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So far The Fifth Field has created 141 blog entries.

Heinz-Georg Lemm

Wartime photo of Heinz-Georg Lemm

Born on June 1, 1919 in Schwerin, Heinz-Georg Lemm was one of the most highly decorated soldiers in World War II Germany, winning the Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. His early career saw him assigned to the 12th Infantry Division, serving many positions in the 27th Infantry Regiment in Poland, France and Russia (including the encirclement at the Demjansk Pocket.) In addition to these awards, Lemm won the Tank Destruction Badge, Close Combat Badge in Silver, Wound Badge in Silver and the German Cross in Gold. He ended the war as an oberst (the youngest in the German Army) and the commander of the 27th Fusilier Regiment, having fought with the unit against American forces in the Battle of the Bulge.

In a discussion with Major MacLean in 1991, Heinz Georg-Lemm stated that he was at Hitler’s headquarters at Rastenburg on July 20 to receive the Oak Leaves to his Knight’s Cross. As the day was hot, the officers’ mess was moved from inside a building to outside under several trees. Major Lemm sat down at a table and shortly after, another officer sat down beside him. It would turn out to be Oberst Claus von Stauffenberg, who engaged in small talk before leaving, telling Major Lemm that he had to get ready to brief Hitler. The bomb in von Stauffenberg’s brief case later exploded near Hitler in the briefing room, and Lemm’s award ceremony was postponed until the following day. But someone remembered that von Stauffenberg had conversed with Lemm and for several hours, interrogators asked Major Lemm what the two had discussed, before finally clearing him of any potential complicity in the assassination attempt.

Heinz-Georg Lemm was a prisoner of American forces for ten months, until 1946. He was then transferred to Soviet control and confined to a Soviet prisoner of war camp until 1950, when he returned to Germany. In 1957, Heinz-Georg Lemm joined the post-war German Bundeswehr (Post-WWII German Army) and progressed to the rank of lieutenant general. He commanded the 5th Panzer Division and the Troop Office of the Bundeswehr before retiring on September 30, 1979. He then led the Association for Knight’s Cross Recipients. General Lemm retired to the small village of Ruppichteroth, northeast of Bonn, to be closer to his old Army friend and fellow Knight’s Cross winner, Martin Steglich. Heinz-Georg Lemm died on November 17, 1994.

Heinz-Georg LemmThe Fifth Field2016-03-28T19:38:08-05:00

Walther-Peer Fellgiebel

Wartime photo of Walter Fellgiebel

The son of General Erich Fellgiebel, a major conspirator in the July 20 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler at Rastenburg, Walther-Peer Fellgiebel was born on May 7, 1918 in Berlin-Charlottenburg. Walther had his own distinguished military career. He won the Iron Cross Second Class on July 13, 1940, during the French Campaign. On July 30, 1941, Fellgiebel received the Iron Cross First Class and the Wound Badge in Black, for actions on the Russian Front with the 298th Artillery Regiment. He would receive the Wound Badge in Silver, for additional wounds, on August 3, 1943. An artilleryman, Walter Fellgiebel won the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross on September 7, 1943 as the battery commander of the 2nd Battery of the 935th Light Army Artillery Detachment. Ten days later, Fellgiebel received the General Assault Badge.

The younger Fellgiebel was probably unaware of his father’s participation in the assassination plot, but was arrested on August 1, 1944. He was released and promoted to major on November 9, 1944. In February 1945, authorities arrested him again, but senior Army officers interceded on his behalf and he thus survived the war.

After the conflict, he served as the head of the Association of Knights Cross Recipients. He later wrote Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes, 1939–1945: Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtteile (The Bearers of the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross 1939–1945: The Owners of the Highest Award of the Second World War, All Military Branches.) Walther-Peer Fellgiebel died in Frankfurt am Main, Germany on October 14, 2001.

Erich Fellgiebel

Walther-Peer FellgiebelThe Fifth Field2016-03-28T19:42:07-05:00

Karl Dönitz

Navy Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz

Karl Dönitz, Navy Grand Admiral, was born on September 16, 1891, in Grünau near Berlin. As a young officer, Dönitz served in World War I on the light cruiser SMS Breslau and then on several U-boats. His boat was sunk on October 4, 1918 and he became a prisoner of war of the British. He served in numerous positions after the war and became the commander of the First U-boat Flotilla “Weddigen” on September 1, 1935. Dönitz became the commander of all Germany’s U-boats on January 28, 1939. Nicknamed “The Lion” and “Onkel (Uncle) Karl,” he led this force to within a whisker of defeating Great Britain in the early part of World War II. After the sacking of Grand Admiral Erich Raeder, Karl Dönitz became the Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy on January 30, 1943. In a surprise decision by Adolf Hitler, he named Karl Dönitz as the Führer‘s successor in May 1945. During the war, Grand Admiral Dönitz received the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. Both his sons were killed in action during the conflict. Dönitz’s final message to his U-boat sailors on May 4, 1945 was:

“My U-boat men! Six years of U-boat war lie behind us. You have fought like lions. A crushing material superiority has forced us into a narrow area. A continuation of our fight from the remaining basis is no longer possible. U-boat men! Undefeated and spotless you lay down your arms after a heroic battle without equal. We remember in deep respect our fallen comrades, who have sealed with their death their loyalty to the Führer and Fatherland. Comrades! Preserve your U-boat spirit, with which you have fought courageously, stubbornly and imperturbably through the years for the good of the Fatherland. Long live Germany! Your Grand Admiral.”

In 1946, Karl Dönitz was convicted at Nürnberg of war crimes and sentenced to ten years imprisonment. Dönitz was released from Spandau Prison (Berlin) in 1956. He later authored Memoirs: Ten Years and Twenty Days. Karl Dönitz died on December 24, 1980 in Aumühle near Hamburg. Several thousand former U-boat sailors attended his burial ceremony at the Waldfriedhof (Forest Cemetery) in Aumühle. Dönitz’s Crews is all about the relationship Dönitz had with his U-boat sailors during the war.

Karl DönitzThe Fifth Field2016-03-28T19:44:16-05:00

Oskar Dirlewanger

Oskar Dirlewanger

Oskar Paul Dirlewanger, SS-Oberführer (SS Senior Colonel), was born on September 26, 1895 in Würzburg. The son of a lawyer, he attended grade school and high school, before passing the Abitur, a test that allowed him to enroll in college. Dirlewanger was never married; he stood six feet tall. He was wounded in combat during in World War I and won the Wound Badge in Black, the Iron Cross Second Class and Iron Cross First Class, as well as the Württemberg Golden Medal for Bravery. In the chaos of post-war Germany, Dirlewanger served on an armored train in a Freikorps (Free Corps) para-military volunteer unit that fought Communist insurgents. He originally joined the Nazi Party in 1922 , with party number 12,517, but he was later expelled from that organization. Dirlewanger then attended the University of Frankfurt, where he obtained a Ph.D. He later re-joined the Nazi Party (party number 1,098,716,) but ran afoul of some local party leaders; the Gauleiter of Württemberg-Hohenzollern, Wilhelm Murr, even attempted to put him in a concentration camp. During the early 1930s, Dirlewanger was a member of SA Brigade 155, but quickly was charged with insubordination and disrespect. A serial sex-offender, Oskar Dirlewanger was convicted of morals’ charges and sentenced to several years in prison (the girl was under 14 while Dirlewanger was 39.)

After his release from prison, Dirlewanger — on the recommendation of his World War I comrade, now SS-Obergruppenführer Gottlob Berger (head of the SS Main Leadership Office) — volunteered to serve with a German military expeditionary force in Spain, known as the Condor Legion; here he helped train Spanish crews in tank warfare, after arriving in Spain in April 1937. His commander, Oberst Ritter von Thoma, of the German Army, rated his performance in Spain as outstanding. For his superior service there, Dirlewanger received the Spanish Campaign Medal, the Spanish Military Service Cross and the Spanish Cross in Silver. Oskar Dirlewanger returned to Germany from Spain in May 1939. In commenting on his past, Dirlewanger said at this point, “Even though I did wrong, I never committed a crime.” After the outbreak of World War II, Dirlewanger wrote to a senior SS officer and volunteered for service as an SS officer, suggesting that a special unit be formed of hunter poachers, with Dirlewanger in command. His rationale was that if men could successfully track and find animals in the forests, those same men could successfully hunt and kill men in those same areas of rough terrain. Promoted to SS-Obersturmbannführer, he was named to command the Special Command Dirlewanger (Sonderkommando Dirlewanger), a Waffen-SS unit (composed of these former prisoners) formed to hunt partisans.

Oskar Dirlewanger and his unit, initially battalion-size, fought partisans in Poland in 1942, guarded Jews in forced labor camps (and the Lublin Jewish Ghetto) and in general made life miserable for Poles in Lublin and Kraków. According to British historian Michael Tregenza, Oskar Dirlewanger and SS-Gruppenführer Odilo Globocnik took part in numerous drunken outings, when Sonderkommando Dirlewanger was assigned to Lublin in 1941 and 1942. The unit transferred to White Russia in 1943, after the SS chief in Poland, SS-Obergruppenführer Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger, said that the unit was too brutal and corrupt to remain in the General Government. Dirlewanger fought against Soviet partisans through the summer of 1944 in Russia and White Russia, killing thousands of armed – and unarmed – inhabitants in the region. Dirlewanger and his unit took part in the following anti-partisan operations: Operation Adler, Operation Greif, Operation Nordsee, Operation Regatta, Operation Karlsbad, Operation Frieda, Operation Franz, Operation Erntefest I and II, Operation Hornung, Operation Lenz Süd, Operation Lenz Nord, Operation Zauberflöte, Operation Draufgänger I and II, Operation Günther, Operation Kottbus, Operation Frühlingsfest and Operation Hermann.

Heinrich Himmler discussed the unit with his senior SS leaders about this time in the war, and said, “In 1941 I organized a ‘poacher’s regiment’ under Dirlewanger…a good Swabian fellow, wounded ten times, a real character – bit of an oddity, I suppose. I obtained permission from the Führer to collect from every prison in Germany all the poachers who had used firearms and not, of course, traps, in their poaching days — about 2,000 in all. Alas, only 400 of these ‘upstanding and worthy characters’ remain today. I have kept replenishing this regiment with people on SS probation, for in the SS we really have far too strict a system of justice…When these did not suffice, I said to Dirlewanger…’Now, why not look for suitable candidates among the villains, the real criminals, in the concentration camps?’…The atmosphere in the regiment is often somewhat medieval in the use of corporal punishment and so on…if someone pulls a face when asked whether we will win the war or not he will slump down from the table…dead, because the others will have shot him out of hand.”

In August 1944, the Dirlewanger Regiment moved to the Warsaw Uprising (August-September 1944) and the Slovakian Uprising in October-November 1944. During the Warsaw Uprising in Poland, Dirlewanger killed thousands of civilians and his men behaved in such a despicable manner that SS generals at Warsaw begged for the unit to be sent somewhere else. Moving to Slovakia, Dirlewanger and his men ravaged that countryside as well, as they attempted to suppress that uprising. The Dirlewanger Regiment then moved to the Eastern Front in late 1944, first to Hungary; by this time, the unit was receiving drafts of unwilling troopers scoured from the concentration camps.

Sonderkommando Dirlewanger expanded throughout the war and finished as the 36th Waffen-SS Division in Germany, fighting near Halbe as part of the German Ninth Army. German propaganda correspondents and wartime photographers did not follow them in action. This was for good reason, as wherever the Dirlewanger unit operated, corruption and rape formed an every-day part of life and indiscriminate slaughter, beatings and looting were rife. On August 15, 1943, SS-Gruppenführer Curt von Gottberg and SS-Obergruppenführer Erich von dem Bach recommended Dirlewanger for the German Cross in Gold for his achievements against Soviet partisans; he later received the award. He received the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross for his accomplishments in Russia in 1944 and for his role in crushing the Warsaw Uprising. In fighting in both world wars, Dirlewanger was wounded in action at least twelve times. He received the Wound Badge in Black, the Close Combat Bar and the Anti-Partisan Badge.

Dirlewanger avoided death on the Eastern Front, after he was wounded in February 1945, when he turned the division over to Fritz Schmedes. One source says that he came back to command the unit and served with them until about April 12, 1945, when he was wounded once again. Subsequently, Dirlewanger attempted to hide in Upper Swabia at the end of the war. Free French authorities arrested Dirlewanger at the end of May or beginning of June, probably in the Allgäu Alps in southern Germany. Polish laborers, under the employment of the French, identified Oskar Dirlewanger and beat him to death on June 7, 1945 at Altshausen/Upper Swabia, while he was in French captivity, although rumors persisted that Dirlewanger had survived the immediate post-war period and fled to Egypt or Syria in late 1945 to avoid prosecution. French authorities later exhumed the remains of Oskar Dirlewanger from the Altshausen Friedhof on the northwest side of town and confirmed that it was indeed him, although the French file on Oskar Dirlewanger remains locked and inaccessible. After the war, in perhaps the most-classic understatement of the war, Gottlob Berger said this of Oskar Dirlewanger, “Now Dr. Dirlewanger was hardly a good boy. You can’t say that. But he was a good soldier, and he had one big mistake that he didn’t know when to stop drinking.”

Reputed photo of Oskar Dirlewanger after arrest

Oskar Dirlewanger was undoubtedly a serial sex offender and pathological killer. British historian Michael Tregenza has documented Dirlewanger in Lublin, Poland and presents strong evidence that Dirlewanger murdered Polish women there, to include killing some by Strychnine injections. Had Oskar Dirlewanger survived the aftermath of the war, and been apprehended, the only question would have been which nation would have tried and executed him.

For many years after the war, the operations of Dirlewanger and his unit remained shrouded in mystery. This ended in 1988, when the author found several thousand pages of reports of Sonderkommando Dirlewanger in the U.S. National Archives, later using them to write The Cruel Hunters: SS-Sonderkommando Dirlewanger, Hitler’s Most Notorious Anti-Partisan Unit.

During the war, Dirlewanger’s unit had the following designations:

Wilddiebkommando Oranienburg (June 1940 to July 1940)
Sonderkommando Dr. Dirlewnager (July 1940 to September 1940)
SS-Sonderbataillon Dirlewanger (September 1940 to September 1943)
Einsatz-Bataillon Dirlewanger (numberous occasions in 1943 and 1944)
SS-Regiment Dirlewanger (September 1943 to December 1944)
SS-Sturmbrigade Dirlewanger (December 1944 to February 1945)
36. Waffen-Grenadier Division der SS (February 1945 to May 1945)

Oskar DirlewangerThe Fifth Field2016-03-28T19:45:49-05:00

Odilo Globocnik

Odilo Globocnik in 1939

Odilo Globocnik, SS-Gruppenführer, was born in the Imperial Free City of Trieste, Austria on April 21, 1904. Hailing from a family of Slovene descent, Globocnik was the son of a former cavalry lieutenant, turned postman. Odilo moved to Klagenfurt, Austria and became an early member of the Austrian Nazi Party and Austrian SS, joining the Austrian Nazi Party in 1922. He is reported to have been one of the attackers who murdered Jewish Viennese jeweler Norbert Futterweit in 1933. For his early work in the Nazi Party He joined the German Nazi Party in 1931), Globocnik assumed duties as the Gauleiter for Vienna in 1938, but used his position to speculate in illegal foreign currency exchanges and was stripped of the position. But Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS, knew a ruthless man when he saw one and named Globocnik the SS and Police Leader for Lublin in Poland.

In that capacity, “Globus” assumed command of “Operation Reinhard,” the Nazi plan to kill the two million Jews in Poland at the death camps of Treblinka, Sobibór and Belzec. It is estimated that the total haul in currency and precious metals from the victims in “Operation Reinhard” approached 178,745,960 Reichsmarks, or $71,200,000 at the existing rate of exchange. That works out to about $1,036,635,251 in 2012 dollars – over one billion dollars! However, the real take by the Nazis may have been two or three times that, given the level of corruption at every camp, among the Ukrainian guards and at Lublin, where numerous SS officers from Globocnik on down could have skimmed off a personal fortune. In fact, Willy Natke, Globocnik’s batman, once mentioned that the “Operation Reinhard” chief had a secret account with an unnamed bank – but possibly the Emission Bank of Poland, located in Lublin – with the account name of “Ordinario.” This secret account of Globocnik’s has never been uncovered, but has simply disappeared from history. That amount – reported and unreported, but stolen – would make the theft of these valuable precious metals and gems the largest robbery of all time.

According to British historian Michael Tregenza, Globocnik took part in numerous drunken outings with Oskar Dirlewanger, when Sonderkommando Dirlewanger was assigned to Lublin in 1942.

Globocnik was horribly successful in this task during 1942 – 1943, when it is estimated that “Operation Reinhard” killed 1,750,000 people, and was subsequently transferred to duties as SS and Police Leader for the Adriatic Coast. He would receive the German Cross in Gold and German Cross in Silver in 1945.

Odilo Globocnik in 1945

In October 1944, Odilo Globocnik married Lore Peterschinegg, the head of the Bund Deutsche Mädel of the Carinthia district in Austria. They had one son; Lore died in 1974. Globocnik was a close associate of Dr. Friedrich Rainer, Gauleiter of Carinthia.

But the war ended and Odilo Globocnik was apprehended by British forces. He committed suicide on May 31, 1945 at Paternion, Austria. His last words were, “[I am] a poor merchant from Klagenfurt frightened of the possible Yugoslav invasion.” Then, Odilo Globocnik bit down on a vial of poison.

Reported corpse of Globocnik shortly after suicide; man on the front right is Hermann Höfle

Authorities transported Globocnik’s body to a local churchyard, but the priest reportedly refused to have ‘the body of such a man’ resting in consecrated ground. Locals dug a hasty grave outside the churchyard, next to an outer wall, and buried the body without a ceremony. An often overlooked figure in the Final Solution, few publications present the true scope of his monstrous deeds. The best book on “Globus” Globocnik is Odilo Globocnik, Hitler’s Man in the East by Joseph Poprzecny.

Odilo GlobocnikThe Fifth Field2016-03-28T21:06:44-05:00

John C. Woods

John C. Woods, Master Sergeant and U. S. Army hangman, was born in Wichita, Kansas on June 5, 1911. Prior to his induction in the Army on August 30, 1943, he lived in Eureka, Kansas; he was married with no children. After his parents separated, Woods attended high school for one year, before dropping out. In 1933, he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps, but was dishonorably discharged on September 27, 1933 after being AWOL for six days and refusing to work. At his induction, he was listed as having blue eyes, brown hair with a ruddy complexion, standing 5’4½” tall and weighing 130 pounds. He reported to basic training on September 19, 1943; in early 1944, he deployed on a troopship to England and was assigned to FFRD #4. On March 30, 1944, he was assigned to Company B of the 37th Engineer Combat Battalion in the 5th Engineer Special Brigade. Morning reports for that unit do not indicate that Woods was ever absent from the command in the first six months; he therefore likely took part in the Normandy Invasion, where Company B invaded Omaha Beach, losing 4 KIA, 15 WIA and 3 MIA in just the first day.

Woods left Company B on October 3, 1944 for duty in the Normandy Base Section. He was attached to the 2913th Disciplinary Training Center in 1944; orders in December 1944 show him assigned to the Provost Marshal Section in the Headquarters of the Brittany Base Section. Woods was formally assigned to the 2913th Disciplinary Training Center on February 12, 1945; on May 7, 1945, he was assigned to the Headquarters of the Normandy Base Section, but was attached back to the 2913th for duty.

However, unknown to the Army, there was a dark secret about John C. Woods. On December 3, 1929, John Woods joined the United States Navy. He reported to the west coast. After initial training, he received an assignment for the U.S.S. Saratoga. Within months, Woods deserted. Authorities apprehended him in Colorado and returned him to California, where he received a General Court-Martial. After the conviction, a Navy medical officer recommended that a medical board examine Woods. This happened on April 23, 1930. The report following the examination read:

“This patient, though not intellectually inferior, gives a history of repeatedly running counter to authority both before and since enlistment. Stigmata of degeneration are present and the patient frequently bites his fingernails. He has a benign tumor of the soft palate for which he refuses operation. His commanding officer and division officers state that he shows inaptitude and does not respond to instruction. He is obviously poor service material. This man has had less than five months service. His disability is considered to be an inherent defect for which the service is in no way responsible. [He] is not considered a menace to himself or others.”

The report also provided a diagnosis for John Woods – Constitutional Psychopathic Inferiority without Psychosis. The Navy then discharged him.

On September 3, 1945, Master Sergeant Woods was released from attachment and assigned to the Headquarters CHANOR Base Section. During 1944 and 1945, Master Sergeant Woods hanged about thirty U.S. soldiers, who had been sentenced to death. After the war, he hanged dozens of Nazi war criminals at the Landsberg Military Prisoner, often in conjunction with Johann Reichhart – who had executed thousands of condemned persons during the Third Reich. Woods gained international fame in October 1946, as the official hangman for the International Military Tribunal at Nürnberg. Woods executed ten senior German military and civilian officials previously convicted of egregious crimes against humanity, crimes against peace and war crimes – the condemned included Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Colonel General Alfred Jodl, former head of the SS Ernst Kaltenbrunner, former Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, Alfred Rosenberg, Hans Frank, Wilhelm Frick, Julius Streicher, Fritz Sauckel and Arthur Seyss-Inquart. Post-execution photos indicate that the trap door mechanism was flawed and that several of the condemned hit the door with their face as they plummeted downward. During his supposed 15-year career as a hangman, he reportedly executed 347 men, but this is undoubtedly a large exaggeration as Woods was a heavy drinker and self-aggrandizer. An 11-year search of military records indicates that it is far more likely that Woods had a 2-year career and hanged 60-100 men.

Dual gallows at Landsberg Military Prison, May 1946. Johann Reichhart hanged the condemned on the right gallows. Master Sergeant John C. Woods used the left gallows.

Master Sergeant Woods was accidentally electrocuted on July 21, 1950 on Eniwetok Atoll, while attempting to repair an engineer lighting set (not while constructing an electric chair, which is part of his myth. Another anecdote from Europe after his death was that German scientists on Eniwetok as part of Operation Paperclip murdered Woods and made it look like an accident.)

He was survived by his wife.

John C. Woods with wife in 1946; this photo and several others of Woods in The Fifth Field were graciously supplied by the Associated Press archives

Woods is buried in the modest city cemetery in Toronto, Kansas, a small town 60 miles east of Wichita. John C. Woods received no individual military awards during his career for his service as a hangman.

Grave stone for Master Sergeant John C. Woods

John C. WoodsThe Fifth Field2021-06-27T18:18:23-05:00

David Petraeus

David Howell “Dave” Petraeus, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and former Commander, Central Command (CENTCOM), was born at Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York on November 7, 1952. He graduated from the United States Military Academy (ranking 39 of 833) with a Bachelor of Science degree and a commission as an Infantry officer, on June 5, 1974.

Dave Petraeus

In his early career, Petraeus served in the 509th Airborne Battalion Combat Team at Vicenza, Italy and the 24th Mechanized Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Georgia. After serving as the aide-de-camp to Army Chief of Staff Carl Vuono, Lieutenant Colonel Petraeus commanded the 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment in the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault.) He almost died in 1991, when he was struck in the chest by an errant M-16 rifle bullet on a training exercise. He later commanded the 1st Brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division. Petraeus subsequently broke his pelvis, during a hard landing on a parachute jump, but again recovered and commanded the 101st in Iraq. In July 2004, he was promoted to lieutenant general and selected to command the Multi-National Security Transition Command – Iraq.

Dave Petraeus was the General George C. Marshall Award winner as the top graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in 1983. He later received a Ph.D. degree in International Relations in 1987 from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, which led to an assignment as Assistant Professor of International Relations at the United States Military Academy.

After several years in Iraq, General Petraeus concluded that a risky “Surge Strategy” was perhaps the only way to bring Iraq out of its semi-civil war status. In January 2007, he was selected to command the Multi-National Force – Iraq. On October 31, 2008, David Petraeus assumed command of the U.S. Central Command. This assignment was interrupted in June 2010, when he was selected by the President to become the Commander, U.S. Forces in Afghanistan.

General David Petraeus retired from the Army on August 31, 2011. In his remarks at David Petraeus’ Army retirement, Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, compared Petraeus to Ulysses S. Grant, John J. Pershing, George Marshall and Dwight D. Eisenhower as one of the great battle captains of American history.

David Petraeus was sworn in as the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency on September 6, 2011. However, on November 7, 2012, just weeks after the coordinated attack against two United States government facilities in Benghazi, Libya, by members of the Islamic militant group Ansar al-Sharia, CIA Director Petraeus submitted his resignation. The following day, the President accepted it.

A later investigation found General Petraeus had improperly stored classified information and had not fully cooperated with investigators into this matter. He pled guilty to several misdemeanors and received probation, with a $100,000 fine. During the following years, he held several prestigious academic posts and served as a high-level consultant to government officials and private businesses.

To this day, the details of David Petraeus’ resignation remain somewhat hazy and unclear. Was the incident truly an ill-advised relationship between the General and his biographer, which then led to violations concerning the storage of classified information? Was it “taking one for the team” over the failure at Benghazi? Or was it that the intelligence community, aided by an element of the FBI, disliked the former Army general, who had no true experience in national level intelligence matters, and then perhaps illegally tapping his phones and email — an example of the swamp devouring its own?

Or was it a pre-emptive coup against a popular potential Presidential candidate who could have posed problems in the nominative process for 2016?

David PetraeusThe Fifth Field2021-06-27T18:21:06-05:00

Jack Pattison

Jack E. Pattison, the 103rd First Captain of the United States Military Academy at West Point, was born in Washington, Pennsylvania on November 13, 1949. Prior to attending West Point, he served as an enlisted soldier in Vietnam. While assigned to Company A, 2nd Battalion, 501st Airborne Infantry Regiment, Jack served as a radio operator, standing next to his company commander during the Battle of Hamburger Hill and later receiving an Army Commendation Medal for Valor. U.S. casualties for the battle were 72 killed in action and 372 wounded. The U.S. Air Force dropped almost 500 tons of bombs and 70 tons of napalm on enemy positions during the fight.

Jack and Anne Pattison

After graduating from West Point with a Bachelor of Science degree and a commission in the Infantry, Lieutenant Pattison served in the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), before commanding Company C, 1st Battalion 58th Infantry in the 197th Infantry Brigade at Fort Benning. He commanded a second company in the 3rd Infantry Division in Germany and helped introduce the Bradley Fighting Vehicle to the field force. Major Pattison graduated from Army’s Command and General Staff College in 1988 and then was selected to attended the prestigious School for Advanced Military Studies (The graduates of which were referred to as “Jedi Knights.”) He then served as the XO for the 3rd Battalion, 41st Infantry in the 2nd Armored Division at Fort Hood and “Operation Desert Storm.”

Lieutenant Colonel Jack Pattison later served as a strategic planner on the Army Staff in Washington, DC and then served with the Headquarters, Forces Command in Atlanta, Georgia. He retired from the Army in 1998. After working as a consultant, Jack Pattison founded his own company, Pattison Enterprises LLC.

Jack PattisonThe Fifth Field2021-06-27T18:37:04-05:00

Raymond Odierno

Raymond T. “Ray” Odierno, the 38th Chief of Staff of the Army, was born in Dover, New Jersey on September 8, 1954. A Field Artillery officer, he graduated from West Point in 1976. During “Operation Desert Storm,” he served as the executive officer (XO) for the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery in the 3rd Armored Division. He later served as the XO for the Division Artillery in that unit. General Odierno later commanded the 4th Infantry Division and the III Corps at Fort Hood. During his career, he earned a Master of Science Degree in Nuclear Effects Engineering from North Carolina State University and a Master of Arts Degree in National Security and Strategy from the Naval War College.

In Washington, DC, General Odierno served as the Director, Force Management in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans, United States Army, and as Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Washington, D.C., where he was the primary military advisor to United States Secretary of State. He followed that in October 2010 as Commander U.S. Joint Forces Command. On September 7, 2011, he was sworn in as the 38th Chief of Staff of the Army. He held this position until August 2015 when he retired from Active Duty.

Like his predecessor, Martin Dempsey, General Odierno spent many years in Iraq, helping to stabilize the situation and implementing the successful “Surge Strategy,” conceived by General Dave Petraeus.

Raymond OdiernoThe Fifth Field2015-08-28T22:46:40-05:00

Martin Dempsey

Marty Dempsey

Martin E. “Marty” Dempsey, the 18th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was born on March 14, 1952 in Bayonne, New Jersey. Growing up in Goshen, New York, he graduated from the United States Military Academy (ranking 257 of 833) with a Bachelor of Science degree and a commission as an Armor officer, on June 5, 1974. During “Operation Desert Storm,” Dempsey served as the Executive Officer of the 3rd Brigade in the 3rd Armored Division “Spearhead.” He later commanded the 4th Battalion, 67th Armor. In June 2003, he assumed command of the 1st Armored Division “Old Ironsides” and remained in command until July 2005. He then became the Commander, Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq, where he helped train the new Iraqi Army. Later serving as the Deputy Commander, U. S. Central Command, he became the acting commander, following the untimely departure of Admiral William J. Fallon. Promoted to a fourth star, Martin Dempsey became the commander of the U. S. Army Training and Doctrine Command in December 2008.

General Dempsey held this position for twenty-eight months and then became the 37th Chief of Staff of the United States Army (CSA) on April 11, 2011. But his tenure as CSA was short. On October 1, 2011, General Martin Dempsey became the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He held this position until September 2015 when he retired from Active Duty.

Martin DempseyThe Fifth Field2021-06-27T18:36:31-05:00