Geoffrey Keyes

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Geoffrey Keyes

Geoffrey Keyes (born October 30, 1888 in Fort Bayard , New Mexico , † September 17, 1967 in Washington, DC ) was an officer in the US Army . He was the commander of the II. US Corps in North Africa and Europe during World War II and high commissioner in occupied Austria . He was last in the rank of lieutenant general .

resume

Born in Fort Bayard , an old Buffalo Soldier station in the Midwest, Geoffrey Keyes attended the United States Military Academy West Point , graduating in 1913. He taught at West Point during World War I and the 1920s. He then embarked on a high career as an officer, graduating from the Command and General Staff School in 1926, the Ecole Superieur de Guerre in 1933 and the Army War College in 1937.

War effort

At the beginning of the war Keyes was assigned to the General Staff in Washington. In 1940 Keyes, who had already proven himself as a football coach at West Point, was given the post of Chief of Staff in the newly established 2nd Armored Division at Fort Benning , then in 1942 he became the commanding general of the 3rd Armored Division at Camp Beauregard, which was also to be formed and Camp Polk , both Louisiana, and in June of the year the 9th Armored Division in Fort Riley , Kansas. These units were the first specialized armored divisions in the United States, and Keyes was one of the pioneers of this branch of service.

In September 1941 he was promoted to major general, deputy commander under George S. Patton in the I Armored Corps , which carried out Operation Torch , the counterattack against Rommel's campaign in Africa. In this role he accompanied Patton throughout North Africa and Sicily . After landing in Anzio (Operation Shingle) in January 1944, he took over the II Corps . Keyes completed the entire Italian campaign , fought at Monte Cassino , and took over the east coast, the right flank of the US Fifth Army General Clarks , and after the breakthrough of the Gothic line, the British Eighth Army from Montgomery , and ended the war standing on the Yugoslav border.

Occupation time in Austria

After the war ended in 1945 Keyes took stationed in Paris 7th Army of General Patch (invasion of southern France, southern Germany). This went on in 1946 in the 3rd Army Patton, which Keyes commanded 1946-1947 (this had occupied Upper Austria). The associations were then restructured into the European Command (EUCOM) , and in May 1947 Keyes succeeded General Clark as US High Commissioner on the Allied Council for Austria . He moved into his high command in Salzburg , where his II Corps had also been transferred in 1945.

Further curriculum vitae and personal information

In 1950 Keyes left Europe with  great honor and from 1951 to 1954 became director of the Weapons Systems Evaluation Group (WSEG), a military research department for new weapon systems. In 1954 he retired.

Geoffrey Keyes died at the age of 78 on September 17, 1967 in Walter Reed Hospital, Washington, DC He was buried with all honors at West Point.

Geoffrey Keyes married Leila Harrison (1894–1956) on January 12, 1915 in West Point , and had one daughter.

Awards and recognitions

Selection of decorations, sorted based on the Order of Precedence of Military Awards :

In Salzburg-Liefering , General-Keyes-Strasse is named after the officer; it is located in a residential block complex built for stationed GIs.

Web links

Media:

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Head Coach of the Army Cadets / Black Knights 1917, with a record of 7–1. Geoffrey Keyes , College Football Data Warehouse
  2. ↑ → en: I Corps (United States)
  3. ↑ → en: II Corps (United States)
  4. ^ Harry S. Truman: Letter to General Geoffrey Keyes, Retiring US High Commissioner in Austria. October 30, 1950. Online Gerhard Peters, John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project.
  5. ↑ → en: Weapons Systems Evaluation Group
  6. ^ AP : Geoffrey Keyes, Combat Leader; Commanding General of 2d Corps in Italy Dies at 78 . In: The New York Times , September 19, 1967. Retrieved August 10, 2011. 
  7. ↑ a b Geoffrey Keyes in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved January 24, 2012.
  8. ^ General-Keyes-Strasse . In: Salzburger Nachrichten : Salzburgwiki .
predecessor Office successor
Wade H. Haislip Commanding General 7th U.S. Army
September 1945 - March 31, 1946 		Oscar Griswold
Lucian K. Truscott Commanding General 3rd U.S. Army
April 1, 1946 - January 10, 1947 		Ernest N. Harmon
Mark W. Clark Commander in Chief United States Forces in Austria
May 1947 - September 1950 		Stafford LeRoy Irwin
Mark W. Clark American High Commissioner in Austria
May 1947 – September 1950 		Walter J. Donnelly
personal data
SURNAME Keyes, Geoffrey
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American officer and high commissioner
DATE OF BIRTH October 30, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH Fort Bayard , New Mexico
DATE OF DEATH 17th September 1967
Place of death Washington, DC