Why MacArthur and not Patton?

MacArthur's Luck, ironically, started out as an attempt to write a "Patton takes on the Reds in 1945" scenario. When you read the book, however, you'll discover that Patton himself never appears. Third Army certainly does, as well as Patton's entire staff, but the man himself remains off stage throughout.

This didn't happen intentionally. When I started the book I realized that I needed a credible scenario to create a shooting war between the Anglo-Allies and the Soviet Union after the fall of Nazi Germany. In doing my research it turns out that such a scenario was much less likely that people think. There was no "race for Berlin" in 1945 as there is in MacArthur's Luck, because--as Russell F. Weigley so carefully documents in Eisenhower's Lieutenants (unfortunately only available in hardcover)--Ike and George Marshall made damn sure there wouldn't be one.

So this made it necessary to get rid of Eisenhower and Marshall, and to do so as late in the war as possible. The solution that came to mind was to have Marshall die unexpectedly in January 1945, just before the Yalta Conference. Most historians believe that had something like this happened, Eisenhower would have been FDR's obvious choice to replace Marshall.

Yet there are good reasons why this might not have happened. Promoting Ike to US Army Chief of Staff and sending him off to Yalta would have left Field Marshal Montgomery in charge of ground operations in Europe, a move that would have been spectacularly unpopular in America, and which might have resulted in the war continuing until at least 1950. (Just kidding there, folks. Monty wouldn't have managed to extend it much past 1947.) Moreover, sending Eisenhower to Yalta would have potentially created a significant rift in the Combined Chiefs of Staff, where Alanbrooke was certainly not one of his fans.

On the other hand, MacArthur's appointment would have allowed Ike to stay in charge of SHAEF (at least for the moment), and would have been applauded by the British (who seemed to think more of him than his American colleagues did).

Would FDR, in "the real world," have even considered MacArthur for the post? Certainly they didn't part on the best of terms several years earlier when MacArthur had been packed off to his Philippine exile, and there's not doubt that Admirals King and Leahy (both of whom had FDR's ear) would have vehemently opposed such a move.

Yet ... FDR was in declining physical and mental health by the time of Yalta, just months away from death. It's completely possible that he could have convinced himself that MacArthur represented his best play, and he had been known to dig in his heels before against all of his advisers.

So MacArthur. And with his appointment, history changes dramatically.

Patton will come to the fore toward the end of Stalin's Wager (the second part of The Fortunes of War series), and will obviously become a dominant figure in Patton's Chance.

But that's in a future that will only happen if enough people buy, enjoy, and review MacArthur's Luck to make it possible for me to explore and share it.

You can buy MacArthur's Luck for the incredibly low price of $0.99 at Amazon, or you can also find it at Kobo, iBooks, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords. (No matter where you buy it, if you review it, please do so at Amazon.)