Paul McDonald Robinett explained

Party:Republican
Height:5feet
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Paul McDonald Robinett
Birth Date:19 December 1893
Birth Place:Mountain Grove, Missouri, US
Placeofburial:Hillcrest Cemetery, Mountain Grove
Branch:Cavalry of the United States of America
Serviceyears:1917–1946
Rank: Brigadier General
Awards:[1]

Paul McDonald Robinett (1893–1975) was a cavalry and armor officer (Brigadier General) of the U.S. Army. He spent much of his career as a staff officer, and commanded an armored regiment and combined arms combat command in combat during the Tunisian campaign of World War II.

Biography

Robinett hailed from Missouri's Ozark foothills, scion of Ozark pioneers. After high school, he worked a summer in the Kansas harvest fields before enrolling in the University of Missouri, where he completed his B.S. (1917) in Agriculture. Since the U.S. had entered World War I, he tried to enlist but was rejected as underweight. After beginning a graduate fellowship at Iowa State, he again tried to enlist, unsuccessfully.

But he was accepted for officer training, subsequently commissioned a 2nd lieutenant in the 1st Cavalry. During World War I, First Cavalry served along the border with Mexico; during this time, he was promoted to first lieutenant.He was graduated from the Cavalry School Troop Commander's course at Fort Riley, Kansas in 1922, and taught Machine Gunneryand animal transportation there 1922–1923. He was a special student at the University of Paris in 1925, attended the French cavalry school at Saumur, and observed French maneuvers near Strasbourg. He was General Malin Craig's aide-de-camp 1927–1932, serving in the Panama Canal Zone and San Francisco. Captain Paul McD. Robinett, Cavalry, completed the United States Army Command and General Staff College's two-year course and graduated June 15, 1934.[2] He attended the U.S. Army War College. He served in the War Department's General Staff 1937–1941.[3] [4] [5] He was Assistant Chief of Staff for intelligence under both Lesley J. McNair (from June 26, 1941) and George C. Marshall.[4] [5] [6] President F. D. Roosevelt nominated him for promotion to colonel on November 20, 1942.[7]

His personal credo was: "Always do whatever you can to keep your superior from making a mistake." He was a crack shot with a pistol and expert rider. Only one soldier of the 3rd Infantry ever collected on his offer of a dollar to any soldier who could out shoot him. He was an accomplished horseman, a member of the U.S. Army equestrian team, and competed in the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris.[4] [5]

During the Tunisian campaign of World War II he commanded the 13th Armored Regiment, "Task Force Green,"[8] [9] and 1st Armored Division's Combat Command B. After the American defeat at the battle of Kasserine Pass, his CCB and 1st Infantry Division repulsed a German advance west on Highway 13 toward Tebessa.[10]

General Robinett and CCB were to lead 1st Armored Division's assault from Mateur toward Bizerte at first light on Thursday morning, May 6, 1943. The day before, as Robinett was returning to CCB, the confidence of the new division commander General Harmon in Robinett diminished so much he determined to relieve him. Harmon raced after Robinett to relieve him. He caught up just after a German artillery shell had shredded Robinett's left leg. General Robinett's war was over; he had already ceded command to Colonel Clarence C. Benson.[11] [12]

He commanded the Armored School at Fort Knox, Kentucky until he retired at the end of the war.[4] [5] [6]

The 1940 census listed him as a resident of the Kennedy-Warren Apartment Building in Washington, D.C.[13] and later the Army Navy Club, Washington, D.C. In 1941, then Lt Col Robinett was an honorary pallbearer at the funeral of General Craig's wife.[14]

Brigadier General Robinett was a Missouri delegate at the 1948 Republican National Convention, and served on the resolution committee's foreign affairs subcommittee.[15]

After the Korean War, BGen Robinett complained that American military succumbed to a "natural tendency" to develop quickly capabilities to counter an enemy, rather than those to defeat and destroy him. U.S. defense developed equipment and tactics weighted too much on defensive implements. In particular, the tanks were to be used chiefly to support infantry and an insufficient number of armored divisions – more mobile and more offensive. He recalled the blitzkrieg of World War II and the North Korea's tank invasion of the South.[16] [17] [18]

Decorations

Dates of rank

Insignia Rank Component Date
Officers' Reserve Corps November 27, 1917 (temporary)
Regular Army August 31, 1918 (accepted September 19, temporary)
July 1, 1920 (accepted September 16, permanent)
Regular Army December 2, 1929
Regular Army October 1, 1938
Regular Army February 4, 1941
February 1, 1942
Army of the United States November 20, 1942
Brigadier general Regular Army, Retired August 31, 1946
[19]

Publications

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Paul M. Robinett 1956 – US & Canada Competition Humanities – U.S. History . . June 14, 2014 .
  2. Web site: The Command and General Staff School . Fort Leavenworth, Kansas . November 9, 1934 . 4–5 . Major General Stuart . Heintzelman . Stuart Heintzelman . Annual Report for The Command and General Staff School year 1933–1934 . 2014-06-27 .
  3. Web site: Paul M. Robinett Papers: A Finding Aid to the Collection in the Library of Congress . Michael J. . McElderry . Charles . Cooney . . Washington, D.C. . 2012 . 3 . 2014-06-26 .
  4. Book: Atkinson, Rick . Rick Atkinson . First . An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942–1943 . 222 . . 0-8050-6288-2 . 1 . The Liberation Trilogy . 2002 . 2002024130 . 2014-06-26 .
  5. Book: Canan, Colonel Howard V. . . PAUL M. ROBINETT PAPERS . Biographical Sketch . 3–5 . Lexington, Virginia . 2014-06-27 . http://www.marshallfoundation.org/library/documents/Robinett_Paul_M.pdf . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110206095402/http://marshallfoundation.org/library/documents/Robinett_Paul_M.pdf . 2011-02-06 .
  6. Web site: Robinett, Paul McDonald (1893–1975), Scrapbooks, 1897–1974 . . 2014-06-14 . Correspondence, clippings, writings, speeches and notes pertaining to Brigadier General Robinett of Mountain Grove, Missouri, who, with his brother Frank, compiled material on his army career..
  7. News: Halsey Named Full Admiral By Roosevelt . The Washington Post . Washington, D.C. . November 21, 1942 . 2 . ProQuest document ID 15150125 .
  8. Book: Howe , George F. . U.S. Army in World War II . Mediterranean Theater of Operations – Northwest Africa: Seizing the Initiative in the West . Chapter XI The First Day's Operations Against Oran . George F. Howe --> . 1950 . Washington, D. C. . Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army . Kent Roberts Greenfield . 2014-07-08 . http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-MTO-NWA/USA-MTO-NWA-11.html.
  9. Book: Howe , George F. . U.S. Army in World War II . Mediterranean Theater of Operations – Northwest Africa: Seizing the Initiative in the West . XII The Seizure of Oran . 215 et seq. . George F. Howe --> . 1950 . Washington, D. C. . Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army . Kent Roberts Greenfield . 2014-07-01 . http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-MTO-NWA/USA-MTO-NWA-12.html.
  10. Book: Atkinson, Rick . An Army at Dawn . 358, 379–382.
  11. Book: Atkinson, Rick . An Army at Dawn . 483, 511–513.
  12. Web site: . The Campaign for the National Museum of the United States Army . 2014-07-14 . http://98.139.21.31/search/srpcache?ei=UTF-8&p=clarence+benson+first+armored+division&pvid=fR.d_jk4LjF6iKQpU0rLwQiWMTczLlPEKIb_rSYo&type=A211US0&fr=mcafee&u=http://cc.bingj.com/cache.aspx?q=clarence+benson+first+armored+division&d=4962346385541916&mkt=en-US&setlang=en-US&w=aiiuNIT6OzTQnRsoDzJGxJi9i5pkFxdi&icp=1&.intl=us&sig=eQFIbbU3m.Py0ITCh0N1cQ-- . unkown -->.
  13. Web site: Paul McDonald Robinett in the 1940 Census . . 2014-06-26.
  14. News: Gen. Craig's Wife Dies Here at 61 . . Washington, D.C. . May 28, 1941. 27 . .
  15. News: SKIRMISHES MARK TALKS ON PLATFORM: Southern Republicans Demand and Get Places on Civil Rights Subcommittee . Bill Lawrence (news personality) . W.H. . Lawrence . . New York, N.Y . June 18, 1948 . 6 . . via ProQuest
  16. News: What Kind of Defense in the Atomic Age?: The difficult search goes on for a magic key to the riddle of security in this era of technological change and world uncertainty. Defense in the Atomic Age . Hanson W. Baldwin . Hanson W. . Baldwin . SM7 . The New York Times . 0362-4331 . ProQuest document ID 112825666 .
  17. News: Tank Officers Launch Attack On Army 'Infantry Thinking' . John G. Norris . John G. . Norris . The Washington Post . Washington, D.C . April 20, 1953 . 1 . ProQuest document ID 152568319 .
  18. News: Dispute Over Armor – II: Specialists in All Countries Believe Tank Must Meet Challenge of New Weapons . Hanson W. . Baldwin . The New York Times . New York, N.Y . April 17, 1953 . 2 . ProQuest document ID 112823345 .
  19. Book: 1947 . Official Army and Air Force Register (Volume I) . Washington, D.C. . U.S. Government Printing Office . 1585 .
  20. News: Reserves Hailed By Gen. Robinett . C9 . ProQuest document ID 148957329 . The Washington Post and Times-Herald . February 1, 1957 .

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