William E. DePuy

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William E. DePuy
Air Force Distinguished Service Medal
Silver Star (3)
Legion of Merit
Distinguished Flying Cross
Bronze Star Medal
Purple Heart
(2)

William Eugene DePuy (/dɛˈpjuː/ deh-PEW;[1] October 1, 1919 – September 9, 1992) was a United States Army general and the first commander of the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command. He is widely regarded as one of the principal architects of the restructuring of United States Army doctrine after the American withdrawal from Vietnam.[2]

Early life and World War II

DePuy was born in

Fort Leonard Wood, and during this time he walked to the Louisiana Maneuvers and back with his platoon.[5]

Shortly after the United States' entry into World War II, DePuy was assigned in 1942 as a lieutenant, at age 22, to the newly formed 90th Infantry Division. He received a field promotion to major in command of a battalion during the Normandy campaign in August 1944, at age 24. He served with the 90th Division in the fierce fighting from Utah Beach through the Battle of the Bulge. For his combat heroism he was awarded his first Distinguished Service Cross and three Silver Stars. He then served as an operations officer at division level and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in January 1945.

DePuy's service as battalion commander, regimental executive officer and division's operations officer was described as outstanding by 90th Division late commander, Major General

James A. Van Fleet called DePuy's staff work as "brilliant" and added that his "inspiring and courageous leadership" of his battalion provided "some of the finest examples of infantry operations in this War".[6]

He would later reflect that "the Division learned to fight for real against the Germans in Normandy--the Germans did the instructing.. in six weeks the 90th Division lost 100% of its strength in infantry soldiers and 150% of its officers."[7]

Interbellum

Following World War II, DePuy attended the

Budapest, Hungary.[3] During the Korean War, DePuy spent time convalescing after a broken leg, and then performed clandestine service for the Central Intelligence Agency in China and other Asian countries.[8] In 1953, DePuy began attendance at the Armed Forces Staff College, followed by assignment to the Office of the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, where he worked on modernization of Army force structure, doctrine and training policies. In 1960, DePuy was a student at the Royal College of Defence Studies
.

DePuy met Marjory Kennedy Walker of Salem, Virginia, a Far East specialist who served with both the Office of Strategic Services and the Central Intelligence Agency,[9] and they were married in June 1951. A son, William E DePuy Jr. was born in July 1952, and daughters Joslin and Daphne in July 1953 and 1954, respectively.[5]

Vietnam War

First deployed to Vietnam in 1964, DePuy served as Chief of Staff of Operations for

Harold K. Johnson to say, "If every division commander relieved people like DePuy, I'd soon be out of lieutenant colonels and majors. He just eats them up like peanuts." DePuy later explained to an interviewer that his experience in World War II had informed him of the importance of good leadership in war as he had "fought in Normandy with three battalion commanders who should have been relieved in peacetime." He firmly believed that command was a privilege to be earned, not a right.[11]

Post-Vietnam activities

DePuy is perhaps best remembered for his efforts while he was the first commander of the

tanks playing a leading role on the battlefield.[12] DePuy initially developed these views from his World War II experience against a German Army trained in blitzkrieg, and his review of Israeli fighting during the 1973 Yom Kippur War reconfirmed his beliefs.[12]

DePuy supervised the Army's effort to learn lessons from the Yom Kippur War, and one of the lessons learned was that "in clashes of massed armor… both sides sustained devastating losses, approaching 50% in less than two weeks of combat… these statistics are of serious import for US Army commanders."

Active Defense".[13] Its effect was:[7]

  • to attempt defence of the FRG in a series of retrograde battles
  • Army maneuver doctrine required a complete revision
  • The previous mobilization programmes would not be useful
  • Training proficiency must be far higher
  • Training itself must be far more realistic

In theory Active Defense was supposed to compensate for:[7]

  • a 1:2 numerical disadvantage
  • the relatively poor quality equipment
  • the unwillingness of NATO to use WMD

The 1976 version of Operations was the first in the series to incorporate force ratios as a decision-making tool. The manual heavily emphasized the favorability of defending with a ratio of 3:1, mentioning it in five varying forms of application at both the tactical and the operational levels of war, similar to the argument advanced in

Lanchester's Laws. The Active Defense doctrine assumed the enemy would adhere to a doctrine of a massed penetration at a single point.[14]

DePuy had noticed over the course of his career that the officer corps of the Army lacked intellectual rigour. One of his signal achievements was to raise the level of his graduates and his recruits, so that the Army now could solve complicated problems because it had intelligent people. Then once the core group had their solution, they would "ram it down the Army's throat."[7] The 1976 version of Operations approached warfare in a “scientific” manner, for which it received abundant criticism. The manual alarmed traditionalists with its abundant use of graphs and charts, associated with operations research analysts, aimed at illustrating the lethality of the battlefield. Many military professionals associated the manual and its quantitative approach with SecDef Robert McNamara’s quantitative management of Vietnam, which they blamed for losing the war.[14]

DePuy's doctrine did not survive contact with war games and so his successor, Donn A. Starry, was left rethink a new one.[7]

DePuy retired from active duty in July 1977,[3] and settled in Highfield, Virginia.[5] He died on September 9, 1992, of Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease,[15] and his wife died on March 15, 2002.[9]

Decorations

DePuy's awards included two

Vietnam Cross of Gallantry, and the Republic of Korea Order of National Security Merit First Class.[3]

Badges
Combat Infantryman Badge
Basic Army Aviator Badge
Decorations
Bronze oak leaf cluster
 Distinguished Service Cross with bronze oak leaf cluster
Bronze oak leaf cluster
Bronze oak leaf cluster
Bronze oak leaf cluster
Bronze oak leaf cluster
Army Distinguished Service Medal
with four bronze oak leaf clusters
Air Force Distinguished Service Medal
Bronze oak leaf cluster
Bronze oak leaf cluster
 Silver Star with two bronze oak leaf clusters
Legion of Merit
Distinguished Flying Cross
Bronze Star Medal
Bronze oak leaf cluster
 Purple Heart with bronze oak leaf cluster
V
V device
Unit Award
Bronze oak leaf cluster
 Army Meritorious Unit Commendation with bronze oak leaf cluster
Service Medals
American Defense Service Medal
American Campaign Medal
Arrowhead
Bronze star
Bronze star
Bronze star
campaign stars
World War II Victory Medal
Army of Occupation Medal
Bronze star
 National Defense Service Medal with service star
Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
Silver star
Bronze star
 Vietnam Service Medal with silver and bronze campaign stars
Foreign Awards
Legion of Honour (Commander)
National Order of Vietnam (Knight)
Vietnam Gallantry Cross
with Palm
Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, Knight Commander's Cross
Badge of Honour of the Bundeswehr (Gold)
South Korean Order of National Security Merit (First Class)
Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation
Republic of Vietnam Civil Actions Medal Unit Citation
Vietnam Campaign Medal

References

  1. ISBN 9780446515719
    . Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  2. ^ Selected Papers of General William E. DePuy
  3. ^ a b c d e f "South Dakota State University bio". Archived from the original on 2007-07-11. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
  4. ^ Brownlee & Mullen. Changing An Army: An Oral History of General William E. Depuy, Retired
  5. ^ a b c d e General Maxwell R. Thurman, Lieutenant General Orwin C. Talbott, General Paul F. Gorman (2007-03-28). "In Tribute to General William E. DePuy". United States Army Command and General Staff College. Archived from the original on 2007-06-09. Retrieved 2007-07-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ISBN 9780813138930
    .
  7. ^ a b c d e f Suprin, John (25 October 2012). "Yom Kippur War & The Development of U.S. Military Doctrine". The Dole Institute of Politics. YouTube.
  8. ^ Brownlee, Romie L.; Mullen, William J. III (1979). Changing An Army: An Oral History of General William E. DePuy, USA, Retired (PDF). Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. pp. 105–106.
  9. ^ a b "In Memoriam" (PDF). The O.S.S. Society Inc. April 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-08-03. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
  10. ^ "1st Infantry Division: Scholarship Fund". U.S. Army. Archived from the original on 2007-06-13. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
  11. ISBN 9781594204043
    . Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  12. ^
    S2CID 159609515
    . Retrieved 26 June 2022.
  13. ^ Long, Jeffrey W. (7 June 1991). "The Evolution of U.S. Army Doctrine: From Active Defense to AirLand Battle and Beyond" (PDF).. Master's thesis.
  14. ^ a b Christian, MAJ Joshua T. (23 May 2019). An Examination of Force Ratios (PDF). Fort Leavenworth, KS: US Army Command and General Staff College.Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Army.
  15. ISBN 978-0-8131-7301-6
    . Retrieved 2014-11-30.

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Army

Further reading

External links
Military offices
New command Commanding General, United States Army Training and Doctrine Command
1973–1977 		Succeeded by
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