Stephen E. AmbroseThe Supreme Commander: The War Years of Dwight D. Eisenhower

The work by Ambrose is marvelously detailed and takes the reader on the journey of Eisenhower during the war, rising from obscurity to one of the most powerful military leaders in history. While this is a very positive view of Eisenhower, there is a great deal of context in why decisions were made. The discussion of the logistical challenges is not well understood and glossed over by some authors but has enormous influence on strategy by the western allies. There is also a great deal of background on the political machinations of the allies that has to be maneuvered through, especially the influence exerted by Churchill and the BCOS. A must read for those who want to understand how victory was won.

Without a doubt, this is one of Stephen E. Ambrose’ best pieces of writing. Very in-depth and good information on the war time efforts of one of our country’s best military leaders.

At times this reads more like a text book, a long one. Yet the history and the insights are stellar within the total presentation.

Mr. Ambrose was a wonderful student of history who wrote beautifully. Eisenhower has always been one of my heroes and this book does him justice. Excellent look back to WWII and the men who brought the Allies to victory. Well worth the read, a great gift.

The story flows well from Ambrose's pen - he tells it in a gripping and interesting way, which is no small feat for a story so rich in fact and detail. The most interesting portions of the book - indeed the recurring theme - are the many personality clashes & interactions between the high level figures of the time, and Ike's manner of navigating through them.Decisions are analyzed and the author presents the various points of view then prevailing, with a clear explanation as to the motives & logic behind each party's viewpoint. He also provides historical perspective regarding the long term consequences (i.e. invasion of southern France vs. the Balkans in light of the cold war that followed)Though the book does not read as biased, and seems to give a fair airing to the various points of view, somehow Ike's viewpoint is represented more convincingly. Clearly Ambrose is in Ike's corner - but that does not take away from the value of the book. You get to see it all from the driver's seat, meaning through Ike's eyes, and it is an exhilarating ride.It should be noted though that names of commanders, leaders, unit numbers, HQ abbreviations, towns, areas, rivers & ports abound, and the author does not bother to explain the basics or provide training wheels. A general knowledge of the history of WWII is a pre-requisite, an understanding of military hierarchy and a detailed knowledge of the geography very helpful.The main drawback of the book - an almost complete lack of maps. As the details of the various plans, military considerations, campaigns, movement of armies, areas of responsibility, etc are described, it would have been enormously helpful to have detailed maps describing the situation at any given point. The three maps the book does include are nearly useless & never referred to. Indeed, having a military atlas of WWII next to you while reading would be very helpful (I didn't). Given the nature of the book, this omission is puzzling.

There can be little doubt that Dwight Eisenhower, an ostensibly approachable, affable and humble man was the perfect choice to manage the competing egos of the Army commanders and politicians to achieve victory in such a large and destructive war. Of course he made mistakes, most apparent only with the benefit of hindsight, but surely the point is that in such extreme circumstances he made so few. Unfortunately, like his boss, FDR , he played his cards very close to his chest and we will never know what inner thoughts and objectives drove him to make the decisions he did. This book is as good an account as can be expected and is well structured and written. As a text book for management it emphases the importance of cordial and respectful relationships, patience and listening. Were an Ike available to lead us in these times.

Eisenhower, like everyone who was schooled at West Point, quite obviously studied U S Grant, and his methods used for defeating the forces of the Confederacy during the Civil War. Ike applied the same general plans that Grant used. His method was to apply constant pressure from every possible direction, without let up, using every weapon at his disposal. Nazi Germany had a very good military, and the United States had to assemble, train and equip her armed forces from the ground up. After World War One the US had quite frankly dissolved almost all of the armed forces that she had assembled during that war. It required some very good men from the President on down to put it all together. General Marshall handed that military to many great men to wield, of whom Eisenhower was one. In the course of the war against Germany, this enormous pressure that Eisenhower applied, finally exhausted the Nazis. Hitler was pretty good at using his military, but as good as he was at using that military, made enormous mistakes. I don't think that he was as good as Robert E Lee in the conservation and application of his resources that he had at his disposal. Eisenhower did a remarkable job in using the armed forces handed to him, as well as a wonderful job holding the allies together in the face of many challenges.

I learned a lot, but it could have been shorter. It would have been nice to have some maps.

This is a really fascinating read which does however demand ones full concentration. That's not to say that it's badly written; far from it, but like The Rise and fall of the Third Reich, there is a lot of detail to take on board. The main thing that comes to light here is the tremendous difficulties that 'Ike' had dealing with the 'strong' personalities of his senior Commanders, Roosevelt, Churchill and most of all De Gaulle, as well as being responsible for the planning of the invasions of Italy and France. By his own admission he wasn't a Politician or a Diplomat, but he soon learned that he had to be! This is an extremely well written book by the 'Band of Brothers' author, and if this period of History is of interest to you it's a 'must read'!

This fascinating, absorbing and superbly written book by one of America's foremost historians, Stephen Ambrose, tells the story of Dwight David Eisenhower whose years of high command covers the campaign in North Africa from 1942 to 1943 and the campaign in north west Europe in 1944 and 1945. Ambrose portrays a man of many fine personal qualities, warmth, sincerity and patience and great skills as a military leader who had the unenvialbe task in the last two years of the war of having to deal with notorious prima donnas like Bernard Montgomery, George Patton and Charles de Gaulle. Eisenhower comes across as a great diplomat who had the awesome responsibility of commanding the allied forces that took part in the liberation of Europe.The book is extremely readable and it is fortunate that the allied forces had as its leader someone of his calibre who had the most difficult job in the world between June 1944 and May 1945. For me one of the most interesting aspects of the book is Ambrose's description of Eisenhower's stormy relationship with Montgomery who also had great qualities as a military leader but whose character flaws made Eisenhower's life so difficult in 1944 and 1945.I throughly recommend this tremendous book to anyone who is interested in how the second world war was fought and how the men at the top related to each other and despite their numerous disagreements managed to lead the armed forces that succeeded in liberating Europe from the scourge of National Socialism.

I found it a good easy read although it was written by a 'fan' of Ike's one can still get enough to see that it was a good job Ike was put in charge no one is 100% perfect but by jove he was the right man to handle the egos of the commanders around him and of course he had to make some very difficult decisions throughout the war. Remember that he wasnt able to contol the politics Which ultimatey disected europe so that too much was under Russian domination.

Really interesting and informative. I always thought I had a good knowledge of the invasion of Europe but I never realised how much political intrigue was involved. I highly recommend this book to everyone interested in D Day and beyond. Especially this year the 70th anniversary of the landings.

Excellent