An Army at Dawn (114 page)

Fredendall immediately
: phone memos, Feb. 16–17, 1943, LKT Jr. Papers, GCM Lib, box 9; Truscott,
Command Missions,
159–62 (
“tanks were fighting”
); Blumenson,
Kasserine Pass,
191; PMR, “Comments on
Kasserine Pass
by Martin Blumenson,” PMR, MHI, 7; II Corps provost marshal journal, Feb. 19, 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 3126.

This farrago
:
Kriegstagebuch,
21st Panzer Div., Feb. 16–17, 1943, “Kasserine Pass Battles,” vol. I, part 2, CMH; Howe,
The Battle History of the 1st Armored Division,
172–73; war diary, 10th Panzer Div., Feb. 17, 1943, “Kasserine Pass Battles,” vol. I, part 2, CMH.

“Move the big elephants”
: Robinett,
Armor Command,
165–69 (
“When things are going badly”
); Robinett, “The Axis Offensive in Central Tunisia,” lecture, n.d., PMR, LOC MS Div.

In truth
: Blumenson,
Kasserine Pass,
192 (
“Everything is going badly”
); phone transcript, Feb. 17, 1943, 1055 hrs., LKT Jr. Papers, GCM Lib, box 9 (
“I have had”
).

Ward and Robinett braced
: L. C. Gates,
The History of the 10th Foot, 1919–1950,
135; letter, T. Riggs to parents, June 25, 1943, PMR, LOC MS Div, box 4 (
“We stood in the cactus”
).

Fifteen minutes
:
Tank Destroyer Forces World War II,
27 (
“Everybody was throwing”
); Gardiner, “We Fought at Kasserine,” 8 (
“I counted thirty-five”
); Robinett,
Armor Command,
167–75 (
“let them have it!”
); Robinett, “The Axis Offensive in Central Tunisia,” lecture; n.d.; Howe,
The Battle History of the 1st Armored Division,
175–79;
NWAf,
434–36; CCB log, Feb. 17, 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427, 601-CCB-0.3, box 14825.

“War is cruelty”
: Foote,
The Civil War,
vol. III, 602; Rame, 252, 254 (
“The night was heavy”
); Tobin, 82 (
“You need feel”
).

“This Place Is Too Hot”

Two formidable sentinels
: author visits, Sept. 1996 and Apr. 2000;
NWAf,
348, 446 (
“gigantic, crudely corrugated”
).

Kasserine Pass is not impregnable
:
NWAf
, 446 (
“offers such advantages”
); phone transcript, Feb. 17, 1943, 1340 hrs. (
“I am holding”
), and phone memo, Rooks to Truscott, Feb. 18, 1943, LKT Jr. Papers, GCM Lib, box 9; AAR, 19th Engineers, March 8, 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 19248; Beck et al., 96–98 (
failed to complete
); Conway, SOOHP, MHI (
“trying to draw a line”
).

Just beyond
:
NWAf,
440–42, 453; Hoffman,
Stauffenberg,
171; war diary, Panzer Army Afrika, Feb. 19, 1943, “Kasserine Pass Battles,” vol. I, part 2; Kesselring,
Memoirs,
151;
Destruction,
295.

Even at his distant remove
: “History of the 26th Infantry in the Present Struggle,” MRC FDM, 8/14–16 (
“pull a Stonewall Jackson”
); phone transcript, Feb. 18, 1943, 1022 hrs., LKT Jr. Papers, GCM Lib, box 9; Heller and Stofft, eds., 255–57 (
hold back more than 200
); letter, Stark to OW, Jan. 28, 1951, OW, MHI; “Historical Record of the 19th Engineer Regiment,” Oct. 1942–Oct. 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 19248; AAR, 2nd Bn, 19th Engineers, RG 407, box 19248; author interview, Hans von Luck, May 1994, Hamburg; Hans von Luck,
Panzer Commander,
113; war diary, Afrika Korps, Feb. 19, 1943, “Kasserine Pass Battles,” vol. I, part 2.

And, soon, on the right
: Davis, “The Battle of Kasserine Pass,” 22; “History of the 26th Infantry in the Present Struggle,” MRC FDM, 8/19;
NWAf,
451.

Shadows swallowed
: memo, Charles A. L. Dunphie, forwarded to G. F. Howe from Cabinet Office historical section, Sept. 11, 1951, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 229 (
“out of his depth”
); “Report of Operations,” II Corps, May 2, 1943, “Kasserine Pass Battles,” vol. 1, part 2, CMH (
“well in hand”
); letter, Stark to OW, Jan. 28, 1951, OW, MHI (
“that blockhead”
); “History of the 26th Infantry,” MRC FDM, 8/21.

Even as this puff
: diary, Charles M. Thomas, Co. C, 19th Engineers, possession of Roger Cirillo (
“The worst of it all”
); letter, George F. Hertz, published in
Iowa City Daily Iowan,
May 19, 1943, MCC, YU; Ellis,
On the Front Lines,
89 (
“women sobbing”
).

Night fever spread
: AAR, 19th Engineers, March 8, 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 19248 (
“A considerable number of men”
); “History of the 26th Infantry,” MRC FDM, 8/22;
NWAf,
452; “Historical Record of the 19th Engineer Regiment,” Oct. 1942–Oct. 1943, NARA RG 407, box 19248; II Corps provost marshal journal, report from William A. Seitz, Co. A, 26th Inf, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427, box 3126 (
“In some instances”
).

Bad as the bad night
:
NWAf,
454–55; Hoffman,
Stauffenberg,
171.

The American collapse
: “History of the 26th Infantry,” MRC FDM, 8/24–25; diary, C. M. Thomas, possession of Roger Cirillo (
“Forget about”
); Blumenson,
Kasserine Pass,
249–52; “Historical Record of the 19th Engineer Regiment,” Oct. 1942–Oct. 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 19248 (
“This place is too hot”
).

The “uncoordinated withdrawal”
: AAR, 19th Engineer Regt, March 8, 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 19248; “History of the 26th Infantry,” MRC FDM, 8/22–25 (
French gunners
and
“action shots”
and
“Fight to the last man”
); Blumenson,
Kasserine Pass
, 255 (
Casualties just among infantrymen
);
NWAf
, 455; Conway, SOOHP, MHI (
Washington on horseback
); letter, Stark to OW, Jan. 28, 1951, OW, MHI (
“We had to crawl”
).

“Order, Counter-order, and Disorder”

Demolitionists laid
: Rame, 263 (
slabs of guncotton
); McNamara, 57; “Tébessa Tableaux,” ts, n.d., Samuel L. Meyers Papers, MHI (
slaughtering every chicken
).

As always in the great clash
: letter, TR to Eleanor, Feb. 24, 1943, TR, LOC; Renehan, 234; Roosevelt,
Day Before Yesterday,
441.

Little buoyancy
: Mason, “Reminiscences and Anecdotes of World War II,” MRC FDM (
“head in hands”
);
These Are the Generals,
227 (
“I like that man”
); James R. Webb, “First Waltz with Rommel,” ts, n.d., James R. Webb Papers, DDE Lib, box 1 (
“If I were back home”
); Michael Carver, ed.,
The War Lords: Military Commanders of the Twentieth Century,
603 (
“I saw his attitude change”
); Blumenson,
Kasserine Pass,
280.

Fredendall repaired
: “Diary Covering the Activities of General Fredendall and Supporting Players, Dec. ’42-March ’43,” James R. Webb Collection, DDE Lib (
“Dabney, open up the bottle”
); Clift Andrus, notes on Omar Bradley’s
A Soldier’s Story,
n.d., MRC FDM (
“Dinner!”
).

“I’m going to be”
: Hal Boyle, “Brass Seen at Fault at Kasserine Pass,” Associated Press, Feb. 11, 1948, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 225; Fredendall to DDE, Feb. 19, 1943, DDE Lib, PP-pres, box 42 (
“Ward appears tired”
).

While Eisenhower pondered
:
NWAf,
457–58; Robinett,
Armor Command,
175–77; Robinett, “The Axis Offensive in Central Tunisia, Feb. 1943,” lecture; Robinett, letter to G. F. Howe, March 4, 1952, PMR, LOC MS Div., box 4; letter, Philipsborn to G. F. Howe, Feb. 18, 1952, PMR, LOC MS Div., box 4 (
“There is no use”
); Dunphie memo, forwarded to G. F. Howe from Cabinet Office historical section, Sept. 11, 1951, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 229; Porter, SOOHP, MHI (
“Get hold”
); letter, F.A.V. Copland-Griffiths to A. F. Smith, March 19, 1943, 1st Guards Bde, PRO WO 175/186 (
“the most perfect example”
).

Into the muddle
: Alexander, “The African Campaign from El Alamein to Tunis,” 869; DDE to Alexander, Feb. 7, 1943, NARA RG 331, AFHQ micro, R-5-C; Blaxland, 160; Alexander to DDE, Feb. 19, 1943, 1920 hrs., Alexander files, DDE Lib, box 3, folder 8; Alexander to Montgomery, Feb. 22, 1943, in Stephen Brooks, ed.,
Montgomery and the Eighth Army,
152 (
“very shocked”
).

He cut a dashing
: Austin, 105; Carver, ed.,
The War Lords,
332–37 (
“natural good manners”
and
“able more than clever”
); Boatner, 4–5; Doherty,
Irish Generals,
32, 36 (
“At the worst crises”
), 38 (
Churchill’s favorite
); D’Este,
Eisenhower: A Soldier’s Life,
650 (mss) (
“Our position is catastrophic”
); Rupert Clarke,
With Alex at War,
xii–xiii; Brian Holden Reid, in John Keegan, ed.,
Churchill’s Generals,
105 (
“archetypal Edwardian hero”
).

Some thought him stupid
: Reid, in Keegan, ed.,
Churchill’s Generals,
104 (
“Wellington without the wit”
), 108 (
“empty vessel”
), 109 (
“Intellect was not”
); Rolf, 25; Clarke,
With Alex at War,
xii (
tap dancing
); Dominick Graham and Shelford Bidwell,
Tug of War: The Battle for Italy, 1943–1945,
36 (
“the campaigns of Belisarius”
).

Brilliantly slow
: Alexander, OH, n.d., G. F. Howe, SM, MHI (
“solid soldier”
and
“allowing the Germans”
); Hamilton, 166 (
“The poor body”
);
Destruction,
304 (
“Real fault”
and
“My Main anxiety”
); “Reminiscences of Hanson Weightman Baldwin,” OH, 1976, John T. Mason, Jr., USNI OHD (
“old school tie”
); Reid, in Keegan, ed., 114 (
“quite useless”
).

First, Rommel’s northern thrust
: war diary, 10th Panzer Div., Feb. 19, 1943, “Kasserine Pass Battles,” vol. I, part 2, CMH; Benjamin Caffey, OH, Feb. 1950, G. F. Howe, SM, MHI;
NWAf,
452–53; Johnson,
One More Hill,
37 (
“If they attack
us”
); Howard and Sparrow, 119; “18th Infantry, Draft Regimental Wartime History,” Stanhope Mason Collection, MRC FDM; Camp, ed., 23 (
“taking shoe boxes”
).

A renewed assault
: author interview, Clem Miller, Jan. 4, 2000; author interviews, Edward Boehm, Nov. 26, 1999, and Jan. 4, 2000; Edward Boehm, “My Autobiography in WWII,” ts, 1997, possession of Roger Cirillo, 36; “The Fragrance of Spring Was Heavy in the Air,” account of 185th FA Bn,
Trail Tales,
Boone County (Iowa) Historical Society, No. 35, 1979, 37; Vernon Hohenberger, “Retracing My Footsteps in World War II,” ts, n.d., Iowa GSM, 37; “The Tunisian Campaign, 34th Division,” Iowa GSM, 5.

Checked on the right
: AAR, 10th Bn, The Rifle Brigade, PRO, WO 175/518;
Destruction,
297; Davis, “The Battle of Kasserine Pass,” 22 (
“like caterpillars dropping”
);
The Rifle Brigade in the Second World War, 1939–1945,
217; Austin, 90; D.G.A., “With Tanks to Tunis,”
Blackwoods,
June 1945, 399 (
“We were forced”
and
“as hard as stiff legs”
); ffrench Blake, 118.

Rommel again held
: Liddell Hart, ed.,
The Rommel Papers,
405;
NWAf,
458, 460; Robinett, “Comments on
Kasserine Pass
by Martin Blumenson,” PMR, MHI, 13, 16.

A reconnaissance report
: author visit, Apr. 2000;
NWAf,
461.

The scouts were wrong
: Stanhope Mason and F. W. Gibb, OH, Apr. 26, 1951, G. F. Howe, SM, MHI; letter, Joseph T. Dawson to brother, Feb. 21, 1943, Dawson Collection, MRC FDM (
“this is our sector”
); Hazen, 104; Steven Clay,
Blood and Sacrifice: The History of the 16th Infantry Regiment from the Civil War Through the Gulf War,
33 (mss); Edwin L. Powell, Jr., OH, 1982, Lynn L. Sims, CEOH, 130; Robinett,
Armor Command,
181; letter, Philipsborn to G. F. Howe, Feb. 18, 1953, with PMR comments, PMR, LOC MS Div, box 4 (
“simply written on the ground”
).

Anderson on this very Saturday
: “Personal Diary of Lt. Gen. C. W. Allfrey, the Tunisian Campaign (with 5 Corps),” Feb. 21, 23, 1943, Allfrey Collection, LHC (
“American fighting value”
); Haggerty, “A History of the Ranger Battalions in World War II,” Ph.D. diss, 121 (
“a hairy-chested commander”
); Altieri,
The Spearheaders,
236 (
“Onward we stagger”
).

The tanks came
: Robinett,
Armor Command,
183;
NWAf,
462–64; Howe,
Battle History of the 1st Armored Division,
191; “Combat Command B, Operations Report, Bahiret Foussana Valley, 20–25 February, 1943,” “Kasserine Pass Battles,” vol. I, part 2, CMH; II Corps, “report of operations,” May 2, 1943, “Kasserine Pass Battles,” vol. I, part 2, CMH; Clay, 35 (mss); Macksey,
Crucible of Power,
166.