John W. O'Daniel

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Lieutenant General John W. O'Daniel (1951)

John Wilson "Iron Mike" O'Daniel (* 15. February 1894 in Newark , Delaware ; † 27. March 1975 in San Diego , California ) was lieutenant general of the US Army and diplomat of the United States . He was best known for his services as commander of the 3rd Infantry Division in North Africa , Sicily , Italy , southern France and Germany during World War II . He also became known as the commander of the most decorated US soldier of World War II, Audie Murphy .

O'Daniel was a professional soldier all his life, including in his time as a diplomat . At 1.67 m tall, O'Daniel was considered a straightforward and brave general who took part in three major wars during his forty years of service . His motto was "sharpen your bayonet". Dwight D. "Ike" Eisenhower called him "one of our outstanding fighters" in his memoir. The media compared him to General Patton because both characteristics were perceived as similar, such as defending one's own point of view, fearless demeanor to both superiors and the enemy, and because O'Daniel, like Patton, swiftly and daringly navigated his unit through the European theater of war led.

Early years

Born in the small town of Newark in the US state of Delaware, he graduated from high school in Oxford , Pennsylvania in 1912 at the age of 17 and attended Delaware College in his hometown, where he stood out as a member of the football team and the The nickname "Mike" was given, which he used all his life - later expanded with the addition "Iron" for iron.

In 1913 he joined the Delaware National Guard . On July 19, 1916, he was mobilized and served as a corporal and later as a sergeant in the First Infantry on the US- Mexico border . On February 15, 1917, his 23rd birthday, he was honorably discharged from the National Guard.

Early military career and World War I

After graduating from college in Delaware in 1917, he was accepted into the reserve and on October 26, 1917, he joined the 11th US Infantry Regiment at Camp Forrest , Tennessee .

He was transferred to Europe and took part in the Battle of St. Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive , where he was wounded on September 12, 1918. In this attack, he should have fought for twelve hours, though the basement of a German machine gun had been hit in the face and seriously injured. For this achievement he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the Purple Heart . Together with his unit he was transferred back to the USA in September 1919 and then transferred to the 25th Infantry Regiment in Arizona .

Interwar period

O'Daniel remained in the US Army and moved several times. By the time the USA entered World War II, he rose to major . In 1936 he became a professor at the Military Academy in Augusta , Georgia . In 1939 he graduated from Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth , Kansas , which served to train military leaders.

Second World War

3rd Infantry Division shoulder badge
Unit badge of the 3rd Infantry Division with the motto "We do not give way"

In January 1941, O'Daniel became commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 24th Infantry Regiment at Fort Benning , where he took part in maneuvers to test the efficiency of the unit. The purpose was the possible entry into the Second World War from the point of view of the time. After the attack on Pearl Harbor , Hawaii on December 7, 1941, he was promoted to colonel and at the same time appointed deputy chief of staff of the 3rd Army .

Algiers

In 1942 O'Daniel was transferred to England in preparation for the invasion of the Allied forces on mainland Europe, where he directed the training of the troops. In September 1942 he was given command of the 168th Infantry Regiment on the North African theater of war, which he led to the capture of Algiers on November 8 and 9, 1942 . For this military service he was promoted to brigadier general on November 20, 1942 .

Sicily and Salerno

After O'Daniel had previously prepared the 5th Army for the landings on Sicily and Salerno , he became deputy commander of the 3rd Infantry Division in June 1943, with which he landed in Sicily.

On July 24, 1943 O'Daniel returned to Algiers and took over the 36th Infantry Division for landing near Salerno. Without having the order to do so, he carried out the landing successfully. For this daring but successful approach he was appointed chief officer for landing operations in the 5th Army. In November 1943 he was reappointed to the 3rd Infantry Division as deputy commander.

Anzio

With the 3rd Infantry Division, which can be referred to as his unit since then , O'Daniel landed at Anzio in January 1944 and was appointed commander while his unit was still in the bridgehead . After successfully repelling violent German counterattacks, he was promoted to major general and received the Army Distinguished Service Medal .

Often reported, although not proven with certainty, is his answer to the question of the British Field Marshal Harold Alexander whether it is true that his division did not back off an inch during the German counter-attacks : "Not a goddamned inch" . Such an attitude corresponded to the understanding of an exemplary general at the time and contributed to the increasing popularity of O'Daniel.

St. Tropez, Alsace bridgehead, Siegfried Line

In August 1944, O'Daniel landed with his unit in St. Tropez in southern France and began the advance through the Vosges to Germany. Through the Rhone valley , O'Daniel led his unit to Strasbourg in Alsace . In January and February 1945, heavy fighting broke out in the Alsace bridgehead in connection with the Ardennes offensive and the Nordwind company .

The subsequent break through the Siegfried Line designated Siegfried succeeded in Two Bridges in March 1945th

Nuremberg

See battle for Nuremberg

O'Daniel led his division across the Rhine and led the five-day Battle of Nuremberg from April 16 to 20, 1945 , partly as a house-to-house battle and together with the 45th Infantry Division of the 7th Army under Major General T. Frederic .

After the conquest of Nuremberg on April 20, 1945, which was celebrated as the Fuehrer's birthday in the German Reich , O'Daniel held a military parade in the early evening at the Hauptmarkt, which was then renamed Adolf-Hitler-Platz . For this purpose, the street signs with the imprint "Adolf-Hitler-Platz" in relation to O'Daniel's nickname "Iron Mike" were overwritten with "Eiserner Michael Platz". At the same time, on the outskirts of Nuremberg city center, in the Palmenhof bunker , the last German political commanders, Gauleiter Karl Holz and Lord Mayor Willy Liebel , despite the surrender of the German troops prompted by the last military commandant, Colonel Wolf, on the same morning , offered resistance. This did not prevent the Victory Parade from being held. The resistance in the palm courtyard bunker was broken during the course of this. O'Daniel combined the Victory Parade with an act of mourning for President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who died on April 12, 1945 .

Medal of Honor (Army)

Further actions

The 3rd Infantry Division continued its mission and took Augsburg , Munich and Salzburg . The liberation of the Dachau concentration camp was taken over by the 45th Infantry Division, which was operating in parallel when Nuremberg was captured.

Finally, O'Daniel took Berchtesgaden with the Obersalzberg with the 3rd Infantry Division . Fighting did not take place here because the German troops had left the area. This resulted in a spectacular race for the abandoned Berghof , which O'Daniel reached with a fast drive over the highway in front of the soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division . There he found a pair of pants belonging to Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring , which he commented on with the words "a lot of pants" in view of Göring's obesity . This ended active participation in World War II for the 3rd US Infantry Division.

The 3rd Infantry Division was considered to be one of the most powerful US units in World War II. A quarter of all Medal of Honor , the highest award for bravery given by the American armed forces for participation in the European theater of war, was given to soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division; a total of 51 soldiers of the unit were awarded the Medal of Honor.

In July 1945, O'Daniel became the temporary commander of the Home Forces in Washington, DC , and eventually the commanding general at Fort Benning Infantry School .

Later career

In June 1948, O'Daniel was appointed military attaché at the US Embassy in Moscow , where he remained until August 1950. Back in the USA caused a sensation with a long article in which he dealt very critically with the former Soviet Union ; he was severely attacked by the Soviet government and accused of espionage .

In July 1951 he commanded the 1st Corps of the 8th Army ; this was to be his last combat mission. There he received numerous other medals and awards (see below).

On September 1, 1952, O'Daniel became Commanding General of the US Forces for the Pacific, based in Fort Shafter , Hawaii .

In 1954 he was sent to Indochina by the then President Dwight "Ike" D. Eisenhower as head of the American armed forces and was thus at the height of his career. In return, he voluntarily accepted a lowering of his rank in order not to surpass the rank of the French general who commanded the operations at that time after the end of the Korean War . O'Daniel was a strong proponent of American engagement in Vietnam , and on his recommendation the American forces in South Vietnam were significantly strengthened. He was confident that the American presence could stop the spread of communism.

On December 31, 1955, O'Daniel retired from active service. At the ceremonial farewell granted to him, he was met by the senior officer of the US Army, Chief of Staff of the Army , General Maxwell D. Taylor , who in 1945 as commander of the 101st Airborn Division started the "race" for the Berghof against O'Daniel 3rd Infantry Division had lost, highlighted and decorated again.

Later life, family, death

After his professional stays in Indochina, O'Daniel campaigned for the American-Vietnamese friendship outside of the military context. O'Daniel's first wife Ruth died in 1965; O'Daniel remarried. Their son, John W. O'Daniel Jr., fell as a paratrooper near Arnhem in 1944 in the final battle of the Second World War, which ended in defeat for the Allies. O'Daniel died on March 27, 1975 in San Diego with his family.

Orders and awards, honors

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

O'Daniel was considered indecent. According to his own admission, he wore his medals exclusively for official photographs and during his time as a military attaché at the US embassy in Moscow, because he was convinced that he would impress the government of the Soviet Union with his medals. On the portrait shown above it can be seen that the medals and awards mentioned here represent only a small excerpt.

O'Daniel was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Delaware .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ US newsreel with pictures of Nuremberg and the victory parade: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEAo7JnDm_I
  2. ^ About this section: Robert Fritzsch: "Nürnberg im Krieg", pp. 98 ff. Droste, Düsseldorf 1984. ISBN 3-8112-0697-4
personal data
SURNAME O'Daniel, John W.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES O'Daniel, John Wilson; O'Daniel, Iron Mike (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American Lieutenant General and Military Attaché
DATE OF BIRTH February 15, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Newark , Delaware
DATE OF DEATH March 27, 1975
Place of death San Diego , California