Was General Douglas Mc Arthur over General Eisenhower during WWII?

Question

I know Mc Arthur was in the Pacific fighting the Japanese but was he considered over General Eisenhower...because Ike only had four stars and Mc Arthur had five stars? how many five stars were there in WWII? Just curious

Answer 1

Gen George Marshall was Army Chief of Staff, Gen. Eisenhower and Gen MacArthur reported to him. Both MacArthur and Eisenhower were five star generals.

When General of the Army Omar N. Bradley died in April of 1981, the five star ranking was consigned to history. In all, four Army generals, four Navy admirals, and one Air Force general have held this rank. The Army's five star generals were General George C. Marshall, General Douglas MacArthur, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, and General Omar N. Bradley. The Navy's five-star fleet admirals were Admiral William D. Leahy, Admiral Ernest J. King, Admiral Chester Nimitz, and Admiral William F. "Bull" Halsey. And General Henry Arnold was the Air Force's five star general.

Who beats a five star general? A General of the Armies of the United States -- the highest military rank of all time, hands down. To date, only George Washington and John J. Pershing have held this position.

Answer 2

1 ) when you are dealing with egos like MacArthur, Patton and Marshall. you have to tread carefully.

2) to give the generals below the rank needed to deal with other countries, as well as intra service

"Five-Star Generals and Dates of Rank:

General of the Army George C. Marshall: December 16, 1944

General of the Army Douglas MacArthur: December 18, 1944

General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower: December 20, 1944

General of the Army Henry H. Arnold: December 21, 1944

(Re designated General of the Air Force pursuant to Public Law 58, 81st Congress, approved May 7, 1949):

General of the Army Omar N. Bradley: September 20, 1950

3) within the same rank, one person is senior to the other by date of rank.....so Marshall, who was CoS, was 2 days senior to Mac; Ike, who had been a Major when Mac was a 4 star was 2 days junior to MacArthur.......a neat way around the problem.

MacArthur was Cin C Southwest Pacific Areas...Australia, Rabaul, New Guinea and the Philippines and would have lead the invasion of Japan.......the rest of the Pacific......Midway, Tarawa, Guam, Saipan, Iwo Jima, Okinawa was commanded by the other 5 star , Adm. Chester Nimitz back in Pearl harbor, with his two 4 star fighting admirals, Spruance and Halsey running the show out on the sharp end.

Answer 3

Technically speaking, when the 5-star ranking of General of the Army was re-introduced in December, 1944, George Marshall received his first, MacArthur second, Ike third and Hap Arnold fourth. This was done so that within the Army, a that a seniority was delineated, with Marshall first, MacArthur second, etc. So yes, MacArthur would have outranked Ike at that point but not Gen. Marshall. The only other Army general to receive the rank was Omar Bradley in 1950.

Answer 4

Had they ever found themselves in a battle together, MacArthur would have ranked Eisenhower based on seniority, (Eisenhower actually served on Mac's staff in the 1930's) but both had 5 stars in December 1944.

Note on Michael J.'s entry - Ulysses S Grant and William Sherman both achieved 5 star rank, as General of the Army, and deserve to be mentioned along with Washington and Pershing.

Answer 5

Ike was responsible for the allied forces in the European Theater while MacArthur presided over the land forces in the Pacific. Fleet Admiral (5 star) Nimitz had overall control over the Pacific Theater.

Answer 6

A five star general is equivalent to the European Field Marshal.