Marshall had also known he would need Patton and had waived his mandatory retirement, and let him more or less write the book on US armored warfare. In a way, Patton’s getting relieved prior to the invasion of Italy was a godsend to him. The terrain of Italy made the combat brutal and slow, and led to Churchill’s making one of his famous (or infamous) remarks about allied forces there.
Bradley had never got to combat in the first world war, though he sought it. He had a great head for logistics, and imho was more like a grocer than a general. He was competent, but only just. His most important quality was getting along with Ike and staying clear of as much risk as possible. In the movie “Patton” I thought Karl Malden for Bradley was particularly apropos casting, given his holier-than-thou approach to other characters KM had played.
diary entry:
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/churchill/wc-trans215.html
NYT obit:
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1111.html
I also think having Patton serve as a decoy, went a long way towards fooling the Germans as to where the main invasion was going to be on D-Day.
Patton was assured there would be no reporters present at the Knutsford ceremony and speech. The persistent rumor to this day is that British intelligence leaked the speech to the media to reinforce the FUSAG deception operation. If so, what they did not appreciate is that the American left would erupt in fury at the omission of their glorious Soviet comrades.
In commanding 12th Army Group Bradley was more of a diplomat than strategist. But by the end of 1944 even he was fed up with Montgomery.