Adna R. Chaffee, Jr.
Adna Romanza Chaffee, Jr. (23 September 1884–22 August 1941), was a general of the United States Army, called the "Father of the Armored Force" for his role in developing the US Army's tank forces.
Adna Chaffee, Jr. was the son of lieutenant general Adna R. Chaffee, Sr.. Born in Junction City, Kansas on 23 September 1884, he was commissioned a lieutenant of cavalry in 1906 and won recognition as the "Army's finest horseman." In World War I he was an infantry major with the U.S. IV Corps during the St. Mihiel offensive, and as a colonel, he later served with the U.S. III Corps throughout the Meuse-Argonne offensive.
Following the war, he returned to his Regular Army rank of captain of cavalry and became an instructor at the General Staff School and the Army School of the Line at Fort Leavenworth. During the 1920s, he helped develop the armor concepts and doctrine of the future. He predicted in 1927 that mechanized armies would dominate the next war and assisted in the first program for the development of a U.S. Army armored force. Assigned to the 1st Cavalry (Mechanized) in 1931, he continued to develop and experiment with armored forces, thus becoming the leading American advocate of mechanized warfare.
In 1938 he assumed command of the reorganized 7th Cavalry Brigade (Mechanized), the Army's only armored force. General Chaffee battled continuously during the prewar years for suitable equipment and for establishment of tank divisions. With the collapse of the French Army in June 1940, General Chaffee's 1927 predictions of the importance of armored forces in modern warfare were confirmed.
Chaffee died of cancer on 22 August 1941 in Boston, Massachusetts.
External links
Categories: U.S. Army generals | 1884 births | 1941 deaths