General Jacob L. Devers

Devers is, undeservedly, the forgotten man of the Allies in WW2. He was one of the top ranking American generals of the war and was, arguable, the most capable of the lot. Devers was responsible for the creation of the Armoured arm of the American military when, in 1942 he was posted to Fort Knox to head the "Armored Force". Under his direction this force grew from a mere 2 divisions to 16 division with 62 seperate tank battalions. Devers was a driving force in the development in the American Armoured doctrine and had a greater impact on that than any other individual. It was Devers' idea to assign light aircraft to armoured artillery battalions to provide those units with greater firepower and manueverability, it was Devers who designed and developed the M-4 Sherman tank, it was Devers who developed the 105 pound self-propelled Howitzer and he further played a major role in the development of the DUKW amphibious truck which proved indispensible in the European war for Logistical pur... Read more