Hodges at First Army

While the relationship between Bradley and Patton gets most of the attention, Bradley had an equally productive relationship with the head of his First Army, Courtney Hodges.

Hodges was no where near the colorful figure that Patton was. While Bradley at times acted as a brake to Patton's impulses, he had pretty much the opposite type of relationship with Hodges. The First Army staff - and Hodges by implication - were considered problematic and even "weak" by both Bradley and Eisenhower. Originally Bradley's deputy, it's not entirely clear that Bradley actually wanted him to succeed him as head of 1st Army; that order came from above.

Nonetheless, it was Hodges who got across the Rhine first, not Patton. And First Army had a long list of other achievements during the war, including meeting the Russians at Elbe.

Bradley's urging aggressiveness on Hodges may have been responsible for one of the most serious allied mistakes in the conflict, the serial messes known as the battles in Huertgen Forest. (Ultimately, I blame Bradley for the losses there, though clearly the lower level planning and execution were not very good.)

Hodges is another of the unknown generals of the war. While not as critical as Bradley, he does deserve more attention. Unfortunately, he was every bit as retiring as Bradley was when it came to publicity. His personality didn't help him either. Not only did he come off as dour, he had a reputation as a disciplinarian, and often was bad cop to Bradley's cop when he was his second in command.

As far as I know, he's only had one biography written on him. He comes off rather poorly in a few books, but mostly he's been pushed even further into the background than Bradley was. This is despite having had  a pretty interesting personal story - he left West Point after doing poorly in math, enlisted as a private, won a Distinguished Service Medal for bravery during WWI, and rose from an enlisted man to four star general.