General Mark Clark: Commander of U.S. Fifth Army and Liberator of Rome

by Jon B. Mikolashek

"Although not nearly as well known as other U.S. Army senior commanders, General Mark Clark is one of the four men—along with Eisenhower, Patton, and Bradley—who historian Martin Blumenson called “the essential quartet of American leaders who achieved victory in Europe.” Eisenhower nicknamed him the American Eagle. A skilled staff officer, Clark rose quickly through the ranks, and by the time America entered the war he was deputy commander of Allied Forces in North Africa. Several weeks before Operation Torch, Clark landed by submarine in a daring mission to negotiate the cooperation of the Vichy French. He was subsequently named commander of U.S. Fifth Army and tasked with the invasion of Italy. Fifth Army and Mark Clark are virtually synonymous. From the September 1943 landing at Salerno, Clark and his army fought their way north against skilled German resistance, augmented by mountainous terrain. The daring January 1944 end-run at Anzio, although not immediately successful, set the stage for Fifth Army’s liberation of Rome on 4 June 1944, after ten months of hard fighting. The war in Italy was not over, but the taking of Rome intact was a tremendous achievement. Pitted against one of Hitler’s most able commanders, Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, Fifth Army spent another ten months in ferocious combat from the Gothic Line to the Po Valley, as Clark moved up to head all Allied ground forces in Italy as commander of 15th Army Group. The brutal Italian Campaign has been long overshadowed by D-Day and the campaign across France and into Germany. Likewise, the senior U.S. commander in Italy has been largely overlooked when one thinks of the great captains of the war. The author, Mikolashek remedies this situation, shedding much needed historical light on one of America’s most important fighting generals in this “warts and all” biography. It also demonstrates the importance of the Italian Campaign, paying tribute to the valorous soldiers of U.S. Fifth Army and their Allied comrades. Jon Mikolashek is a history professor at the U.S Army Command and General Staff College branch at Ft. Belvoir, VA, and also teaches history at American Military University."

Genres: World War II, Biography

272 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 19, 2012

Reviews

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is not a full biography of Mark Clark, but rather a critique of him during the Italian campaign. It is full of praise in some parts and critical of him in others.

Clark's 5th Army was created in North Africa as a rear echelon force guarding the frontier of the
Spanish Sahara colony in case it should be used as a German base. All the while Clark trained them for the invasion of Italy which Mr. Churchill described as a soft underbelly.

On September 9 Clark in command of both British and American troops invaded Italy at Salerno. The
landing was part of a three pronged invasion and the British had the other two landings on the
Adriatic coast and across from Sicily at Messina. Those were unopposed. The full force of German
resistance met 5th Army at Salerno and it was more than two weeks before the beachhead was secured. Clark sacked one division commander during the battle. Author Mikolashek give Clark
his highest accolades here.

Italy was no soft underbelly. It was a nasty country with the Appenine Mountains running down
the spine and rivers and passes across it. Every one of those defended to the max by Germans under Field Marshal Albert Kesselring.

The controversial decision to bomb the Abbey at Monte Casino is laid at the feet of Clark's superior
British general Sir Harold Alexander. Turned out the Germans weren't using the Abbey as an
observation post after all, but a lot of people and medieval artifacts were killed and destroyed.

The Anzio landings which was the Allied attempt to leapfrog over the German lines and capture
Rome turned out not to do that. In the end we had an isolated beachhead that it took weeks before
the rest of Clark's 5th Army linked up. Anzio was a decision made in London however and Clark
did the best he could sacking another division commander in this one also.

The race for Rome is where Clark gets his lumps. The author feels that Clark's desire to occupy the
Italian capital before Italy became a sideshow theater cost us big time. Rome was an open city so
Kesselring declared it when the Nazis abandoned it and had no military value. It was occupied on
June 5, 1944. On June 6, the Allies made the cross channel invasion to France and Italy was a
sideshow.

More troops were diverted to the later invasion of southern France in August of 1944 from Clark's
5th Army. In the end Clark who was now in command of the whole Italian theater was able to get
to Austria through Italy and seal off possible escape routes and prevent a last pitched battle with
the Nazis.

Clark's career was steeped in controversy and his conservative politics didn't help in some quarters.
His final post was at the military academy The Citadel in South Carolina where he died in 1984.

Mark Clark's career will be scrutinized and debated for centuries to come.

[Yvonne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written about little covered war in Italy

I enjoyed this book and found it very readable. My father served under Clark for part of the war and always spoke highly of him. The book offered a well balanced insight into the man. It also covered the war in Italy which was so difficult and overshadowed by France.

[Relstuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid but brief bio of the general in charge of the American forces fighting in Italy during WWII.