FWIW, I am reading "Marshall and his generals" by Stephen Taaffe this week. It's focused on corps, field army, army group, and theater commanders, and how they were selected and promoted. A lot of names have cropped up that one rarely hears, if ever-- generals who never got the chance to leave the States, or who shipped out with commands but were shouldered aside for someone with more experience.
There's a bit more on the rivalry between Eisenhower and Devers (the latter was able to outmaneuver the former in several instances, which may have rankled Ike).
The system generally would be Marshall sending a list of candidates to the theater commanders when a new HQ was needed, and the men on the spot would select from a list. Sometimes, the chief of staff would indicate his preference, which the commanders might or might not accept.
It's sometimes fascinating to think of the might-have-beens, such as Stilwell or Eichelberger going to North Africa instead of China or the Pacific.
-- Clark going to France instead of sticking it out in Italy,
-- Eisenhower going to Washington as Army chief of staff and Marshall taking the ETO for Overlord.
-- Three generals (Collins, Patch, and Corlett) who had made amphibious landings in the Pacific, taking key roles for D-Day. (Alternately, the Navy bringing Terrible Turner to run Neptune!)
On the whole, I think we can agree that the US Army picked pretty well, most of the higher formation commanders did good work.
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My Twilight claim to fame: I ran "Allegheny Uprising" at Allegheny College, spring of 1988.
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