The Road to Rainbow: Army Planning for Global War, 1934-1940 - book - Book Review

Parameters, Spring, 2004 by Richard G. Trefry

The Road to Rainbow: Army Planning for Global War, 19341940. By Henry G. Gole. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 2002. 224 pages. $34.95.

Each publication year always brings to the public a few unheralded but extremely useful and important books. In the opinion of this reviewer, The Road to Rainbow is the sleeper of the year.

The material in this outstanding book lay fallow in 25 footlockers at the Army War College and was not discovered until 1957. Thus the historians who wrote the Army "Green Books" did not have access to these important papers, and even after they were made available, they were not given the attention they richly deserved. Maurice Matloffand Edward Smalls, authors of Strategic Planning for Coalition Warfare (one of the Green Books) were not aware such material existed; in fact, they were quoted as believing that "limited in scope, the (pre 1939-41) plans envisaged neither global or total war." That view apparently was shared by other eminent historians of the era, as no reference is apparent in any of the Green Book histories.

In the words of the author, Colonel Henry Gole (USA Ret., Ph.D.): "The Army War College course materials Louis Morton identified four years after Matloff and Small published Strategic Planning for Coalition Warfare 1941-1942 are readily available." It seems that no one had gone through the 1919-1940 course materials in detail with war plans specifically in mind, nor had anyone on the General Staff or War Plans Division asked what was done at the college.

Colonel Gole continues:

   In mining the Army War College curricular materials housed in the
   Military History Institute, particularly the war plans addressing
   coalition warfare from 1934-1940, one finds high grade nuggets that
   do in fact modify the way we should understand American war planning
   between the World Wars. To assess the significance of[the] work at
   the college, an appreciation of the accepted wisdom [related to] war
   planning is necessary. American strategic planning may have come of
   age in 1934-1941, but the "spade work" done by students and faculty
   during the period 1939-1940 at the US Army War College was very
   important to the maturation process. That is the main point of this
   book you see before you.

This is a particularly relevant point in regard to war planning today. In those days, the number of people involved in war planning in the United States probably numbered a few hundred. The color plans were generated in the early part of the century. In those days, plans were coded as follows:

United States--Blue

Germany--Black

Japan--Orange

As they matured over the decades, other countries were added:

Mexico--Green

Canada--Crimson

Great Britain--Red

Brazil--Purple

Domestic--White

In the late 1930s these color plans tended to blend due to the threat provided by the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo axis. Thus the plans melded into the Rainbow Plans, which formed the basis of the strategy employed for the prosecution of World War II.

The book is divided into four parts. Part I provides the background and evolution of war planning from the Root revolution in 1904 to roughly 1934, the era of the color plans. In Part II Dr. Gole describes the evolution from one-on-one conflict to "Participation With Allies," the planning leading to coalition. Part III of the book, perhaps the most interesting, discusses the planning from 1938 to 1940 when war became imminent. Finally, in Part IV the author describes the relationship between the War College and the War Department General Staff and the products of a cadre of brilliant officers, mostly unknown to this day, who played such a vital role in the winning of World War II.

On the cover of the book are four pictures depicting some of the principal planners of World War II. The picture of the Army planners is particularly interesting, showing some of the members of the War Plans Division in January 1942. The same picture, enlarged and with the players identified, is included in the picture section of the book. A study of the careers of the officers portrayed would be very interesting. Of course, many books have been written about General Eisenhower, but the rest of the individuals in the picture largely remain generally unknown.

When one considers the plethora of strategic think tanks that abound in the country today, inside and outside of government, and compares what these few men did and how they did it, their contribution becomes all the more a source of wonderment. There is no question that strategically, World War II was the best planned and fought war of the 20th century.

A careful study of this book will provide the reader an education in professional development as well as an appreciation for the Army School System and the officers it has produced. Of particular interest is Chapter 12, "Professionals in a Small Army." The astute reader will note that nowhere in this pantheon of military brilliance will one find a single set of BDUs, nor will any "Hooah" emanate from the pages. What should impress the reader is the professional growth of a group of Army officers who were ready and present for duty when needed at the highest levels of government.