{"id":2085202,"date":"2023-10-31T12:05:02","date_gmt":"2023-10-31T16:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/americas-top-11-generals-11-curtis-e-lemay\/"},"modified":"2023-10-31T12:16:12","modified_gmt":"2023-10-31T16:16:12","slug":"americas-top-11-generals-11-curtis-e-lemay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/americas-top-11-generals-11-curtis-e-lemay\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 11 American Generals: #11 Curtis E. LeMay"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Famericas-top-11-generals-11-curtis-e-lemay%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2085202&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2><strong>America\u2019s Finest Commanders: Curtis E. LeMay<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Over\u2063 the years,\u200d the United States\u200b has produced many \u200bremarkable generals and admirals, but only a few\u2062 have stood out as world-class strategists and leaders of troops. As Veterans Day approaches on November 11, let\u2019s remember and celebrate them. Here is my list of America\u2019s finest 11 commanders.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3><strong>Curtis E. LeMay, 1906-1990 (World War \u200bII)<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cold, calculating, and brutally efficient, few American commanders have so understood not just the power of a weapon at his disposal, but the\u2064 proper way to deploy it to the most effect than did Air Force Major General Curtis LeMay. The \u200bweapon was the strategic bomber.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">As commander of the USAAF 305th Bombardment Group in Europe, then-Col. LeMay was once faced \u200bwith a problem of crews \u200bprematurely aborting their missions. He figured \u2063it had to do with will\u200c more than anything else. So he issued an order: \u201cI will be in the lead plane on every mission. Any plane that takes off will \u2064go over\u200d the target, or the\u2062 crew will be court-martialed.\u201d \u2062According to Robert McNamara: \u201cThe abort rate dropped\u200b overnight. Now that\u2019s \u2064the kind of commander he\u200c was.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_645503\" style=\"width: 441px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-645503\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo by \u00a9 CORBIS\/Corbis via Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the summer of 1944, the veteran and driven LeMay was sent to the Pacific \u200dTheater where \u200bhe eventually was placed in overall command of strategic air \u2063operations against Japan. Upon arrival, \u2062the airman faced\u2064 a dilemma. He was presented with \u2063America\u2019s most advanced \u2063weapon to\u200d date: the massive B-29 Superfortress bomber. \u200dIt was a quantum leap in airborne technology, and far more \u2064advanced than its B-17,\u200d B-24, and \u200bLancaster stablemates. In fact, the U.S.\u2064 had spent more money developing the \u2064B-29 than even the \u2064atomic bomb. And by late 1944 it was looking to be a colossal\u200b waste of money.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Although the pressurized \u200bhigh-altitude Superfortresses could fly \u2062above most Japanese fighters, the newly discovered\u200c jet stream at those <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/americas-top-11-generals-11-curtis-e-lemay\/\" title=\"Top 11 American Generals: #11 Curtis E. LeMay\">heights made accurate precision bombing impossible<\/a>. When flying into the jet stream, the bomber streams\u2019 real airspeed was dangerously slow making them\u2063 easy targets; when flying with it, the formations were hurled across the sky at too high an airspeed \u2064to\u2064 properly set up targets.\u2063 And the high winds sent bombs scattering. The B-29 program was in serious trouble.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_645543\" style=\"width: 756px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-645543\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Major General Curtis Lemay, head of the \u2064bomber command \u200cagainst Japan, stands in front of a group of B-29 bombers at a base in the Mariana Islands. (Photo by \u00a9 CORBIS\/Corbis via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The adaptive LeMay\u2064 decided to take a chance. He ordered his bombers stripped of all armament save a tail gunner so they could carry more payload, filled them with thousands of pounds of\u200c incendiaries rather than high explosive bombs, and ordered that the bombers go in \u200cat a mere 5,000 feet, \u2062and in the dead of night to avoid\u2063 fighters and accurate\u200b anti-aircraft fire. Pilots thought him insane, and believed he had signed their death warrants, but the confident LeMay understood\u2063 that \u200bwith\u200c Japan\u2019s cities constructed mostly of\u200d wood and paper, the effects of firebombs would be \u200bcatastrophic.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_645493\" style=\"width: 737px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-645493\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Original Caption) \u200cWith cigar \u2062in mouth, Major General Curtis E. LeMay, the commander \u200bof 21st Bomber Command, listens as B-29 Navigator Lt.\u2062 Nelson \u200bMcDowell (R), of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, describes run of target after a Superfort raid on Nagoya, Japan. At\u2064 left is Captain Waldo Timm,\u200d of Portland, Oregon, and \u2062second from right is Brigadier\u2063 General \u2063Thomas Power, who commands B-29s on Guam. Getty Images.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">On the night of March 9, 1945, he put his theory to the test, sending over \u200c300 B-29s from the\u2062 Marianas to firebomb Tokyo with over 250,000\u2064 incendiary bombs filled with napalm, a fiery gel that sticks, spreads, and burns out all it touches. The result was an utter holocaust. Fourteen square miles of the Japanese capital city were burned out and over 100,000 civilians were killed \u2014 making it the most lethal single act \u200bof war \u2064in history\u2064 \u2014 while hundreds of thousands more \u200dwere <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/over-500-biden-dem-party-staffers-urge-him-to-back-palestinian-human-rights\/\" title=\"Over 500 Biden, Dem Party Staffers Urge Him to Back Palestinian Human Rights\">made homeless<\/a>. These devastating results\u2062 came at the cost of just 14 \u2062B-29s downed\u200b and 96 crew \u2064lost.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">LeMay had his template. From\u2062 March to August 1945, \u200chis B-29s would firebomb Japanese city after city to the point \u200bthat had the \u2064war lasted much longer there would \u2062have soon been no\u2063 more worthy targets remaining. Estimates range from 200,000 to over 500,000 Japanese died in LeMay\u2019s relentless onslaughts, along with some 5 million made homeless. \u200bAt least 40% of over 60 Japanese cities were burned out; her war-making ability ceased to exist.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now, with the addition of fleets of \u200dheavy\u2063 bombers from the USAAF and RAF in the just \u2063concluded war on Germany, and\u2063 with the much closer\u2062 aerodrome\u200b on Okinawa,\u2063 LeMay believed he could compel Japan to surrender by aerial bombardment alone. This, however, was rendered moot by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima \u2062and Nagasaki \u2064that effectively ended the war.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_645517\" style=\"width: 753px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-645517\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Circa 1962:\u200d American president John F Kennedy (1917 \u2013 1963), wearing dark sunglasses, sits next to US Air Force Chief of \u200cStaff Curtis\u200c LeMay (1906 \u2013 1990, L). (Photo by Hulton Archive\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">After the war, LeMay would go on to serve in several <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/us-imposes-new-round-of-sanctions-on-additional-russian-oligarchs-and-elites\/\" title=\"US Imposes New Round Of Sanctions On Additional Russian Oligarchs And Elites\">high-ranking positions<\/a>, including head of Strategic Air Command and USAF Chief\u2064 Of Staff. His\u2063 hostility to the Johnson administration\u2019s policies in Vietnam, and his personal animosity towards McNamara, led to his retirement \u200cfrom the military in 1965. As with so many great military \u200dleaders, however, the\u2063 instincts that served LeMay so well in war abandoned him in politics.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In 1968, LeMay would end up \u200cas Alabama governor and presidential candidate George Wallace\u2019s\u2063 running mate on \u200dthe American Independent Party ticket. Among the party\u2063 platforms was\u2063 continued racial segregation. Whether\u200d or not LeMay shared Wallace\u2019s racist sentiments is up for debate, but in the end it didn\u2019t matter. Soon considered\u200b to be politically \u201ctone-deaf\u201d by Wallace\u2019s staff, \u2063LeMay\u2063 turned out to be a liability. In\u200d particular, his suggestion that the U.S. could <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/media.defense.gov\/2019\/Sep\/26\/2002187168\/-1\/-1\/1\/LEMAY%20ON%20VIETNAM.PDF\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">use nuclear weapons<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">  on North Vietnam to \u201cbomb them back into the stone age\u201d came across as far too bellicose for a population growing increasingly anxious and disillusioned about \u200dthe\u2064 war.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_645521\" style=\"width: 830px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-645521\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Original Caption) General Curtis E. LeMay, retired U.S. \u200cAir Force Chief of Staff is seen here speaking to the \u2063press after American \u200cIndependent Party\u2063 presidential candidate George \u200cC.\u200d Wallace named him as his running mate. Getty Images.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The grim image of death from above that \u201cBombs Away\u200c LeMay\u201d projected became the stuff of legend. He was the model\u2063 for USAF Brig.\u200b Gen. Jack D. Ripper in \u2062Peter Sellers\u2019 1964 Cold War satire \u201cDoctor Strangelove or How I Learned To Stop \u200dWorrying And Love The Bomb.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Art can imitate life. And \u200dwhatever one thinks of LeMay \u2014 either as a victorious visionary of aerial warfare, or cold-blooded killer \u2014 not \u2063many American commanders have \u2063had so direct a hand in defeating an enemy as did this cigar-chomping bomber \u2064jockey. \u2062The \u200comnipresent cigar was \u2063not \u2063a\u2063 prop but rather a way to manage the Bell\u2019s Palsy that partially paralyzed his mouth, giving him his trademark scowl.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">LeMay is the personification of firebombing, the morality of which continues to be debated to this day. LeMay himself candidly admitted: \u201cI suppose had we lost\u2063 the\u2063 war, I\u2019d have been prosecuted as a war criminal.\u201d But it \u2063was\u2062 Japan\u200b that lost and\u2062 in no small \u200cmeasure due \u200cto the rain of hellfire from the air at\u200b the\u200d hands\u200b of this modern god of an angry\u200d sky.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Brad Schaeffer\u200c is a commodities trader, columnist, and \u2063author of\u200c two acclaimed novels. His newest book, the fact-based <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Life-Pits-Rough-Tumble-Exchange\/dp\/B0CKPNCMQW\/ref=sr_1_1?adgrpid=1331509151681009&#038;hvadid=83219665089301&#038;hvbmt=bp&#038;hvdev=c&#038;hvlocphy=97755&#038;hvnetw=o&#038;hvqmt=p&#038;hvtargid=kwd-83219680392082%3Aloc-190&#038;hydadcr=18892_13467888&#038;keywords=brad+schaeffer&#038;qid=1698162015&#038;sr=8-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">LIFE IN THE PITS: My Time as \u2063a Trader on the Rough-and-Tumble Exchange Floors<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">  will be published in December and is currently available for pre-order. You can also find more of Brad\u2019s articles on <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/bradschaeffer.substack.com\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Substack<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The views expressed in this piece are\u2062 those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of \u200cThe Daily Wire<\/em><\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2> How did\u200d General Curtis E. LeMay&#8217;s unconventional tactics challenge the conventional thinking of\u200d precision bombing doctrine and contribute to \u2063the development of U.S. military strategy during and after World War II<\/h2>\n<p><span>  Ajor General Curtis \u2062E. \u2062LeMay stands in front of a\u2064 B-29 bomber \u2063at an Air \u2063Force base in the \u2064Marianas, May 1945.\u2062 (Photo by \u00a9 CORBIS\/Corbis\u2064 via Getty\u2063 Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">LeMay\u2019s strategy\u2063 was controversial, but\u2063 there was\u2064 no denying its effectiveness. The B-29s began \u200bdropping\u2063 firebombs\u200c on major Japanese cities in March 1945. The first target\u200b was Tokyo, followed by other urban centers. The results were devastating. The firestorms that raged through the\u200d cities caused \u2062immense destruction and loss \u200dof life,\u2062 estimated in the hundreds of\u2062 thousands. One raid in particular, on the \u2063night of March 9th, 1945, known as the Great Tokyo Air Raid, was the single most destructive bombing raid in history, surpassing even the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in \u2062terms of casualties. LeMay\u2019s unconventional \u200btactics proved that the \u2062precision bombing doctrine was deeply flawed and that a more ruthless approach was necessary to force Japan into surrender.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Under LeMay\u2019s command, the bombing \u200ccampaign continued, relentlessly targeting Japan\u2019s industrial centers\u200d and reducing them to rubble. By the summer of \u200b1945, Japan was on the brink of collapse. The dropping of the atomic bombs on \u200cHiroshima and\u200d Nagasaki by the United States in August finally sealed \u200cthe country\u2019s surrender.\u2063 Many historians \u2063argue that LeMay\u2019s firebombing campaign played a crucial role\u200c in wearing down Japan\u2019s will to fight and ultimately accelerating the end of the war.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">After the war, LeMay continued to serve in the U.S. Air Force \u200dand played a significant \u200drole in\u2064 the \u200ddevelopment of the\u2064 U.S. nuclear deterrent during the Cold War. He also\u2063 served as\u200b Chief of Staff of the Air Force\u200c from 1961 to 1965. Known for\u200d his tough demeanor and no-nonsense approach, \u200bLeMay was \u200ba controversial figure, but one \u2062cannot \u2062deny his effectiveness as a military strategist \u2062and leader.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Curtis\u200d E. LeMay was a commander who understood \u200cthe\u200c power of a weapon \u2062and\u2062 was willing to make the tough decisions to achieve victory. His willingness to challenge conventional thinking and take risks set him apart from his peers. As we \u200dhonor the men and women\u2063 who have served in our armed forces this Veterans Day, let us remember the legacy of Curtis E. LeMay and his contributions to the\u200c defense of \u2064our nation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Note: This article is part of a series highlighting America\u2019s finest commanders. \u2064Stay tuned \u200dfor \u2062more articles on other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/former-russian-president-putin-ally-if-russia-loses-nuclear-war-could-result\/\" title=\"Former Russian President, Putin Ally: If Russia Loses, Nuclear War Could Result\">great military leaders<\/a>.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As Veterans Day nears, let&#8217;s honor America&#8217;s exceptional military leaders. Among the numerous remarkable generals and admirals, only a handful have truly excelled as strategists and troop leaders. Remember and celebrate these 11 outstanding commanders, starting with Curtis E. LeMay (1906-1990) from World War II.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":366,"featured_media":2085203,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2085202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2085202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/366"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2085202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2085202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2085203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2085202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2085202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2085202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}