With significant influence from the late General McNair, the decision had been made to go with the M4 Sherman as America’s main battle tank, and let M10 tank destroyers fight the Nazi armor. It hadn’t worked out that way, and now U.S. armor was being cut to pieces by German tanks, while the open topped and lightly armored tank destroyers accomplished relatively little. The men were brave, but their weapons were inadequate, and that was intolerable to Marshall.
Marshall looked across the table at Eisenhower. He had flown into Paris from Washington that morning. Marshall was tired and looked it.
“Bradley feels the answer is the M26, the Pershing,” Ike said and Bradley nodded. “Patton agrees to a point but says it doesn’t matter since we’ll never get the Pershing in sufficient numbers to make a difference. Therefore, Patton wants more and more Shermans and plans to overwhelm the Nazis with numbers and speed.”
The decision to go with the Sherman had come because it could be built relatively cheaply and transported across the ocean both economically and in great numbers. It also was better than anything either the Germans, or the Russians for that matter, had at the time. Now, the Sherman was outclassed by the main battle tanks of either Germany or Russia. The Pershing, with its 90mm gun would solve a lot of those problems.
Bradley continued. “Patton discounts the fact that we are taking large casualties with the Sherman. He says that’s a cost of war and, to a point, he’s right. If the Sherman is the best we have and the best we’re going to have, then there’s little else we can do except follow Patton’s plans to overwhelm the Germans.”
Patton wasn’t present. His massive Third Army was to the south and Marshall would visit him in person. By the end of this year, forty-thousand Shermans would have been built, with the vast majority of them coming to Europe, and France in particular. With the war in Italy at the stalemate stage, and armor unsuited to the mountains, additional tanks were being shipped from that country to France.
However, the Germans appeared to be doing the same thing. According to Ultra estimates, only about five thousand Panthers had been built to date and most had been sent east to fight the Russians. But now, if the Russians were indeed pulling out of the war for however long, the German tanks would be moving west to aid German armies as they slowly retreated towards the Rhine. The same held true for the even larger German Tiger and King Tiger tanks, which dwarfed and outgunned the best the U.S. had or would have, even if the Pershing came into action. Thankfully, there were relatively few Tigers and even fewer King Tigers. Even the Russians, first with their T34 and then with their KV and Stalin tanks, had larger and better weapons systems than the U.S.
“Ike, I take it you don’t agree with Patton.”
“I don’t like the idea of wasting lives. We have to have something better. The Sherman is now a second tier weapon,” Ike answered. “We need the Pershings. They can stand up to just about anything the Germans have, or the Russians for that matter.”
Marshall shook his head. “I agree with you, but I can’t flip a switch and change over from one tank to another. We’re already making some Pershings, just not a large number of them. I’ve been told there’ll be a dozen or so by the end of the year.”
Ike laughed harshly. “A dozen? Good God, that’s not even a drop in the bucket. We’ll need hundreds, thousands, if we’re to take on the Germans.” Ike lit another cigarette and grinned. “Kick some butt, General. Push the manufacturers hard. Winter’s coming which should slow things down for a while, but when spring comes we’ll need the Pershing’s 90mm gun if our boys aren’t going to get slaughtered. A Panther is worth at least five Shermans. If we maintain that ratio we’ll wipe out the Panthers, but also our armored divisions.”
“What does Patton say about that?” Marshall asked.
“He agrees with the casualty numbers. He just doesn’t think there’s an alternative. Like I said, he doesn’t see enough Pershings arriving soon enough to make a difference, and a dozen sure as hell isn’t going to make any difference at all.”
Marshall stood and looked at Bradley. “Okay. Brad, I’ll make you a deal. You will get no significant increases in the numbers of Shermans, only replacements for losses. Any increases will go to Patton. In the meantime, I will do my best to accelerate production of the new tank and every one of them will go to you.”
“Agreed,” said Bradley.
“Any questions?” Marshall asked.
“Just one,” said Ike. “What the hell are the Russians up to?”
Half a world away, Franklin Delano Roosevelt angrily snuffed out his cigarette into an ashtray emblazoned with the symbol of the White House. The ashtrays had a habit of disappearing each time he had a first-time visitor. He wondered how many were proudly displayed in somebody’s library or living room, even those of the handful of annoying nonsmokers.
FDR and the others were in the map room, a place he loved to visit and take in the war’s latest events. The walls were covered with maps of all the war’s theaters, and colored tabs and pins showed him at a glance the makeup and location of all the combatants. Thanks to code-breaking successes, virtually all the German units were correctly placed. It caused some concern as it appeared that the Germans were repositioning their forces.
Not quite as much was known about the Japanese since what remained of their navy could pick up and move at any time while maintaining radio silence. Nor was it difficult to hide a fleet, as the United States had learned to its dismay on December 7, 1941, when the Japanese navy, thought to be safe in the Home Islands, emerged out of the cold Pacific and attacked Pearl Harbor. The Japanese army was fairly immobile with many of her garrisons bypassed and those scheduled to be attacked unable to be reinforced. The large Japanese army in China posed no threat and was of no immediate concern.
There was some information on the Soviet side thanks to breakthroughs by the army’s Signals Intelligence Headquarters at the nearby former girls school called Arlington Hall. It was a point of concern for Secretary of State Cordell Hull who felt that spying on the Soviets was a violation of the U.S. agreement with them. It was noted by this day’s attendees in the Map Room that Hull, ill and soon to be replaced, was not present. Dean Acheson represented State, while OSS head Bill Donovan, and Secretary of War Henry Stimson rounded out the small group.
To a man they wished General Marshall was present, but he was still in Europe.
FDR’s righteous anger flared again. “Do not for one moment even think of telling me that Joe Stalin is going to renege on his agreements. I looked in the face of that man when we met at Tehran last year and he assured me that he would be in the fight to the finish and that he would not even consider a separate peace. I believed him then and I’ve seen no reason to change my mind. We can trust Joe Stalin and don’t forget it.”
Donovan stood his ground. “Then please consider what has happened. If we take Stalin’s statement that his army needs a rest at face value, then why are the Germans moving large portions of their Eastern Front armies to France? A rest and refit might last a month or two, but this has all the earmarks of a major pullback; thus, a big change in overall strategy, which has to reflect a change in the relations between Germany and Russia. It’s as if the Nazis know that the commies aren’t going to attack for a very long time and not just for a month or two. Otherwise there’s no reason for them to strip their armies of so much strength.”
“He gave me his word,” Roosevelt said stubbornly.