To manage the buildup and subsequent supply of the American troops being shipped to Europe for the planned invasion of Hitler’s Festung Europa, Fortress Europe, Hank H Cox, in his biography of General JCH Lee, The General Who Wore Six Stars, wrote:

The Allied governments had determined that Germany would be their top priority. After Germany was defeated, they would make Japan their primary focus. But conquering Germany meant it would be necessary to invade Europe, and that would require an amphibious assault across the English Channel. Thus a materiel buildup in Great Britain of vast proportions would be the first essential step to wresting the continent from Germany's grip.

To manage a buildup and subsequent supply of that magnitude in Europe, Somervell needed his best man — someone with proven ability that he could trust. Somervell achieved big things because he selected men who knew what they were doing and were determined to get it done.

He chose General JCH Lee – did he choose wisely? There were and are many who say that he didn’t. This all plays a big part in why the Allies didn’t win the war in Europe in 1944 – with huge consequences with the voracious Russian bear devouring everything in its path to come out of World War II as a super power that rivalled the United States.

Tag words: Hitler; Festung Europa; Fortress Europe; Hank H Cox; General JCH Lee; The General Who Wore Six Stars; Brehon Somervell; General Marshall; Pearl Harbor; General Lesley McNair; John Kennedy Ohl; Supplying the Troops; BOLERO; OVERLORD; European Theater of Operations; ETO; Services of Supply; SOS; Secretary Stimson; Major General Mark Clark; General Eisenhower; GeneralBradley; General Patton; Bedell Smith; Martin Creveld; Supplying War; Logistics; Rommel; Moving Mountains; Lieutenant-General William G Pagonis; Operation Desert Storm; General Homer M Groninger; Colonel Thomas B. Larkin; General James G Harbord; General Pershing;