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Because Abrams worked in close tandem with an infantry major named Harold Cohen, the Nazis assumed they were both Jewish, took to calling them "Roosevelt's Butchers." In fact, Abrams is not Jewish—he is a Methodist and his ancestors were English—but he often fought as though he was waging a personal crusade against the Germans. Said Abrams at the time: "There's too much stress on taking prisoners. Our job is to annihilate the enemy."
Job to Be Done. After the war, to the surprise of colleagues, Abrams calmed down enough to become a fine staff officer. He rewrote the book on armored tactics—putting the stress on the shock value of the mass attack. He served with distinction as chief of staff of three successive corps during the Korean war, and weathered the Pentagon on a tour spent working with the reserves. When he took the command of the 3rd Armored, Abrams moved into a big house outside of Frankfurt with his wife and the four youngest of their six children. The general takes his two little girls out for Sunday ice cream treats, wrestles shoes onto the plump feet of Brucie, and cheers with his bull-toned bellow for 15-year-old John, who plays tackle on the high school team.
But in thought or action, Abrams is never far away from his 3rd Armored Division. Last week he was busily checking with his troops as they worked to master the new equipment that was flooding in. He approved of the M-60 machine gun with the cold, matter-of-fact terms of the professional soldier. "Now my platoons can kill more men." He listened intently as his men talked about the M-60 tank and its 105-mm. gun. "Someone who makes tanks finally started taking suggestions from the people who use them," said Sergeant Reuben Hawes. "I can shoot a country mile with this tank."
Abrams nodded. "The Hessian Corridor is a playground for tanks," he said later, and for a moment the old light of battle flamed in the eyes of the combat soldier. Abrams makes no bones about his pride in commanding U.S. soldiers at a critical point in Western defenses. "If there's going to be trouble," says Abrams, "I prefer to be right here and right in this division. This is the job I want."
It is also a job that has to be done—and last week at induction depots, in training camps and on the frontiers of the cold war, the growing, improving Army was preparing to do it.