Brad and Ultra

One of the more interesting - though admittedly arcane - debates about World War II has been the degree to which Ultra intelligence was used by the Allied commanders as they set their battle plans.

General Omar Bradley, as the chief American commander on the ground, has at times been criticized for relying on it too strongly. The problem with this criticism is that there's really only one battle where you might make that case, and there it's more by what he doesn't do than what he does - the Bulge.

(Without getting too deep into it, the argument is that his reliance on Ultra led him to miss the German buildup before the Bulge, which was done largely without radio communication, and thus provided no Ultra data. The counter to that is the fact that the intelligence maps and other data prepared without Ultra demonstrate not only that the relevant intelligence units failed to pick up the buildup, but show pretty clearly that they thought substantial German units were located where Bradley did expect an attack. So he basically did what you would expect him to do anyway.)

One thing that hasn't been written about - and I didn't get into very deeply in Omar Bradley: General at War - was how Bradley handled Ultra intelligence. One of his aides told me a story recently that illustrates not only his care with the intelligence, but Bradley's personality . . . and sense of humor.

During the Normandy operations - this would have been after the Americans were established but before the breakout - Ultra indicated that there would be an attack by a fairly substantial German unit. Bradley went and had dinner with the division commander. (Dinner at that point was probably little more than C rations, but I digress. . .)

While they were talking, Bradley said, without prelude, "So, would you like some tanks?"

"Tanks?" said the commander. "Sure."

The tanks came up, the Germans attacked, and whether the division commander thought it was a happy coincidence or Bradley had a crystal ball is not recorded.

Bradley told that story years later to his aide, smiling all the time. "Would you like some tanks?"

The only question I have is what he would have said if the commander had turned him down. . . .  Probably fired him, I would guess.