Leadership in the “Pentomic Army” of the 1950s: Timeless Principles from Seventy-Five Years Ago

LTG Bruce C. Clarke commanded the Seventh U.S. Army from 1956 to 1958. (Photo courtesy of author)

Leadership in the “Pentomic Army”
of the 1950s

Timeless Principles from Seventy-Five Years Ago

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By Fred L. Borch III

It is frequently said that “the principles of leadership are timeless,” meaning the hallmarks of good leadership today are no different from those of fifty or one hundred or two hundred years ago. The Guide for Armor Leaders,1 published by the Seventh U.S. Army for junior leaders in the 1950s, illustrates this notion that leadership principles then, as now, are essentially the same. What is important is that this period in Army history, seventy-five years ago, was the era of the Pentomic Army.2 Officers and noncommissioned officers were expected to lead on battlefields where atomic weapons would be prevalent—and where leaders would face atomic “blast waves,” “rays of flash heat,” and “radiation.”3

The idea that the Army leaders would fight on nuclear battlefields emerged in response to then-Chief of Staff Matthew Ridgway’s belief that America’s Cold War strategy of nuclear deterrence/massive retaliation would fail.4 As a result, Ridgway, and his successor as chief of staff, General Maxwell Taylor, decided that the Army should be reorganized for both nuclear and non-nuclear battlefields.5

Ridgway and Taylor were convinced that the key to success in ground combat would be the Army’s use of tactical nuclear weapons. Lieutenant General Bruce C. Clarke, who penned the foreword for the Guide, also believed that the Army in Europe had to be able to fight on an atomic battlefield, and he was proud of transforming the Seventh Army into the “first pentomic army.”6 This explains why the Guide talks about leadership in nuclear war.

A close look at the Guide shows, however, that the leadership principles being espoused are no different from those in instruction today.7 The Guide begins with this statement: “The primary duty of the leader is the accomplishment of his assigned mission. Everything else, including the welfare of his men, is subordinate to the mission.”8 But while the Guide stresses that mission comes first, it does acknowledge that it is “rarely possible to accomplish any mission without attention to the morale and esprit de corps of the men” in a unit.9

In developing good leadership, the Guide identifies these “principles of leadership”:10

a. Know your job.

b. Know your men.

c. Know yourself.

d. Keep your men informed.

e. Set the example.

f. See that the men understand their jobs; supervise and follow through.

g. Train men as a team.

h. Take responsibility.11

The Guide for Armor Leaders set out leadership principles for officers and NCOs who were expected to fight on battlefields where atomic weapons would be prevalent. (Photo courtesy of author)

These principles are followed by “rules for a leader:”12

a. Be loyal to your country, your superiors, and your subordinates.

b. Always maintain soldierly bearing and attitudes.

c. Take pride in yourself and in the Army.

d. Concentrate on increasing your physical, mental, and technical abilities.

e. Prompt and willing obedience to all orders both for yourself and your men.

f. Watch over your subordinates’ state of mind and feelings.

g. Maintain pride in yourself and your unit.

h. Remember:

1. In the long run it is better to take the blame than “pass the buck.”

2. Understand just where your responsibility begins and ends and accept it.

3. In situations for which you are not the responsible leader, search for opportunities to help the responsible leader do his job better.13

While the Guide was published some seventy-five years ago for a different Army and a different era, the principles in it are still relevant today for judge advocates, legal administrators, and paralegal specialists who want to be the best possible leaders in our Corps. As the current leadership regulation puts it, today’s Army looks for leaders who have “character, presence, and intellect” because these attributes get results.14 And getting results—accomplishing the mission—is what good leadership is all about. TAL

 

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Mr. Borch is the Regimental Historian, Archivist, and Professor of Legal History and Leadership at The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School in Charlottesville, Virginia.

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Notes

1. Seventh U.S. Army, Guide for Armor Leaders (1957) [hereinafter Guide].

2. The adjective “pentomic” reflected the recurring number five in the pentomic division structure. Each division consisted of five battle groups. Each battle group had five companies, and each company had five platoons. See A. J. Bacevich, The Pentomic Era: The U.S. Army Between Korea and Vietnam 5 (1986).

3. Guide, supra note 1, at 94-95.

4. See Joe Buccino, Ike v. Ridgway: Lessons for Today from the Philosophical Battle Between Two of America’s Greatest Military Leaders, Modern War Inst. (Apr. 14, 2020), https://mwi.usma.edu/ike-vs-ridgway-lessons-today-philosophical-battle-two-americas-greatest-military-leaders.

5. For more on the Pentomic Army, see Bacevich, supra note 2.

6. Bruce Cooper Clarke, a 1925 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy who commanded two armored divisions in World War II and a corps during the Korean War, commanded the Seventh Army from 1956 to 1958. Marvine Howe, Gen. Bruce C. Clarke Dies at 86; Ex-Army Commander in Europe, N. Y. Times, 20 Mar 1988, at 36.

7. See U.S. Dep’t of Army, Doctrine Pub. 6-22, Army Leadership and the Profession para. 7-2 (31 July 2019) (C1, 25 Nov. 2019) [hereinafter ADP 6-22] (“A leader’s primary purpose is to accomplish the mission. . . . Mission accomplishment takes priority over everything else, especially in combat where their unit may be at risk of destruction.”).

8. Guide, supra note 1, at 1.

9. Id.

10. Id. at 3.

11. Id.

12. Id. at 4.

13. Id.

14. U.S. Dep’t of Army, Reg. 600-100, Army Profession and Leadership Policy para. 1-9 (5 Apr. 2007).