Wesley W. Yale

Colonel Wesley Woodworth Yale (1900 – 2001), was a colonel in the United States Army who commanded Combat Command B, 11th Armored Division, throughout the Battle of the Bulge during World War II, being in General Patton's Third Army. He wrote number of articles on warfare toward the end of his career as a specialist on nuclear strike control, and served as a senior analyst at Stanford Research Institute. Through his campaign in Europe, he captured number of Nazi concentration camps from the Germans.

Early life Wesley Woodworth Yale was born October 6, 1900, in Syracuse, Onondaga County, New York to Lieutenant Wesley Aaron Yale and Jane Wagner. His grandfather was colonel John Wesley Yale of the 51st New York Infantry Regiment, member of the Yale family.

He enrolled at Manlius military school in central New York, in which his grandfather was a patron, and received an honor school appointment to West Point.

Career

Yale started in the army as aide to Brigadier General Hamilton S. Hawkins III. He was also chief of staff. While in command, General Patton advised him "to treat 'em like horses". Yale divided CCB into a tank force and an infantry task force. On 2 January he asked permission to capture the town of Mande-Saint-Étienne and was granted permission. Ample artillery was wired in to support the attack and twelve battalions fired about 3,800 rounds on 120 objectives. The French, English, Russians, Polish, Dutchmen, Belgians, Norwegians and American prisoners in the camp started singing "Georgie Patton, come and get us! Georgie Patton, set us free!".

Then at Stamsried, Col. Yale's brigade found hundreds of British prisoners who had been captured by the SS since the Battle of Dunkirk, and discovered others starving at the Posing camp. Col. Yale's regiment marched toward Zwettl an der Rodl in Austria, and liberated other British prisoners at the Waxenberg camps, and by capturing Zwettl, they blocked the north-east access to Linz, Adolf Hitler's hometown. He became an expert on nuclear strike control and served as cavalryman and tank commander throughout is military career.

His regiment was the leading command of General Patton's Third Army from the Bulge to the end of the war in Linz, Austria. He was recognized by his commander, General Lyman Lemnitzer, Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO, as having been given the troops and responsibilities of a general during the war. and the Order of the Patriotic War Second Class from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. When he retired, he served as senior military operations analyst at Stanford Research Institute, with a specialization on mobile warfare. He was also a friend of General Otto P. Weyland, chief of General Patton's tactical air warfare, and fought with him in the Third Army. With General Paul L. Freeman Jr., Commander in Chief, he wrote "The Nuclear Freeze and National Security".

In 1970, Colonel Yale, Major General Isaac D. White, and General Hasso von Manteuffel, a German baron, wrote together a book named "Alternative to Armageddon".

Death Col. Yale died January 14, 2001, at the age of 100 years old, and was buried at West Point Cemetery on the grounds of the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York.

He married Lillian C. Lackey, whom he met at Fort Stotsenburg in the Philippines with the 26th Cavalry regiment. His wife was the daughter of the Artillery Commander, and they had two sons together : John Walker Yale (1928–2016), lieutenant colonel in the US Air Force, USMA, who served in Vietnam with distinction Thomas Hamilton Yale (1938–2011), professor of life sciences at Bakersfield College in California