Creighton Williams Abrams

Creighton Williams Abrams , 1914-74, U.S. military officer, b. Springfield, Mass. After graduating (1936) from West Point, he served with distinction during World War II, most notably as commander of the 37th Tank Battalion, which relieved Allied forces trapped at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge. After service in Korea (1953-54) and in West Germany (1960-62) during the Berlin crisis, he became (1964) vice chief of staff of the U.S. army and was promoted (1964) to the rank of general. Abrams was appointed (1967) deputy commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam under Gen. William Westmoreland and later served (1968-72) as commanding general. From 1972 until his death he was U.S. army chief of staff.

Abrams, Creighton Williams, Jr. (1914–74) general and Army Chief of Staff (1972–74), born in Springfield, Massachusetts. During World War II Abrams became a legendary figure as a tank commander. His unit was the first to crack the fabled Maginot line. During the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944, it was the first to reach the embattled 101st Airborne Division at Bastogne. He received the Distinguished Service Cross for destroying a German antitank gun that was holding up the advance. Between May 1967 and June 1972 Abrams served in Vietnam. His first assignment was as deputy to his West Point classmate Gen. William C. Westmoreland, commander of the U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam. In that capacity Abrams assumed responsibility for the pacification program and for training the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN). During the Tet Offensive of 1968 he commanded U.S. and South Vietnamese forces in the northern provinces of South Vietnam.

At the Battle of the Bulge, he is reported to have exclaimed of the Germans, “They've got us surrounded again, the poor bastards.”

Abrams, Creighton W. (1914–1974), one of the leading American generals of the twentieth century.From a humble background, in Springfield, Massachusetts, he earned an appointment to West Point in 1932 and graduated in the famous class in 1936 that produced 60 wartime generals. “Abe” Abrams commanded an armored battalion in World War II, and, astride his tank “Thunderbolt,” led the column that relieved American forces in Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge.

Considered the best tactical leader in the army, he was placed in charge of armored forces in Germany during the Berlin Crisis of 1961. He also earned the respect of President John F. Kennedy for his sensitive handling of federal troops in racial disturbances in Alabama. Sent to Vietnam as deputy to General William C. Westmoreland, he succeeded Westmoreland in 1968. Under President Richard M. Nixon's strategy of “Vietnamization,” Abrams sought to train and equip South Vietnamese troops to fight on their own.

In the last two years of his life, as Army Chief of Staff (1972–74), he was determined to rebuild the army in a way that would ensure its decisive use in future engagements. His vision is widely credited with creating the foundation for the 1991 Desert Storm victory over Iraq during the Persian Gulf War. His insistence on joining superbly trained soldiers to multiple and synergistically devastating equipment led to the development of the Air Land Battle, the strategy that produced the most lopsided military victory in history in 1991.

Bibliography

Lewis Sorley , Thunderbolt: General Creighton Abrams and the Army of His Times, 1992.
Robert H. Scales, ed., Certain Victory: The U.S. Army in the Gulf War, 1993.

Timothy J. Lomperis