HEIDELBERG, Germany — Lt. Gen. William Wallace, who led the Germany-based V Corps assault against the Iraqi army, has been named the next commander of the Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
A 1969 West Point graduate — and among a dwindling cadre of Vietnam veterans still on active duty — Wallace took command of V Corps on July 18, 2001. Based in Heidelberg, the corps usually is responsible for overseeing the Army’s two divisions in Germany, but in recent months has led a 125,000 combat force in Iraq.
The commander of the 1st Armored Division, Maj. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, has been tapped to pin on his third star and replace Wallace at the helm of V Corps later this summer. The 1st AD, with its headquarters in Wiesbaden, joined allied occupation forces in Iraq last month.
Wallace’s post at Fort Leavenworth will put him in charge of much of the Army’s war-fighting doctrinal development and officer training, including the Command and General Staff College. Wallace will replace his immediate predecessor at V Corps, Lt. Gen. James C. Riley.
Earlier this year, Wallace had upset some in the Pentagon when one week into the war with Iraq he said that in some respects the Iraqi defense forces were responding differently than he had expected.
“I make no apologies for those comments,” Wallace said May 7, according to the Associated Press. “The enemy that we fought” in numerous cities in southern Iraq in the opening days of the ground offensive “was much more aggressive than what we expected him to be, at least what I expected him to be.”
