An Army at Dawn (115 page)

Repulsed on the right: NWAf,
463–64; Robinett, “The Axis Offensive in Central Tunisia, Feb. 1943,” lecture, LOC MS Div.

Undeterred, two grenadier battalions
: Robinett,
Armor Command,
185; Andrus, notes on Omar Bradley’s
A Soldier’s Story,
n.d., MRC FDM; Clay, 35 (mss); Robinett, “The Axis Offensive in Central Tunisia, Feb. 1943,” lecture, LOC; Robinett, “Comments on
Kasserine Pass
by Martin Blumenson,” PMR, MHI, 13; Blumenson,
Kasserine Pass,
279; Rolf, 139 (
Panic Sunday
).

Yet something had hardened
: Andrus, notes on Omar Bradley’s
A Soldier’s Story,
n.d., MRC FDM (
“air was full”
and
“An artilleryman’s dream”
); Andrus biographical file, compiled by Albert H. Smith, MHI (
“most skillful and practical”
).

A single battalion
: “Combat Command B, Operations Report, Bahiret Foussana Valley, 20–25 February, 1943,” “Kasserine Pass Battles,” vol. I, part 2, CMH; Gardiner, “We Fought at Kasserine,” 8 (
“A column of prisoners”
); Robinett,
Armor Command,
187 (
“captured a whole flock”
).

“Lay Roughly on the Tanks”

As this action in the west
: Messenger, 54; Irving,
The Trail of the Fox,
274 (
“He suddenly”
).

By midafternoon all euphoria
: AAR, 2nd Bn, 19th Engineers, May 20, 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 19248; Liddell Hart, ed.,
The Rommel Papers,
405 (
“They did not seem”
); 10th Panzer Div. intelligence report, “Re: the advance of the 10th Panzer Division through the Faïd Pass to Thala,” Feb. 25, 1943, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 225; Hoffman,
Stauffenberg,
172.

The British had
: Cameron Nicholson, “The Battle of Kasserine, February 1943,” Nicholson collection, IWM, micro DS/MISC 7, 4 (
“no full-blooded orders”
and
“I found it difficult”
); Dunphie memo, forwarded to G. F. Howe from Cabinet Office historical section, Sept. 11, 1951, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 229; memo, S. L. Irwin to P. M. Robinett, June 23, 1949, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 229 (
“usual story”
); Nigel Nicholson,
Alex: The Life of Field Marshal Earl Alexander of Tunis,
176 (
“He’s right behind us”
).

Absent full-blooded orders
: Dunphie memo; Blaxland, 163 (
“beautiful to watch”
); ffrench Blake, 119;
NWAf,
465; D.G.A., “With Tanks to Tunis,” 399 (
“erect in his scout car”
).

Dunphie was a gunner
: Dunphie memo; Nicholson,
Alex,
176 (
“empty but heavy”
); author visit, Apr. 2000; Herman Walter Wright Lange, “Rommel at Thala,”
Military Review,
Sept. 1961, 72.

Almost on Dunphie’s heels
: war diary, 2/5 Leicestershire Regiment, Feb. 1943, PRO WO 175/513; Blaxland, 163; C. Nicholson, “The Battle of Kasserine” ffrench Blake, 119; Hastings, 219 (
“Keep away”
); Macksey,
Crucible of Power,
169;
Tätigskeitbericht,
10th Panzer Div., Feb. 21, 1943, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 225.

Two thousand yards
: D.G.A., “With Tanks to Tunis” (
“German tracers”
); Dunphie memo (
“tank fight in the dark”
); AAR, F Battery, 12 (HAC) Regt, RHA, appendix C, and “The Battle of Thala (North Africa) with F Bty 12th (HAC) Regt,” RHA, appendix E (
“Lay roughly”
), and war diary, “Operations of Nickforce, 20–23 Feb. 1943,” appendix D, all in Nicholson collection, micro, DS/MISC 7, IWM; Irwin memo to Robinett, June 23, 1949; war diary, 2/5 Leicestershire Regiment, Feb. 1943, PRO WO 175/513; Hastings, 219 (
“alarms were many”
); Watson, 143; Heller and Stofft, eds., 259; Blumenson,
Kasserine Pass,
270, 275.

Dawn came
: Dunphie memo (
“Irwin himself”
); memo, Irwin to Robinett, June 23, 1949 (
“extremely critical”
); Irwin, OH, Jan. 1950, G. F. Howe, SM, MHI; AAR, “Thala Engagement, 21–24 Feb. 1943,” 9th ID artillery, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427, box 7424; AAR, 60th FA, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427, box 7471; Phillips,
Sedjenane: The Pay-off Battle,
28; Phillips,
The Making of a Professional: Manton S. Eddy, USA,
91; William C. Westmoreland,
A Soldier Reports,
20.

It served
: Blumenson,
Kasserine Pass,
275; Austin, 91 (
“I’m sorry”
).

The field marshal had shot: NWAf,
469; Liddell Hart, ed.,
The Rommel Papers,
406–407.

True to character
: Kesselring, “The Events in Tunisia,” 1949, FMS, #D-066, MHI, 5–10; AAR, Panzer Army Africa, Feb. 22, 1943, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 225 (
It appears futile
); Watson, 169; Kesselring, “The War in the Mediterranean, Part II, The Fighting in Tunisia and Tripolitania,” FMS, #T-3 P1, 38.

Thala would prove
: “Narrative of Events, Thala Engagement, 21–24 Feb. 1943,” 9th ID artillery, March 4, 1943, “Kasserine Pass Battles,” vol. I, part 1, CMH; Robinett, “Comments on
Kasserine Pass,”
PMR, MHI (
“toughest day”
); Austin, 93 (
“Gilbert and Sullivan”
); Kesselring, “Final Commentaries on the Campaign in North Africa,” FMS, #C-075, MHI, appendix, 14; AAR, Panzer Army Africa, Feb. 23, 1943, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 225 (
“The enemy follows”
); Hoffman, 172; Liddell Hart, ed., 408 (
“I’ve stood up”
).

On February 22
: DDE to Fredendall, Feb. 22, 1943, Chandler, 980 (
“every confidence”
); Eisenhower,
Crusade in Europe,
145 (
“perfectly safe”
); Hinsley,
British Intelligence in the Second World War,
vol. II, 592–93; Howe, “American Signal Intelligence in Northwest Africa,” U.S. Cryptologic History, series IV, vol. 1, NARA RG 457, NSA files, SRH 391, box 114, 29–30; memo, B. A. Dixon, II Corps G-2, Apr. 19, 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 3163 (
“inability of most Arabs”
).

Several more convoluted
: AAR, 1st AD, “Report of Operations, Bahiret Foussana Valley,” Feb. 23, 1943, “Kasserine Pass Battles,” vol. I, part 2, CMH; Blumenson,
Kasserine Pass,
282; Robinett, “Comments on
Kasserine Pass,”
PMR, MHI, 15; Gugeler, x-104; DDE to Fredendall, Feb. 22, 1943, Chandler, 982; Harmon,
Combat Commander,
50 (
“cobra without”
), 112 (
“make up your mind”
), 116 (
“Nobody goes back”
); “Report of Gen. Harmon on taking command II Corps as deputy,” n.d., LKT Jr. Papers, GCM Lib, box 9; C. Nicholson, “The Battle of Kasserine,” 9 (
“to fight this battle out”
); Harmon, OH, Sept. 1952, G. F. Howe, SM, MHI (
Concluding that the man
and
“a fucking bloody nose”
).

In a Thala cellar
: letter, F.A.V. Copland-Griffiths to A. F. Smith, March 19, 1943, 1st Guards Bde, PRO WO 175/186 (
“The Germans have gone!”
); C. Nicholson, “The Battle of Kasserine,” 9 (
“Man cannot tell”
); war diary, “Operations of Nickforce,” Feb. 23, 1943, 1130 hrs (
“not unduly”
).

“Our follow-up was slow”
: Harmon, OH, Sept. 1952, G. F. Howe, SM, MHI; Harmon,
Combat Commander,
50, 111–16; Nicholson, “The Battle of Kasserine,” 9; Robinett, “Comments on
Kasserine Pass
by Martin Blumenson,” PMR, MHI, 15; Hatfield diary, Feb. 23, 1943, OW, MHI (
“feels very low”
).

Light snow fell
: Robinett,
Armor Command,
195 (
“cluttered with wrecked”
); Parris and Russell, 293, 296 (
chewing gum
); diary, C. M. Thomas; “Personal Diary of Lt. Gen. C. W. Allfrey,” Feb. 23, 1943 (
orders were issued
); AAR, “The Tunisian Campaign, 34th Division,” 5.

Even if Allied troops
: “G-2 Report on Tunisian Campaign,” 34th ID, June 12, 1943, Iowa GSM; “Report of Engineer Operations, II Corps, 15 March to 10 April 1943,” NARA RG 338, box 147; letter, F.A.V. Copland-Griffiths to A. F. Smith, March 19, 1943, 1st Guards Bde, PRO WO 175/186 (
“vehicles were blowing up”
); Hendricks, “A Time of Testing: U.S. Army Engineers in the Tunisian Campaign of World War II,” lecture, 7; Ralph Ingersoll,
The Battle Is the Pay-off,
112 (
“like caddies”
); Howze,
A Cavalryman’s Story,
61; Beck et al., 106; Charles S. Schwartz, “The Field Operations of a Maintenance Battalion,” ts, n.d., ASEQ, in papers of W. L. Rossie, 1st AD, MHI.

A precise tally
: Heller and Stofft, eds., 261;
NWAf,
477–78; “Office, Division Inspector, 1st AD,” Feb. 23, 1943;
Destruction
, 302; DDE to GCM, Feb. 24, 1943, Chandler, 984 (
“not a child’s game”
).

“The proud and cocky”: Three Years,
268;
NWAf,
479; Ellis,
Brute Force,
253; Gugeler, x-99; Robinett, “Comments on
Kasserine Pass,”
14 (
“one would have to search”
).

That error could be laid: Three Years,
265 (
“full responsibility”
); Eisenhower,
Crusade in Europe,
146 (
“had I been willing”
).

There were other: Three Years,
244; DDE to GCM, Feb. 24, 1943, Chandler, 984 (
expressed surprise
); Eisenhower,
Crusade in Europe,
148; Chandler, 958n (
“I am disturbed”
).

Certainly he had done
: DDE to L. R. Fredendall, Feb. 22, 1943, Chandler, 981; DDE to Churchill, Feb. 17, 1943, Chandler, 960 (
“We must be prepared”
); DDE to J.S.D. Eisenhower, Feb. 19, 1943, Chandler, 965 (
“It is possible”
).

Fratricide flourished
: Semmens, “The Hammer of Hell,” 122; Paul L. Williams, “Report of Operations, XII Air Support Campaign,” Apr. 9, 1943; Eisenhower,
Crusade in Europe,
145; Richard G. Davis,
Carl A. Spaatz and the Air War in Europe,
199.

the hammer of typewriters
: Ingersoll, 31.

CHAPTER 10: THE WORLD WE KNEW IS A LONG TIME DEAD

Vigil in Red Oak

Southwest Iowa’s second winter
:
Red Oak
(Iowa)
Express, Villisca
(Iowa)
Review, Clarinda
(Iowa)
Herald-Journal, Council Bluffs Nonpareil,
Feb.–Apr. 1943; Larson, ed., “The History and Contribution to American Democracy of Volunteer ‘Citizen Soldiers’ of Southwest Iowa, 1930–1945,” 43; author visit, southwest Iowa, Oct. 1999; “Red Oak, Iowa, Has 23 Boys Missing in Action in North Africa,”
Life,
May 3, 1943, 26; Milton Lehman, “Red Oak Hasn’t Forgotten,”
Saturday Evening Post,
Aug. 17, 1946, 14 (
American Legion Park
and
female drivers
and
“They kind of dreaded me”
); 168th Infantry Publications,” Iowa GSM.

When letters began arriving
:
Red Oak
(Iowa)
Express,
Apr. 26, 1943 (
“Send the food parcel first”
);
Villisca
(Iowa)
Review,
March 18, 1943 (
“I lost everything”
); memo, Jan. 2, 1945, and repatriated POW statements, Apr. 1945, NARA RG 153, Office of the JAG, box 2, files 3-2 and 3-8; letter, Drake to Ryder, Oct. 4, 1944, Ryder Papers, DDE Lib; Lehman, “Red Oak Hasn’t Forgotten” (
Ko-z-Aire Furnace Company
and
she set gold stars
); Larson, ed., 43 (
“Red Oak came as close”
).

“We Know There’ll Be Troubles of Every Sort”

The Carthaginians of antiquity
: Powell,
In Barbary,
64; DDE to GCM, Feb. 21, 1943, Chandler, 971 (
“this affair”
); Jordan, 201; E. Hughes diary, March 6, 1943, “Allied High Command,” Irving collection, MHI, reel 5 (“
pretty discouraging
”).

First to go
: E. A. Mockler-Ferryman, ts, n.d., LHC, 129–35 (
“If a man is not wanted”
); DDE to Brooke, Feb. 20, 1943, Chandler, 969 (
“broader insight”
); “History of the 26th Infantry in the Present Struggle,” 9/3, MRC FDM, box 301; Robinett, “The Axis Offensive in Central Tunisia, Feb. 1943,” lecture (
“professional graveyard”
); Alexander, OH, G. F. Howe, SM, MHI (
“watch him”
).

Orlando Ward also awaited
: diary, March 4, 1943, OW, MHI; Butcher diary, DDE Lib, A-250 (
voicing regret
); DDE to Fredendall, Feb. 20 and March 2, 1943, Chandler, 969 and 1002; Persons, 2; Harmon,
Combat Commander,
120 (
“no damned good”
); Harmon, OH, Sept. 1952, G. F. Howe, SM, MHI (
“common
,
low”
); Blumenson, ed.,
The Patton Papers, 1940–1945,
177 (
“coward”
), 181; Truscott,
Command Missions,
173; Alexander, OH, SM, MHI (
“I’m sure”
).

A final verdict came
: Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story,
42; Hansen, 3/70; letter, Harmon to G. F. Howe, Oct. 16, 1952, NARA RG 319, OCMH (
soft landing
); DDE to GCM, March 3 and 4, 1943, Chandler, 1006–1007; “Diary covering the activities of Gen. Fredendall,” James R. Webb Collection, DDE Lib (
“something wrong”
); Rolf, 165 (
“Glory be”
); W. B. Smith, OH, May 12, 1947, G. F. Howe, SM, MHI (
“a good colonel”
).