 He became Commanding General of Army Ground Forces on 14 July 1944 when Lieutenant General Lesley J. McNair went to Europe eleven days before McNair was killed in Normandy on 25 July 1944.After the German counter-attack in the Ardennes caused a manpower crisis, in January 1945 he was appointed deputy commander of European Theater of Operations, US Army, responsible for theater manpower.As such, he overhauled the replacement system, but the war against Germany ended before the full benefits of his reforms could be realized.