Albany Rifles

Here is the official list of Generals of the Army

U.S. Army Five-Star Generals

The temporary grade of "General of the Army" (five-star) was provided for by Public Law 482, 78th Congress, approved December 14, 1944, and became permanent on March 23, 1946, under provisions of Public Law 333, 79th Congress.

Five-Star Generals and Dates of Rank:


General of the Army George C. Marshall: December 16, 1944

General of the Army Douglas MacArthur: December 18, 1944

General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower: December 20, 1944

General of the Army Henry H. Arnold: December 21, 1944

(Redesignated General of the Air Force pursuant to Public Law 58, 81st Congress, approved May 7, 1949):

General of the Army Omar N. Bradley: September 20, 1950


I know of a bunch of Generals from WW II who never made 5 stars

Brehon Somervell
Carl Spaatz
Mark Clark
Robert Eichelberger
Jacob Devers
Joe Stilwell
Walter Krueger
George Patton
Jonathan Wainwright (promoted while in captivity)
Courtney Hodges

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xerxes

Yes, but correct me if I am wrong, but only Joe Stilwell was one of the original four-star officers among, Marshall, Eisenhower, Arnold, MacArthur, Leahy, Nimitz and King. But he was not promoted to five star, when Marshall, Eisenhower, Arnold et al. moved up.


In other words, your list right below, with the exception of Joe Stilwell (which is the answer to my question), they were all promoted to four-star title after the prestigious five star title was created for Marshall, Eisenhower, Arnold, MacArthur et al.. Only, Joe Stilwell who was one of the 'old guys' who held the four star rank from the start remained so after the five-star was created in late '44.

After all he was the senior US theatre commander in mainland Asia. He needed the four-star title, back in the day (ealry 40s ?, late 30s ?) when he was put there as a liasion with Chian Kan Shek by Roosevelt in the CBI theatre.

Again, with the exception of Joe Stilwell (which is the answer to my question), all others in your above list were promoted after the "original" four stars moved up to five stars.

And I guess that was the reason why the five-star rank was created in the first place, one, to give US senior commanders some equality vis-a-vis their European counterpart (field marshals), and two, to open up the four-star title to all those three star generals (Patton, Krueger etc.) that could not go up higher because the four star title were already filled by the Army and Navy top brass, including Joe Stilwell, who was a big shot IMO (nominally atleast) because he was the head of the neglected CBI threatre.

One could compare Stilwell to four-star Admiral Hart or Admiral Stark, who were four star and remained so after Admiral of the Fleet was created.

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Albany Rifles

Stilwell received his 4th star in AUG 44

xerxes

You are absolutly right. Memory problem on my part about the date. But I knew that his promotion to four-star had something to do with impressing the Chinese Generalissimo, since the four-star title was rare and sort of gave the message that we (US Gov) care (about CBI theatre).

But nonetheless, aside him who was moved up in August '44 to four star in order to make him equal to other "threatre commanders", every body else (Patton et al.) was moved up after the five-star title was created in late '44.

Albany Rifles

Rabaul

19th Army Imperial Japanese Army

Oh, and reference 4 stars, I did not understand your original question I'd guess.

RustyBattleship

I really didn't understand any of them since he said he was going to ask a "couple" of questions and it turned out to me a final exam paper at West Point.

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xerxes

I am not familiar with the 19th Army. But I was thinking more on the line of the infamous 11th Air Fleet based in Rabaul.

Sorry about the confusion.

Below was the question that I asked:

4 - The only US Army four star general to not be promoted to the five-star rank, when the five star rank was created in late '44

Patton and the rest were promoted after the General of the Army and Admiral of the Fleet were created. Like I said, the raison d'etre of those new ranks might have as well being to clear up the four-star rank for Patton and the rest. That leaves Stilwell who was already a full general when General of the Army was created but was not moved up with others (macarthur, king, nimitz, leahy, arnold, IKE etc.)

Albany Rifles

I always preferred essay exams because they allwoed me to engage my naturla ability to let teh BS flow!!!

Xerxes, I would recommend in the future that we keep it down to single obscure questions. Multiple obscure questions tends to annoy Rusty more than he can stand!

Okay, are we ready for a new question or do we still need to clean up the battlefield?

xerxes

Roger that ..

let me just post the answers for the remaining ones

Baron

Generalamiral

Shah-rukh, son of Timur Lang, prior to the invasion of India

The 2nd Area Army from Kwantung army in manchuria

Dont know his name, but the last khakan would be the last Manchu emperor, since the title (khakan) was transferred once the Manchu conquered Mongolia

Oscar

Pu-Yi ?

Rifleman

What US commander, besides Pershing, was known as "Blackjack" to his men?

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Knaur Amarsh

Gen.John Logan

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Rifleman

I don't know about that. That's not who I had in mind, though.

Hint: combat veteran of Korea; battalion commander in Vietnam; retired as a Brigadier General.

Rifleman

Looks like nobody's going to get it.

Weldon Honeycutt was known as "Blackjack."

Honeycutt was commanding the 3d Battalion, 187th Infantry - the "Rakkasans" - when that unit made the assault on Dong Ap Bai, AKA Hamburger Hill, in May of 1969.

Knaur Amarsh

Go ahead sir, post another