Crusade in Europe: A Personal Account of World War II Paperback – December 14, 2021

I don't know about you, but I don't typically hang out with great Army generals who oversaw the conquest of the Nazis and freed Western Europe. So the details of the book was a fascinating eye-opener to me.This is not the stuff of Hollywood or personal dramas of individuals caught up in the mayhem of war. It's a story of how Ike, picked by George Marshall, became the Supreme commander to unify allies under a single command. to free Europe from Hitler.It involved directing Monty, Patton, and so many others, organized across nations and various sectors of the armed forces, to coordinate strategy, tactics, and logistics to launch project Torch (the war in North Africa against Rommel) and project Overlord (D-Day and the conquering of Germany).The scope and complexity of the operations is very clearly spelled out. The brilliance, leadership, clear thinking, and core decency of Eisenhower makes for a unique and great read.The West was very lucky to have such leadership.

Similar in style and objective analysis to the memoirs of U.S. Grant, which Ike intentionally modeled his own history after. His candid description of the reasoning behind key decisions and honest assessment of mistakes made and lessons learned makes this as valuable a lesson on leadership, organization, and politics as it is on historical events.

I bought this book to learn about Dwight D. Eisenhower the man, his character, and leadership style. I wanted to understand how a 5 Star General and President rose to success. In this case, the book delivered quite well. The majority of the book is basically a sequenced, somewhat mechanical account of how the Allies rolled back the German forces in Northern Africa, and later, Europe.What I learned about Eisenhower is that the man was an astute judge of others' character. Eisenhower described in his book his dealings with officers and heads of state of various Allied nations and demonstrated, in his insights, how to appropriately deal with controversies. For example, Eisenhower recounts how the British (including Churchill) and French officers (de Gaulle) asserted their national interests more than once, at various stages of the war, which were in conflict with the overall allied war efforts and strategies. Eisenhower demonstrated why he was chosen for Supreme Allied Commander for the war in Europe, by sticking to the overall plans for the war, regardless of other's national interests, but not in spite of them.One of the insights I gained was why Eisenhower was appointed the Supreme Allied Commander over General Patton. My impression of Eisenhower as choice for the head of SHAEF is that this decision was based upon his intellect, his sensivity to allied interests, his ability to select the right men for specific tasks, and his ability to focus on achieving a total victory over the German military. Simply put, Eisenhower thought before he spoke, and was more politically sensible than the hard-driving Patton.Another impression I gained of Eisenhower is that the General was a man of strategy, unlike his chief opponent, Hitler, who wasted his resources and armies in a haphazard way.The last couple of chapters of the book logically conclude with the General's account of how the Germans surrended and the war ended. Interesting are the General's accounts of dealings with the Russian Marshall Zhukov at Berlin and Generalissimo Stalin on a visit to the Soviet Union, after the war. Eisenhower describes the Russian suspicions of the West and its intentions. Eisenhower interestingly relates a two hour private debate with Marshall Zhukov over the merits of American values and communist values.An interesting read and instructional on the proper use of political and military power. I recommend the book on the basis of understanding moral action and leadership in an environment of conflicting interests.

Overall, a very interesting book.Plus factors+ It was fascinating to hear about WWII in Europe as recounted by the America and Britain's Supreme Commander in that theater.+ From a personal development and management perspective, I learned something about prioritization, effective execution, relationship building and organizational skills.+ It was interesting to read about Ike's interactions with historical figures such as Churchill, FDR and General Zhukov - probably the greatest general in WWII.+ Ike's insight is enduring, such as when he writes: "The democracies must learn that the world is now too small for the rigid concepts of national sovereignty that developed in a time when the nations were self-sufficient and self-dependent for their own well-being and safety. None of them today can stand alone. No radical surrender of national sovereignty is required—only a firm agreement that in disputes between nations a central and joint agency, after examination of the facts, shall decide the justice of the case by majority vote and thereafter shall have the power and the means to enforce its decision. This is a slight restriction indeed on nationalism and a small price to pay if thereby the peoples who stand for human liberty are better fitted to settle dissension within their own ranks or to meet attack from without."+ All of these so far outweigh the significant flaws below that I still give the book five stars.Minus factors- Ike is brilliant but not a great writer. This book could have used a good editor. It contained too much jargon and didn't develop the character of the generals. In terms of writing quality, Max Hastings' "Infero" is superior and a better introduction for those who have not read about WWII.- The book was too long. It contained lots of detail without an apparent point other than to recount historical facts.- Ike didn't acknowledge any serious faults or mistakes. He sounded defensive about the Battle of the Bulge and letting Monty pursue his failed Market Garden campaign.- Ike's political ability to build strong relationships and maintain alliances was a weakness in this book. At times Ike's praise of people was over the top and he sounded like a politician sucking up. Ike was insufficiently critical of weak generals like Montgomery, apparently not wanting to offend the British. Ike also did not give enough credit to Patton, the one and only US general the Germans feared. Instead, Ike spent too many pages in making Patton sound unbalanced and not enough pages on Patton's accomplishments in turning things around in North Africa, breaking out of Normandy, and coming to the rescue in the Battle of the Bulge.- Ike omitted how much more sacrifice the Russians made in bearing the brunt of the war. For the most part, Ike did not mention the incredible numbers in terms of Russian casualties, deaths etc.- Ike did not give the German army its due in terms of its effectiveness, putting aside how evil Germany was. Ike's bragging about the two Germans to one American loss ratio as the Allies overran Germany omitted that the overall balance of the loss ratio during the war was well in Germany's favor.- Ike should have spent more time on the Holocaust and camps.

Want to understand about the war, who fought in it?Yeah, yeah, both military and President of the USA.The author, is in favor of freedom of expression, the free press, even the "press consortium", and the freedom of man "both men and women".He is staunchly anti-Communist.

Excellent book!!

This is from Dwight D Eisenhower himself-in simple prose and without any affectations.describes things in a 'matter of fact ' way .It is very endearing to those who want to know the truth and anyone with out bias towards German or Russian etc. wonderful historical text.

Just as advertized. Delivery on time. Very satisfied.

Published in 1948 this book is so close to the events in time, and also in the person of the actual author, that one could be forgiven for suspecting that perhaps the passage of time and the treatment of the subject by others further removed, might produce a better, or more accurate, history. Well, perhaps that is a fair observation, but I have read many books on WW2 and this one stands as my joint favourite, along with Churchill's magnificent "The Second World War", again a history bound to be somewhat slanted by the author's personal involvement with the momentous events described. The two books taken together very much show, in certain instances, how each man viewed the same events and decisions from quite different perspectives.This book, "Crusade in Europe", deals almost exclusively with the European campaign and Eisenhower's own involvement in it. I found it to very lucidly present the progression of the war from the North African campaign (Operation Torch) through Sicily, Italy and finally the incredible undertaking of the Normandy landings (Overlord), through to Germany's unconditional surrender on 07/05/1945 - effective from midnight on the 8th. A myriad of background military and political facts are included along with ongoing observations and recollections of personalities involved and of how decisions regarding strategy and tactics were reached. It is undoubtedly an extraordinary achievement that such a virtually flawless level of cooperation and cohesion was arrived at between the British Empire and her US allies under the overall leadership in the European theatre of one man - Eisenhower. That this unity was achieved is clearly a reflection on his exceptional abilities to deal with a multitude of competing high-ego personalities in a way which allowed all involved to ultimately defer to his authority with respect and confidence. Success in building this relationship must also be credited to the political leaders involved, Churchill and Roosevelt, particularly Churchill who had to eat some pie (not too humbly!) on a number of occasions when his own strong feelings regarding strategy were overruled by the Commander in Chief. And Eisenhower had the ability to personally and solely take some decisions, in the face of opposing advice, in relation to mind numbingly frightening options, not the least of which was his final "go" for Overlord to begin. Had he been wrong the consequences would have been too horrific for most men to even contemplate. He was the right man for the time and his account is mandatory reading for all who are interested in the history of those extraordinary times.Incidentally, I read the Kindle edition, which I found excellent, but I used Google maps in conjunction with it to keep track of where everything was happening. I feel sure I would do the same even with the print edition as a side by side map with the book really brings the entire story alive.