Book excerpt: By 1950 General George C. Marshall was seen by the American public an outstanding hero of their time; his masterful direction as chief of the US Army Staff during World War Two has set him up as an almost unassailable public figure. However hardline senator Joseph McCarthy took no prisoners, and in this well researched account, he takes a furious swipe at the General. Although future generations were only to know McCarthy for his ill-advised witchhunts later in his career, this book still stands as a damning indictment of the conduct of the American War Policy during the Second World War and particularly General Marshall.