Courtney Hodges | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Hodges as a lieutenant general, 1944 | |
| Born | (1887-01-05)5 January 1887 Perry, Georgia, United States |
| Died | 16 January 1966(1966-01-16) (aged 79) San Antonio, Texas, United States |
| Buried | |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Branch | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1906–1949 |
| Rank | General |
| Service number | 0-2686[1] |
| Unit | Infantry Branch |
| Commands | First United States Army Third United States Army X Corps Army Ground Forces Infantry School, Fort Benning 2nd Battalion,6th Infantry Regiment |
| Battles / wars | |
| Awards | |
| Spouse | |
GeneralCourtney Hicks Hodges (5 January 1887 – 16 January 1966) was a decorated senior officer in theUnited States Army who commandedFirst U.S. Army in theWestern European Campaign ofWorld War II. Hodges was a notable "mustang" officer, rising fromprivate to general.
Born inPerry, Georgia, he began studies at theUnited States Military Academy but dropped out after failing Geometry. He joined the Army in 1906 as a private, rapidly advanced into the noncommissioned officer ranks, and obtained a commission after passing a competitive examination in 1909. As a young man, Hodges served under ColonelJohn J. Pershing in thePancho Villa Expedition and became part of the first rescue mission in U.S. military aviation history when he helped save a stranded aviator. He was abattalion commander inFrance duringWorld War I, and was awarded theDistinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism.
In 1943, he was sent to England to serve under GeneralOmar Bradley. Hodges was deputy commander of First Army during theD-Day invasion. Two months later, he was appointed First Army's commander. Under Hodges, First Army had 18 divisions, the most under the immediate command of any general in theEuropean theater ofWorld War II. First Army liberatedParis, was the first Allied army to enter Germany, and cutNazi Germany in two by advancing east to link up withSoviet forces who advanced west.[3]
Hodges was born inPerry, Georgia on 5 January 1887.[2] He was the fourth of eight children.[4] The Hodges family traces its roots back toEngland and Hodges' branch arrived in America in 1750. After theAmerican Revolution, they moved toHouston County, Georgia.[5] Courtney's father, John became the proprietor of the local newspaper,Houston Home Journal. Hodges attended Perry High School and graduated in 1903. Later he enrolled at North Georgia Agricultural College (now known as theUniversity of North Georgia). He became a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity. After his first year at North Georgia, he received an appointment to theUnited States Military Academy (USMA) atWest Point.[4]
He would have graduated with the Class of 1909, but he dropped out after a year because of an inability to comprehend geometry. He then worked at a grocery store for a year.[6]
In 1906, Hodges enlisted in theUnited States Army as aprivate and was assigned to Company L,17th Infantry atFort McPherson,Georgia.[6] He quickly rose to the rank ofsergeant, and in 1909 performed well on the competitive examination for prospective officers.[7] He was appointed asecond lieutenant ofInfantry in November, just a few months after his West Point classmates graduated, and was assigned to the13th Infantry.[2][8] In his early career he served with the future Army Chief of Staff,George C. Marshall, in the Philippines and future GeneralGeorge S. Patton in Mexico.[4][9]
Hodges served inFort Leavenworth,Kansas inSan Antonio,Texas and in thePhilippine Islands.[6] His first significant military operation was under the command of Brigadier GeneralJohn J. Pershing, who led an expedition into Mexico to capturePancho Villa after the Mexican bandit had raided the town ofColumbus, New Mexico in the spring of 1916.[4] This less-than successful mission included the first US army use of aircraft in combat. Hodges recorded a footnote in history when he was detached to rescue a stranded aviator, the first such rescue mission in U.S. military aviation history.
Hodges served with6th Infantry Regiment,5th Division, duringWorld War I, which America entered in April 1917 (seeAmerican entry into World War I). He rose tolieutenant colonel and commander of a battalion in the 6th Infantry, in theSt Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne campaigns of 1918.[10] For the latter campaign, he led a scouting expedition across theMeuse River and penetrated the German lines, maintaining a bridgehead through 20 hours of constant fire from the enemy. Their location became the lead point of the American advance across the Meuse.[6] Over the course of the war he earned theDistinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism while leading an attack across theMarne River.[11]
After occupation duty in Germany, Hodges spent the years 1920 to 1924 on the staff at West Point before attending and graduating from theUnited States Army Command and General Staff College in 1925.[12][13] He then served as an instructor at theUnited States Army Infantry School,Fort Benning, Georgia until 1926, and in a similar capacity at theAir Corps Tactical School at Maxwell field,Alabama until 1929.[2][12]
For the next four years, he was a member of the Infantry Board at Fort Benning. Hodges then completed theUnited States Army War College in 1934. In 1938, he became an assistant commandant of the Army Infantry School, before becoming commandant in 1940.[2] While he was there he formed a friendship withOmar Bradley, who would feature prominently in Hodges's future military career.[12]
In May 1941 Hodges was promoted tomajor general. He was given various assignments, including Chief of Infantry, until he received command of theX Corps, which was stationed stateside, in 1942. In 1943, having been promoted to lieutenant general, he continued to command X Corps and then theThird Army. When the Third Army moved from the United States to England for the projected invasion of Europe, command of the army passed to General George Patton. Hodges was named deputy commanding general of theFirst Army under Lieutenant GeneralOmar Bradley.[14]
DuringOperation Overlord in June and July 1944, Hodges served under Bradley as the deputy commander of the First Army. In August 1944, Hodges succeeded Bradley as the commander of the First Army, taking over when Bradley moved up to command the12th Army Group. Hodges served under the command of Bradley and GeneralDwight D. Eisenhower untilNazi Germany's surrender in May 1945. By the time he took command "it was the largest and most experienced American field army on theWestern Front. Consisting of theV,VII, andXIX Corps and controlling nine divisions, it had approximately 250,000 men."[15]
Hodges' First Army moved quickly across France, helping toliberate Paris on 25 August 1944[16] and then led them throughFrance, Belgium, and Luxembourg on their way to Germany. General Hodges' troops were the first Allied troops to penetrate Germany, having reached the German border (northwest ofTrier) on 11 September 1944. These troops were the5th Armored Division, part of Major GeneralLeonard T. Gerow's V Corps.[17]During the failed British attack on Arnhem,Operation Market Garden, supply priority was given to the Anglo-Canadian21st Army Group, and the First Army was diverted to the north of the Ardennes to stage limited attacks to draw German defenders south, away from the target sites.
Hodges' troops had a major role in blunting theWehrmacht's major counteroffensive in the Ardennes: theBattle of the Bulge. When the German advance cut the First Army off from Bradley's 12th Army Group, his First Army was placed under the temporary command of the Anglo-Canadian21st Army Group, under Field MarshalBernard Montgomery, along withNinth United States Army, on 20 December 1944. The First Army reverted to the 12th Army Group a few weeks later on 17 January 1945.[18][19]
Before, during, and after the Battle of the Bulge, the First Army fought the Germans in theBattle of Aachen, and the parallel 5-month longBattle of Hurtgen Forest to the south east of Aachen, as part of the main US effort to breach theSiegfried Line and advance through Germany to theRoer River. Hodges led First Army to liberate most of Luxembourg in three days, from 9 September through to 12 September 1944. The city of Aachen was captured on 22 October, but the German counter-offensive and the Battle of the Bulge took place before the other objectives could be completed. Once the Battle of the Bulge was won, the Hürtgen Forest was taken and on 10 February theRur Dam was finally captured. The overall cost of theSiegfried Line Campaign in American personnel was close to 140,000 casualties.
By 7 March 1945, the9th Armored Division of the First Armycaptured theLudendorff Bridge atRemagen.[20][21] The First Army was the first enemy of Germany to cross theRhine since theNapoleonic Wars. By the time the bridge collapsed after 10 days, the First Army had built two heavy duty bridges across the Rhine and established a bridgehead 40 kilometers (25 mi) long, extending fromBonn in the north almost toKoblenz in the south, and 10 to 15 kilometers (6.2 to 9.3 mi) deep, occupied by five U.S. divisions. They advanced slowly, waiting for Montgomery and the 21st Army Group to launchOperation Plunder across the Rhine on 23 March.
Together withU.S Ninth Army, the First Army trapped over 300,000 German troops in the Battle ofRuhr Pocket.[22][23] A month later, Hodges' troops of the First Army met elements of theSovietRed Army nearTorgau on theElbe River.[22] Hodges was promoted to the rank offour-star general on 15 April 1945,[24] thus becoming the first of two soldiers in thehistory of the United States Army to make their way from private to general, the other beingWalter Krueger who served in theSouthwest Pacific Theater. Bradley said of Hodges, "No other leader and no other armed force unit in World War II is entitled to greater credit than that which belongs to the quiet, modest General Courtney Hicks Hodges and his First Army".
Eisenhower referred to Hodges as the "spearhead and the scintillating star" of the United States advance into Germany, and sought to ensure that Hodges was properly recognised for his achievements despite "being seemingly overlooked by the headline writers."[25][24]
After theend of World War II in Europe on 7 May 1945, Hodges and the First Army were ordered to prepare to be sent thePacific Theater for theproposed invasion of Japan in late 1945 to March 1946. However, that move became unnecessary when theEmpire of Japansurrendered, with the official surrender documents signed inTokyo Bay on 2 September 1945. Hodges was one of the very few individuals present at the surrenders of both Nazi Germany inReims, France, and of the Empire of Japan at Tokyo Bay.[24]
After World War II, Hodges continued command of First Army atFort Jay atGovernors Island,New York, until his retirement in March 1949. He later acted as the Military Advisor to SirOwen Dixon, United Nations Mediator to Kashmir.[26]
On 22 June 1928, Hodges married a young widow, Mildred Lee Hodges (Mildred Lee Buchner). He reportedly courted her by inviting her along to walk his dog and go shooting. They had no children.[27]
Hodges died inSan Antonio, Texas, in 1966. He was buried atArlington National Cemetery, Section 2, Grave 890-A.
InPerry, Georgia, theState Route 7 Spur, a former section ofU.S. Route 41/State Route 7, was namedGeneral Courtney Hodges Boulevard. A road inDinant (Belgium) is namedAvenue Général Hodges. InMaastricht (Netherlands) theGeneraal Hodgesstraat is named after him.
Although he possessed fine military reputation as a firm and skilled commander, Hodges was quiet and little known to his troops despite significant efforts to enhance his image and popularity. In his postwar memoirs, Omar Bradley who knew Hodges as well as anyone, wrote:
A spare, soft-voiced Georgian without temper, drama or visible emotion, Hodges was left behind in the European headline sweepstakes. He was essentially a military technician whose faultless techniques and tactical knowledge made him one of the most skilled craftsmen in my entire command. He probably knew as much about infantry and training as any man in the army. But he was unostentatious and retiring, Hodges occupied an almost anonymous role in the war. Yet as a general's general his stature among our U.S commanders was rivaled only by that ofWilliam H. Simpson. For Hodges successfully blended dexterity and common sense in such equal portions as to produce a magnificently balanced command. I had implicit faith in his judgement, in his skill and restraint. Of all my Army commanders he required the least supervision.[28]
Still, Hodges has been criticized for his performance during theBattle of Hürtgen Forest. One historian called it one of the "most ill-conceived and unnecessary offensives of the whole northwest Europe campaign", adding that Hodges "lacked tactical imagination" and that "it was a miracle that he retained Eisenhower’s confidence".[29]
Hodges' honors and awards included:[27]
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Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (United Kingdom)
Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour (France)
Grand Officer of the Order of Leopold (Belgium)
Companion of the Order of the Bath (United Kingdom)
Grand Officer of the Order of the Liberator San Martín (Argentina)
Order of Suvorov First Class (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics)[30]
Order of the Oak Crown (Luxembourg)
Croix de Guerre 1939-1945 with palm (France)
Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 with palm (Belgium)The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, 9 July 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Lieutenant Colonel (Infantry) Courtney Hicks Hodges (ASN: 0–2686), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with 6th Infantry Regiment, 5th Division, A.E.F., near Brieulles, France, 2–4 November 1918. Lieutenant Colonel Hodges personally conducted a reconnaissance of the Meuse River, to determine the most advantageous location for a crossing, and for a bridge site. Having organized a storming party, he attacked the enemy not 100 paces distant, and, although failing, he managed to effect the crossing of the canal after 20 hours of ceaseless struggling. His fearlessness and courage were mainly responsible for the advance of his brigade to the heights east of the Meuse.
Division: 5th Division, American Expeditionary ForcesGeneral Orders: War Department, General Orders No. 3 (1919)[31]
| Insignia | Rank | Component | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| No insignia | Cadet | United States Military Academy | 16 June 1904 (Resigned 17 June 1905) |
| Various | Enlisted | Regular Army | 1 May 1906 |
| No insignia in 1909 | Second lieutenant | Regular Army | 13 November 1909 |
 | First lieutenant | Regular Army | 1 July 1916 |
 | Captain | Regular Army | 15 May 1917 |
 | Major | National Army | 7 June 1918 |
 | Lieutenant colonel | National Army | 31 October 1918[32] |
| Major | Regular Army | 1 July 1920 |
| Lieutenant colonel | Regular Army | 1 October 1934 |
 | Colonel | Regular Army | 1 October 1938 |
 | Brigadier general | Regular Army | 1 April 1940 |
 | Major general | Regular Army | 31 May 1941 |
 | Lieutenant general | Army of the United States | 16 February 1943 |
 | General | Army of the United States | 15 April 1945 |
| General | Retired List | 31 March 1949 |
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Commandant of the United States Army Infantry School 1940–1941 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Newly activated organization | Commanding General X Corps 1942–1943 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Commanding General Third Army 1943–1944 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Commanding General First Army 1944–1949 | Succeeded by |
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| People | |
| Other | |
