Lieutenant General John C. H. Lee (#258)
This year, I am doing a series on leaders and leadership in the European Theater of Operations (ETO) in World War II. This is 10th in the series. Check out the blog to see them all or go to the links at the bottom of this article to see the most recent ones.
Today’s post covers another unsung leader of the D-Day invasion - Lieutenant General John C.H. Lee, the commander of the Communications Zone/Services of Supply or the top logistician for the US Army.
John CH Lee
John Clifford Hodges Lee (1887-1958) was a US Army engineer, who rose to the rank of Lieutenant General and commanded the Communications Zone (ComZ — the ComZ was the rear area/logistics support for the troops in the front lines) in the European Theater of Operations during World War II. A difficult, pompous, and pious man, Lee was devoid of humor and emotional intelligence. He was hated by his peers and subordinates alike — General Omar Bradley, in particular, despised him. Lee was devout — he attended church daily and twice on Sunday. Behind his back, soldiers called him “Jesus Christ Himself Lee” based on his initials — JCH Lee. Finally, he was a bit eccentric — when he was promoted to lieutenant general (3 stars) he painted 3 stars on the front and the back of his helmet.
A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point’s Class of 1909 (General Patton was a classmate), Lee’s first jobs in the Army included domestic engineering navigation projects, as well as work in the Panama Canal Zone, Guam and the Philippines. During World War I, he served on the Western Front — first as the G-2 or intelligence officer of the 82d Division and then as the G-3 or operations officer of the 89th Division. He ended the war as a Colonel, having earned the Silver Star Medal, the Army Distinguished Service Medal, and the Croix de Guerre from the French government for his actions. Between the wars, he served again in the Philippines, then became District Engineer of the Vicksburg District, responsible for flood control and navigation for a section of the Mississippi River and its tributaries.
In 1940, Lee was promoted to brigadier general (1 star) and given command of the Pacific coast embarkation zones where he caught the eye of General Marshall. Promoted to command the Services of Supply in the European Theater of Operations after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he helped support Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of Northwest Africa, and Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Normandy. Eventually, the Services of Supply were merged with the European Theater of Operations, United States Army (ETOUSA) to form the Communications Zone, or ComZ, which supported the Allied advance logistically across France and Germany.
Although largely forgotten today, his efforts to support the D-Day invasion were truly colossal in scope. The stockpile for invasion — over and above basic loads and equipment — was 2,500,000 tons of supplies. A massive system of supply depots with 62,500,000 ft2 of open and covered storage space dotted the English countryside. The crown jewel was the supply depot at Ashchurch with 2,000,000 ft2 of covered storage space and 2,000,000 ft2 of open storage space. It took a group of 10,000 American soldiers and 500 British civilians to run this massive facility. For comparison, the average Amazon warehouse today is 800,000 ft2 of covered storage space and is run by 1,000 employees. The ComZ/SOS had over 60,000 soldiers and 75,000 British civilians working for it — in fact, by June 6, 1944, one out of every four U.S. soldiers in Europe was under Lee’s command.
Once the invasion force landed, the ComZ/SOS organization shipped between 700,000 and 1,000,000 separate categories of supplies to the advancing armies. All told, 37,000,000 tons of materiel were transferred from the US and Canada to the UK prior to the Normandy invasion, all of which was organized and staged by the ComZ/SOS. Once beach-harbors known as Mulberries, and then hard ports, were established in France, a total of 41,000,000 tons were delivered from the UK or directly from North America to feed, clothe, house, and arm the Allied armies as they advanced on and destroyed the Third Reich.
To manage this colossal enterprise, Lee set up a separate headquarters for the ComZ/SOS, along with a staff that paralleled Eisenhower’s as Commander, European Theater of Operations, United States Army (ETOUSA). With two adjutant generals, two inspector generals, two provost marshals, etc, the end result was overlapping functions, jurisdiction conflicts, and confusion between the two organizations. Against his better judgment, Eisenhower was forced to name Lee the Deputy Theater Commander in January 1944.
After the war, Ike said Lee was “...an engineer officer of long experience with a reputation for getting things done. Because of his mannerisms and his stern insistence upon the outward forms of discipline, which he himself meticulously observed, he was considered a martinet by most of his acquaintances. He was determined, correct, and devoted to duty; he had long been known as an effective administrator and as a man of the highest character and religious fervor. I sometimes felt that he was a modern Cromwell, but I was willing to waive the rigidity of his mannerisms in favor of his constructive qualities. Indeed, I felt it was possible that his unyielding methods might be vital to success in an activity where an iron hand is always mandatory.”
In December 1944 due to a critical shortage of infantry soldiers, General Lee challenged the Army’s segregation policies by suggesting that physically fit African-American soldiers in the Communications Zone, providing their jobs could be filled by limited-duty personnel, should be allowed to volunteer for infantry duty, and be placed in otherwise white units. Eisenhower approved this initiative and 2,253 volunteers from the ComZ were organized into thirty-seven rifle platoons and sent to the front, to be distributed as needed to companies.
After the war, General Lee continued serving until 1947. In retirement, he spent eleven years leading the Brotherhood of St. Andrew, a lay organization of the Episcopal Church. He passed away in 1958 at the age of 71.
Application
How do you avoid overlap and confusion in your business like between the ComZ and ETOUSA during World War II? Does your Chief of Operations drift into the Chief Finance Officer’s area? Do you have confusion between the marketing department and the sales team?
One idea that would have helped decrease the confusion and overlap that existed between ComZ and ETOUSA or your company is the concept of establishing a Terms of Reference (TOR). A TOR establishes the responsibilities and authorities for key members of an organization. In World War II, this meant that Eisenhower would have needed to establish clear lanes of operation for himself; his Chief of Staff, Walter Bedell Smith; John Lee; General Omar Bradley, the commander of the Twelfth United States Army Group; and Lieutenant General Spaatz, the commander of the U.S. Strategic Air Forces in Europe. However, Ike failed to do this.
A TOR would have helped each of the key American leaders understand what their role was and what part they could play to help Eisenhower as both Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Force and commander of the European Theater of Operations, US Army. More importantly, it helped others, such as the subordinate organizations and staffs, understand who was responsible for what. The TOR would help each leader concentrate their efforts and minimize confusion. Clear responsibilities on paper sets the entire organization up for success.
The TOR system is applicable in the business world. You may think you know what a “Director of Marketing” does, but the Chief Executive Officer or “Director of Sales” may look at things differently. A solid TOR gets everybody headed in the same direction and enhances both effectiveness and efficiency.
Conclusion
The last five blog posts on leaders and leadership from the World War II European Theater of Operations are:
Liberty Ships, LVCPs, Shermans, and Mustangs
Ike’s 8 Characteristics of Leadership
Interested in bringing your team to Leadership Experience that uses historic case studies, like Jim Gavin as the Deputy Commander of the 82nd Airborne Division during D-Day to enhance your team’s leadership today? TFCG offers the D-Day, Market-Garden, and Battle of the Bulge Leadership Experiences in Europe. TFCG also offers the Eisenhower, Currahee!, the War in the Pacific Museum, and Pearl Harbor Leadership Experiences in the United States. Send me an email and we can start the discussion today about building better leaders in your organization using a historic Leadership Experience. Or click on one of the pictures to learn more.
In the meantime, go on the offensive and ensure your organization has a terms of reference to decrease overlap and confusion like what happened with General Lee’s ComZ.