General Jacob L. Devers: He Guided Armor Through WWII Expansion

General Jacob L. Devers He Guided Armor Through WWII Expansion Major General Jacob L. Devers assumed the duties of Chief of Armor in August, 1941, on the death of Brigadier General Adna R. Chaffee. Commissioned in the Artillery, hegained his first exposure to Armor in 1930-31, when he was detailed to participate in planning operations with mechanized troops while assigned to the office of the Chief of Artillery in Washington. It was General Devers who first bestowed the accolade, “Father of the Armored Force,” on Chaffee, his predecessor. But while Chaffee served in the pioneering days of mechanization, it was General Devers who guided the force through its rapid wartime expansion. Serving as Chief of Armor from 1941 to 1943, he saw America$ armored force grow from two struggling divisions, cobbled together from existing Army units, to a war-winning force of 16 armored divisions and 63 separate tank battalions. General Devers’ tenure as Chief of Armor also spanned a period of great technological change, as armored units adopted the M4 (Sherman) tank as the main battle tank of the U. S. Armored Force. General Devers was instrumental in adopting the M4 and in developing the design so that America$ three major automotive firms could mass produce it in sufficient quantities to meet wartime demands. At one point, General Devers traveled to Detroit, invited the presidents of Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors to his hotel room, and “sequestered” them there until they could agree on the tank’s basic features. He wanted a tank that could be produced quickly, with minimum retooling, a standard design that all of the firms - and others later - could produce in unprecedented quantities. Before the war was over, more than 50,000 Shermans had been built in the U. S. and Canada, some of these serving - with modifications - up through the Arab-Israeli War of 1973. Before his reassignment overseas in May, 1943, as commanding general of U. S. Forces in the European Theater, General Devers’ leadership brought continuing innovation. One change he brought to troops training at Fort Knox was the introduction of artillery spotter planes to increase the fire accuracy and speed of targeting of the then-new armored field artillery battalions. His interest in Army air continued in the post war period: he later pioneered the force development concept that introduced the organization of helicopter-borne units. A native of York, Pennsylvania, General Devers graduated from West Point in 1909,39th in his class of 109 - a class that included such future Army greats as George S. Patton, Jr. (Cavalry); Robert L. Eichelberger (Infantry); William H. Simpson, (Infantry), and John

C. Lee (Engineer). Devers was commissioned a second lieutenant of field artillery. He served 40 years, was promoted to four-star rank in 1945, and retired on 30 September 1949. Prior to and during WWI he served as an instructor at West Point, in Hawaii, and then at the Artillery General Deversaddresses the 4th Armored Division in 1945 at Presidential Unit Citation ceremony in Landshut, Germany. School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. During WWI, he was promoted to the temporary rank of lieutenant colonel, and like so many officers who remained in the Army after the war, was reverted to his substantive rank of captain. It was not until 26 February 1934 that he once again wore the silver leaves of his wartime rank. I n the decades between wars, Devers served with -and commanded - a number of field artillery units, culminating in his promotion to brigadier general on 1 May 1940. Shortly thereafter, he returned to the U S. from the Panama Canal Department, where he had been Chief of Staff, to command the Washington Provisional Brigade. I n October 1940, and now a major general, Jacob Devers assumed command of the 9th Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and also command of the post. At Fort Bragg, General Devers moved with alacrity and forcefulness. His job was colossal. He had to expand his forces threefold to 66,000, provide all the necessary buildings and support elements while running a training program for both draftees and National Guardsmen who had been called to active duty. And he reduced the stockade population from200 to 60. He could handle men as well as he could handlepaper. General Devers’ success at Fort Bragg was instrumental in his assignment as Chief of Armor at Fort Knox. Hand-picked for the assignment by General George C. Marshall, Army Chief of Staff, he revolutionized the development of the Armored Force. Overseas, Devers also served as Commanding General of the North African Theater of Operations, Deputy Supreme Allied Commander, and Commanding General, Sixth Army Group. In this latterposition, General Devers not only commanded the American Seventh Army and the French First Army but also the French Army Detachments of the Alps and the Atlantic. He commanded more French soldiers in combat than any other American in history. On 24 July 1945, General Devers was named Commanding General, Army Ground Forces, the position he held until his retirement on 30 September 1949. General Devers died in October 1979 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. His portrait hangs in the Patton Museum of Cavalry and Armor at Fort Knox, Kentucky. ARMOR: The Magazine of Mobile Warfare 53