He expected, because of his age, to spend the war at home training troops, but in 1943 he was sent to General Douglas MacArthur's Southwest Pacific Area as commander of the Sixth Army and Alamo Force, which he led in a series of successful campaigns against the Japanese.

As an army commander, Krueger grappled with the problems imposed by vast distances, inhospitable terrain, unfavorable climate, and an indefatigable and dangerous enemy.

He balanced the fast pace of MacArthur's strategy with the more cautious approach of managing subordinates who often found themselves confronted by unexpectedly large numbers of Japanese troops.

He reached Santiago de Cuba a few weeks after the Battle of San Juan Hill, and spent eight months there on occupation duties, rising to the rank of sergeant.

[10] After a second tour in the Philippines, he returned to the United States in June 1909, and was assigned to Department of Languages at Fort Leavenworth as an instructor in Spanish, French and German, which he could speak fluently.

[12] With the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Krueger was offered a post as an observer with the German Army but was forced to turn it down due to familial commitments.

In an article in the Infantry Journal, he called for a large, national, conscript army similar to those of European countries, arguing that this would be in accord with America's democratic values.

[15] After the United States commenced hostilities against Germany in April 1917, Krueger was assigned to the newly activated 84th Division, a National Army formation created largely from draftees, at Camp Zachary Taylor as its assistant chief of staff G-3 (operations).

He was not destined to remain with the division for very long, however, as in October he became chief of staff of the Tank Corps of the AEF, a job which he found both rewarding and frustrating, as "he was tied to his desk most of the day, which he did not particularly enjoy", although he hoped that such a position might result in quick promotion.

By his high professional attainments, superior zeal, loyal devotion to duty, soldierly character, and his dominant leadership, he has exercised a determining influence upon the commands with which he has served, and has contributed in a marked degree to the success of the military operations of our forces.

He attended the Air Corps Primary Flying School at Brooks Field, Texas, but suffered an attack of neuritis in his right arm, and his flight instructor, Lieutenant Claire Lee Chennault, failed him.

As a result of the lessons learned from the PID's training and exercises, Krueger was able to offer recommendations for improvements to the triangular division concept, including taking advantage of mechanization and fast-paced tactics.

[38] General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of the Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA), said that he was "especially anxious to have Krueger due to my long and intimate association with him".

[48] An attempt to obtain information for Operation Dexterity, the attack on New Britain, with a joint Army-Navy reconnaissance team raised issues of inter-service cooperation.

[48][49] In what became a standard procedure in SWPA, MacArthur's General Headquarters (GHQ) nominated the objectives, set the target date, and allocated the troops to the operation, leaving Alamo Force to work out the details.

This, and his failure to obey repeated positive orders to furnish detailed information of his situation and his losses, his closing his radio station during long periods, and his evident ignorance that reinforcements could not reach him by the times he demanded, were not calculated to inspire confidence.

After inspecting the beachhead, they went to the USS Nashville for ice cream sodas, whereupon MacArthur suggested, in view of the victory at Hollandia, they could accelerate the campaign timetable by moving on to Wakde-Sarmi immediately.

Krueger was willing to consider the idea, although he had already ordered the troops designated for Wakde-Sarmi, the 32nd Infantry Division, to reinforce the position at Aitape, where he expected a major Japanese counterattack.

A shortage of shipping meant that the operation had to be carried out by the troops in the Hollandia area, so Krueger nominated the 163rd Regimental Combat Team for Wakde, while the rest of the 41st Infantry Division captured Sarmi.

"[63] Official historian Robert Ross Smith noted that "This decision, based upon the scanty, incomplete information concerning Japanese strength and dispositions available to General Krueger at the time, was destined to precipitate a protracted and bitter fight.

In the Battle of Biak, stubborn Japanese resistance halted the 41st Infantry Division, and forced its commander, Major General Horace H. Fuller, to appeal to Krueger for reinforcements.

Eichelberger's chief of staff, Brigadier General Clovis Byers, offered to have Decker intercept and destroy the resignation before Krueger saw it, but Fuller decided against this.

Krueger called for an energetic defense, but the cautious commander of XI Corps, Major General Charles P. Hall, retained nine battalions around the airbase at Tadji.

[84] Krueger's campaign on Luzon continued until 30 June 1945, when he handed over responsibility to Eichelberger in order to prepare for Operation Olympic, the invasion of Kyushu.

Because of a large income tax bill left over from the war, he was unable to buy it outright and so some of his friends established the Krueger Fund Committee, which paid for much of the house.

He lectured at Army Schools and civic organizations, offering opinions on subjects such as the value of training, the benefit of universal military service, and the need for a unified defense establishment.

[93] Most dramatically, on 3 October 1952, a lonely and depressed Dorothy fatally stabbed her husband, Colonel Aubrey D. Smith, with a hunting knife while he slept in their Army quarters in Japan.

[94] By six votes to three, a U.S. Army court-martial found Dorothy guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced her "to be confined at hard labor for the rest of her natural life".

[94] She was flown back to the United States in a Military Air Transport Service plane and was imprisoned at the Federal Prison Camp, Alderson, in West Virginia.

[96] The two cases, Kinsella v. Krueger and Reid v. Covert, went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which affirmed that military trials of civilians were indeed constitutional,[97] only to reverse itself a year later in a review of the decisions.