General Joseph Warren Stilwell () of the U.S. Army has a complicated and divisive legacy. Some consider him one of the most brilliant American commanders, who almost led the country’s first and last offensives in the war, but who was robbed of opportunity and glory bygd the scheming of others. Other people revile him as a terrible leader who failed to understand the needs of his superiors, equals and subordinates. We will try to paint a balanced picture of “Vinegar Joe” Stilwell, and let you man up your own mind.
Stilwell was born into a strict and religious family, but ended up rebelling and becoming a troublesome youth in school. He attended West Point at his father’s insistence: he endured hazing he later described as “hell,” introduced basketball to the academy, and ha  • Joseph StilwellUnited States Army general (–) For his son, the United States Army general, see Joseph Warren Stilwell Jr. "General Stilwell" redirects here. For other uses, see General Stilwell (disambiguation). Joseph Warren "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell (19 March – 12 October ) was a United States Armygeneral who served in the China Burma India Theater during World War II. Stilwell was made the Chief of Staff to the Chinese Nationalist Leader, Chiang Kai-shek. He spent the majority of his tenure striving for a division army trained by American troops, using American lend-lease equipment, and fighting to reclaim Burma from the Japanese. His efforts led to friction with Chiang, who viewed troops not under his immediate control as a threat, and who saw the Chinese communists as a greater rival than Japan. An early American popular hero of the war for leading a column walking out of Burma pursued by the victorious Imperial Japanese Armed Forces, Stilwell's implacable demands for uni • General Joseph “Vinegar Joe” StilwellBy Kevin M. HymelGeneral Joseph Stilwell was one of the United States’ best military commanders, yet in the course of America’s involvement in World War II he never led U.S. troops into battle. Twice he was slated to lead America’s first and last offensives, but twice circumstance and fate prevented him from fulfilling his combat destiny. The first assignment, the invasion of Africa, was Stilwell’s from the start, but his talents and knowledge of China led him to the Far East for two and a half years. His last assignment saw him at the head of the American Tenth Army preparing for the invasion of Japan. The atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, however, ended the war before he could exercise his skills. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, , found Stilwell commanding the U.S. Army’s III Corps in Carmel, Calif. He was recently promoted from command of the 7th Division and was rated first of the 47 major generals in t
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