the chief planner for the entire operation, and its suc-
cess has helped to make him one of the most important
military commanders in world history. Once the Allies
had the Germans on the run, Eisenhower implemented
a strategy of a comprehensive and broad-based advance,
overwhelming the Germans and slowly pushing them
back into Germany.
While Eisenhower was directing military strategy,
he was also faced with some internal dissent as his nu-
merous subordinates and other commanders all clashed
over tactics. General George S. Patton, for instance,
believed that a single thrust against the Germans would
work better. Eisenhower did approve a plan proposed
by Montgomery, which became Operation Market Gar-
den, a scheme to drop thousands of Allied troops behind
German lines to capture numerous bridges. However,
this was a defeat for the Allies that left some 1,500 dead
and nearly 7,000 taken prisoner.
On 1 September 1944, after an American army
landing in the south of France, Eisenhower was given
the command of all Allied operations in that country.
On 20 December 1944, he was promoted to General of
the Army with five stars, one of only a handful of men
to ever hold this honor. He led Allied forces in the Ar-
dennes offensive, a victory that ended any chance that the
Germans would reverse Allied gains. His plan to marchIn this photo, taken in England a few hours before their jump into France, General Dwight D. Eisenhower urges the men
of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division to “Full victory—nothing else.”0 eiSenhoweR, Dwight DAviD