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Mark  CLARK

 

 Mark Wayne Clark (Madison Barracks, 1º maggio 1896 – Charleston, 17 aprile 1984) è stato un generale statunitense.

 Frequentò l'accademia militare di West Point, da dove nel 1917, uscì ufficiale di fanteria.

 Durante la prima guerra mondiale, combattendo sul fronte francese, (1918) fu gravemente ferito.

 Nel corso della seconda guerra mondiale, divenne comandante della 5ª armata americana (United States Army North) in Tunisia (1942); nel 1942, arrivato segretamente in Algeria, negoziò la convenzione franco-americana, entrando in contatto con gli elementi della resistenza francese (accordo "Clark-Darlan").

 Guidò gli sbarchi americani a Salerno nel settembre del 1943 e ad Anzio (22 gennaio 1944). Dopo aver diretto la battaglia per la conquista di Montecassino (vedi la voce, Battaglia di Monte Cassino), nel giugno del 1944, Clark entrò vittoriosamente a Roma.

 Nell'aprile del 1945, ricevette a Caserta la capitolazione delle milizie tedesche operanti in Italia.

 Appassionato di bridge, durante la guerra fu visto spesso giocare con Eisenhower.

 Dopo la guerra, dal 28 aprile 1952 al 30 ottobre 1953, sostituì il generale Matthew Ridgway, quale comandante in capo delle forze delle Nazioni Unite in Corea.

A Salerno gli è stata intitolata una via per ricordare il famoso sbarco facente parte della Operazione Avalanche nel 1943.

Mark Wayne Clark (May 1, 1896 – April 17, 1984) was an American general during World War II and the Korean War and was the youngest lieutenant general (three-star general) in the U.S. Army.

During World War I, he commanded a company of soldiers in 1917 and was seriously wounded by shrapnel. After the war, Clark’s abilities were noticed by General George Marshall. During World War II, he was the USA´s Commander in Italy. He is known for his triumphal entry into Rome in 1944, the first major Axis city to fall. Some detractors say he ignored the orders of his British superior officer, and they blame him for the escape of the German 10th Army which he let slip in his pursuit for the glory of entering Rome first. The German 10th Army joined with their countrymen at the Transimene Line. Clark became the youngest American to be promoted to general in 1945.
Both Winston Churchill and General Dwight D. Eisenhower considered him a brilliant staff officer and trainer. Clark won many awards, including the Distinguished Service Cross for extreme bravery in war, subordinate only to the Medal of Honor.

Clark was born in Madison Barracks, Sackets Harbor, New York, but spent much of his youth in Highland Park, Illinois, while his father, a career Infantry officer, was stationed at Fort Sheridan. His mother was the daughter of Romanian Jews but Clark was baptized Episcopalian while a cadet at West Point.
Clark, known as "Contraband" by his classmates because of his ability to smuggle sweets into the barracks, graduated from West Point in April 1917, with a class ranking of 110th in a class of 139, and was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant of Infantry. He had gained an early appointment to the military academy at age 17, but lost time from frequent illnesses. In the rapid expansion of the United States Army during World War I he rose rapidly in rank, promoted to 1st lieutenant on May 15 and captain on August 5, 1917. He served in France during World War I in the U.S. 11th Infantry, part of the 5th Infantry Division, and was wounded in action in the Vosges Mountains. As a result of his convalescence, Captain Clark was transferred to the General Staff Headquarters of the First United States Army until the end of hostilities, then served with the Third Army in its occupation duties in Germany.

Between the wars, Clark served in a variety of staff and training roles. From 1921 to 1924 he served as an aide in the office of the Assistant Secretary of War. In 1925 he completed the professional officer's course at the Infantry School, then served as a staff officer with the 30th Infantry at The Presidio in San Francisco, California. His next assignment was as a training instructor to the Indiana National Guard, in which he was promoted to major on January 14, 1933, more than 15 years after his promotion to captain.

Major Clark served as a deputy commander of the Civilian Conservation Corps district in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1935-36, between tours at the Command and General Staff School in 1935 and the Army War College in 1937. Assigned to Fort Lewis, Washington, Clark was selected to instruct at the Army War College in March 1940, where he received a promotion to lieutenant colonel on July 1. Clark and General Leslie McNair selected the thousands of acres of unused land in Louisiana for military maneuvers at Louisiana Maneuvers.

On August 4, 1941, Clark was promoted two grades to brigadier general as the United States Army geared up for entry in World War II, and made Assistant Chief of Staff (G-3) at General Headquarters, United States Army, in Washington, D.C.

In January 1942, a month after the American entry into the war, General Clark was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff Army Ground Forces, and in May 1942, became its chief of staff as staff officers were rapidly moved to newly created commands by General Gage Michael Miller.
In June 1942, he went to England as commanding general of II Corps, and the next month moved up to Commanding General, Army Forces European Theater of Operations, promoted to major general on August 17, 1942. In October 1942, Clark became deputy commander in chief of the Allied Forces in the North African Theater. Clark's duties in this succession of assignments was to plan and direct the training of units for the invasion of North Africa known as Operation Torch. Part of the preparation for the invasion involved spiriting him into North Africa by the British submarine Seraph weeks before the invasion (Operation Flagpole) to negotiate the surrender or cooperation of the Vichy French at Cherchell on October 21–22, 1942.

After the negotiations, Clark was promoted to lieutenant general on November 11, 1942. When the United States created its first field army overseas, the U.S. Fifth Army, Clark was made its commanding general and given the task of training units for the invasion of Italy (Operation Avalanche) in September 1943. According to Montgomery, Clark was subsequently criticized by British historians and critics, for the near-failure of the landings at Salerno, as a result of perceived poor planning.
Clark gave orders for the bombing destruction of the Abbey of Monte Cassino based on direct orders from his superior during the Battle of Monte Cassino, February 15, 1944. Clark and his chief of staff Major General Alfred Gruenther remained unconvinced of the “military necessity”. When handing over the U.S. II Corps position to the New Zealand Corps, Brigadier-General Frederic Butler, deputy commander of U.S. 34th Division, had said "I don't know, but I don't believe the enemy is in the convent. All the fire has been from the slopes of the hill below the wall".[citation needed] The commander of the 4th Indian division urged the bombing of the entire massif with the heaviest bombs available. Clark pinned down the Commander-in-Chief Allied Armies in Italy, General Sir Harold Alexander: “I said, 'You give me a direct order and we’ll do it,' and he did."
Clark's conduct of operations remains controversial, particularly his actions during the Battle of the Winter Line, which evidence suggests were motivated by a desire for glory that would come from his entering Rome as a conqueror. Possibly also with the focus of the war about to swap to France. Here, ignoring orders from his Army Group Commander, the British General Harold Alexander, Clark sent U.S. VI Corps towards Rome. The British divisions at Anzio were sent to Ostia in the west and the French to the east, leaving the undefended capital (first declared an "open city" in August 1943) to the US component of the Allied force. This left only the 3d Division and 1st Special Service Force to try and close the trap on the German forces at Valmontone. Clark made a well-photographed entrance on June 4, 1944. As a result, he failed to exploit the gap in the German positions that had opened up following the capture of Monte Cassino, allowing a substantial number of German units to escape and reinforce what became the Gothic Line.

Pope Pius XII thanked Clark for liberating Rome. The American military historian Carlo D'Este described Clark's decision to take Rome as militarily stupid as it was insubordinate". Although Clark described a "race to Rome" and released an edited version of his diary for the official historians, his complete papers became available after his death.

Passionate about bridge during the war was often seen playing with Eisenhower.

During the Korean War, he took over as commander of the United Nations Command on May 12, 1952, succeeding General Matthew Ridgway.
From 1954 until 1965, after retiring from the Army, General Clark served as president of The Citadel, the prestigious military college located in Charleston, South Carolina. He wrote two memoirs: Calculated Risk (1950) and From the Danube to the Yalu (1954).

Clark's rapid rise through general officer ranks after a 24-year career as a relatively obscure officer has been attributed by a U.S. Army biography in part to his professional relationship to General George Marshall and friendship with Dwight Eisenhower.