobs wounds permitting. Who else would have made sure the goods made it thru then someone who knows what it is like without them. Many rear echelon's would not advance that far up to the front to make deliveries.
Clay was, as you note, an outstanding leader. (I live in Marietta, GA and drive on the Gen. Lucius Clay highway now and again; my wife did some volunteer work for his grandson's primary race for Congress a few years ago.) He would have been a better choice from the get-go.
