Mark W. Clark.

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Mark W. Clark.

A very important personage in American military history from World War Two [WW2] and the Korean War.

A direct descendant of George Rogers Clark [Long Knife] of American Revolutionary War fame. George Rogers Clark of course was the subject of another blog entry.

There even being a striking and startling physical resemblance between the two men, George Rogers Clark and Mark Clark.

Mark Clark operated at the highest levels of command, in the military, diplomatic, and political spheres. As did his famous ancestor. Possessed skills in all these arenas.

Mark Clark, however, is not without his detractors.

Winterbotham, the Englishman who briefed Clark on the Ultra secret, remembers this about Clark:

"Clark was restless from the start. I explained not only what the source was, but in an endeavorur to catch Mark Clark's interest gave some pertinent examples of what it could do . . . But Mark Clark didn't appear to believe the first part, and after a quarter of an hour he excused himself and his offficrs on the grounds that he something else to do. It was a bad start . . ."

Indeed, Winterbotham seems to have a VERY LOW opinion of Mark Clark. Winterbotham surmises that Clark MISSED a lot of golden opportunities offered by Ultra intelligence that was made available to him [Clark]!!

Clark was commander of the 5th U.S. Army. The army that fought alongside the British 8th Army in the Italian campaign. A campaign that in the eyes of many did NOT go well. A campaign for which Clark DID receive a lot of criticism.

Many have felt that Clark lacked the imagination to fight the Italian campaign as it needed to be fought. Whether it was at Cassino, the Rapido, or at Anzio, American forces under the command of Clark repeatedly became bogged down or suffered casualties that many felt were unnecessary.

According Eisenhower:

"First, he is getting command of the Fifth Army, for which he has begged and pleaded for a long time. Second, the job, for the moment, is one largely of organization and training, and in these fields I think Clark has no superior."

"BEGGED and PLEADED"!!?? "NOT FOR THE MOMENT"??!!

I am not comfortable with those comments of Ike!!

From this I can surmise that Eisenhower did not see the role of Clark in Italy as being a strategist or tactician or master of the operational art. A commander of those aspects of warfare WAS WHAT WAS NEEDED IN ITALY!!

Repeated assaults upon Cassino, even with enormous firepower being brought to bear upon the German positions, went for naught. It has even been suggested that the initial attacks upon Cassino were totally unwarranted!?

The attempted crossing of the Rapido river by the 36th Division, Texas Army National Guard, was repelled with heavy loss of life. It is said that until the day he died, Clark was reportedly NOT welcome as a visitor to Texas!

[Rapido of course means "RAPID". A normally small river was swollen with snow melt and had become a raging torrent. Attempting to make an assault crossing of this river was NOT a wise decision!! Anyone that has seen film footage of the boats carrying soldiers from the Texas Guard trying to cross the Rapido will just shake their head!!]

The successful amphibious assault at Anzio was not followed through with sufficient aggressiveness and vigor. American and British forces were subjected to counter-attacks by German forces that nearly wiped out the landing forces.

In the eyes of an informed American observer:

"Because of problems Americans had in Italy, some people had a low opinion of General Clark. Doctor Charles Schueller - a former Army Captain who served from October 1942 - February 1946 felt Clark was wrong to attempt going up the Apennines. In the book 'Hometown heroes: Dubuque Remembers WWII', Schueller had this to say:"

"Bonehead General Mark Clark; he was the first man in history to think that he could go up the Apennines, but there was only one road, and that one hugged the coast. And the rest of it was mountains, and you had to fight your way up."

"Monte Cassino - I was there. Mark Clark, in his wisdom, thought that was the highest promontory mountain, and that the Germans were using that as a lookout and could see where we were. Well, what the hell, they didn't need it, they had the rest of the mountains, and they didn't need that damn place. And the Germans had respected the monks and their culture, because the Germans did not go in there."

"But Clark got the idea that the Germans in the monastery were the reason they couldn't make any headway up the mountains...So they decided to bomb the hell out of it."

One must also take into account that Clark and his multi-national force was presented with very good and stiff opposition.

The German troops fighting against allied forces in Italy WERE first rate troops. To include the BEST unit in the German Army, the Hermann Goering Division [defending the actual Abbey atop Cassino].

Albert Kesselring, commanding German forces, WAS a SHREWD, ABLE, and DETERMINED commander. NOT a man who could be easily defeated.

German forces also possessed many inherent advantages to their defense of the Italian "boot".

The Germans made maximum use of the mountainous Italian terrain. There WAS NOT a lot of room for maneuver in the Italian campaign. It was quite often the task of attacking allied units to right at the strength of the German positions. NOT an easy task.

German forces made extensive use of PREPARED positions that further favored their defense. Would successfully withdraw from one position to another, inflicting maximum casualties upon the allied forces as they did so.

The weather for most of the Italian campaign was very bad. DID not favor the attacker. Favored the defender.

It may very well be that NO MATTER WHO was in command of the 5th U.S. Army in Italy, the results would NOT have been a whole lot different.

As was realized by Eisenhower, German forces in WW2 WERE JUST NOT going to be defeated in an easy manner, with one or two surprise attacks and stratagems resulting in victory ove the German army. It was not going to happen like that. A long slog was what was required.

A long slog is what the Italian campaign became, German forces holding their own, all of Italy NOT being liberated by allied forces even until the last days of the war!!

Even in Korea, Mark Clark faced a similar situation. For two years, Clark served as military commander, diplomat, negotiator for U.N. forces fighting the communists. Presided over armistice talks that often seemed to go nowhere. As with Italy, a complete, total, and quick victory in Korea became impossible!!

During the fighting in Korea, one of Mark Clark's sons, an infantry leader and West Point grad [as was Mark Clark], was wounded twice, the second time so severely that he was declared unfit for further military service and mustered out.

[I cannot find corroborating evidence of this wounding of Mark Clark's son. But believe it to be so!!]

During the Vietnam War, another son of Mark Clark [Mark W. Clark Jr.] was involved in the BAT-21 incident. This son, an Air Force pilot, was flying combat support for the units involved in the search and rescue operation to recover the downed American airman, Iceal Hambleton. Clark, the pilot, was also shot down and HAD TO BE RESCUED HIMSELF!!

"The Hollywood movie Bat 21 detailed the story of the rescue of down airman Iceal B. Hambleton. Lesser known was the story of this young co-pilot who was shot down in efforts to provide air support to the rescue effort. After evading the enemy for eight days, he was rescued by the same Navy Seal (Tom Norris) who subsequently earned the Medal of Honor for also rescuing Iceal B. Hambleton."

Mark Clark ended his long and storied career by a long stint as Superintendent of The Citadel.

The Clark family from the time of George Rogers Clark has rendered this country long and faithful service in the military.

Controversial? YES! An incompetent without merit? NO!

coolbert.