Regarded as a brilliant tank commander by his peers, General Creighton Abrams is best known for skilfully presiding over America’s withdrawal from Vietnam. He was the son of a railroad repairman and in 1936 graduated from West Point in the same class as
William Westmoreland.
In 1940, after four years as a troop officer in the 1st Cavalry Division and several months as a tank company commander with the 1st Armored Division, Abrams joined the new 4th Armored Division for the Allied Operations across Western Europe. He served in all the 4th’s campaigns as a Battalion or Combat Commander, earning a promotion to Lieutenant Colonel in September 1943.
It was Abe's tanks that broke the German encirclement of the 101st Airborne at Bastogne and his Commander, General George S. Pattern Jr., once said: "I'm supposed to be the best tank commander in the Army, but I have one peer – Abe Abrams. He's the World Champion."
Following the war he spent two years as Director of Tactics at the Armored school before returning to Europe in 1949 to command the 63rd Tank Battalion of the 1st Infantry Division.
Korean WarAfter spending a year at the Army War College, Abrams was assigned to Korea and served successively as Chief of Staff of I, X and IX Corps. In 1956, following a year as Chief of Staff of the Armored Center at Fort Knox, he was promoted to Brigadier General and became Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff for Reserve Components. Four years later he was promoted to Major General and appointed Deputy Chief of Staff of U.S Army Europe. Abrams subsequently returned to Washington and after occupying several important positions he was promoted to General in 1964 and was sworn in as Vice Chief of Staff of the Army.
Vietnam WarOn 1st June 1967 Abrams was appointed Deputy Commander of U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (
MACV). Thirteen months later, following the Tet offensive and General Westmoreland’s promotion to Army Chief of Staff, he became Commander of MACV.
Unlike his predecessor, General Abrams favored using sub-battalion size units to disrupt the movement of Communist forces and their supplies. He believed such Stingray operations, which often involved small patrols, could be mounted more rapidly, more frequently and in more areas. Not only were these scaled down tactics effective they were also fully compatible with President Nixon’s policy of
Vietnamization, which was designed to reduce U.S. combat responsibility.
During his time in charge Abrams also had to deal with the fallout from the massacre at My Lai and the outcry from the 1970
Cambodian Incursion. Though the latter was often perceived as an expansion of the war, the clearing of Communist bases and supply camps was initiated on behalf of Vietnamization and relieved the pressure on Saigon and the surrounding areas.
In October 1972, after four years in command of MACV, Abrams became Chief of Staff of the Army, where he continued the Army’s transition to an all-volunteer force and its reorganization in Western Europe.
Post VietnamGeneral Abrams died of lung cancer on 4th September 1974 aged 59, the first Army Chief of Staff to die in office. He was buried with full military honours in a special plot at Arlington National Cemetery.
Related BooksThunderbolt: General Creighton Abrams and the Army of His TimesLewis Sorley