An Army at Dawn (116 page)

Patton was hunting boar
: Garrison H. Davidson, OH, 1980, John T. Greenwood, CEOH, 189; DDE to GCM, March 11, 1943, Chandler, 1022; memo, DDE to GSP Jr., March 6, 1943, Chandler, 1010; Hatch, 149;
Three Years,
273 (
“tears came to his eyes”
and
“like the devil”
).

“With sirens shrieking”
: Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story,
43; Gugeler, x-127 (
“picturesque”
); Skillen, 284 (
“scares the shit”
).

Both reactions pleased him
: Paul Wanke, “American Military Psychiatry and Its Role Among Ground Forces in World War II,”
Journal of Military History,
Jan. 1999, 141; Robinett,
Armor Command,
204; observer report, team #3, n.d., NARA RG 165, Director of Plans and Ops, corr, box 1229 (
“can sweat”
); Blumenson,
Patton,
183.

They soon developed
: Ingersoll, 20, 28; Thomas E. Hannum, “The Thirty Years of Army Experience,” ts, n.d., ASEQ, 91st Armored FA, 1st AD, MHI; Downing, 188; Philip G. Cochran, OH, 1975, USAF HRC, 88 (
“don’t even have underwear”
); Josowitz,
An Informal History of the 601st Tank Destroyer Battalion
; Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story,
44.

Determined and energetic
: Blumenson,
Patton,
183; Mason, “Reminiscences and Anecdotes of World War II,” ts, 1988, MRC FDM, 64–67, 130–31 (
“yellow-bellies”
); Carter, “Carter’s War,” CEOH, VI-18; Gardiner, ts, USMA Arch, 137; W.R.C. Penney, ts, n.d., LHC (
“smart, blasphemous”
); Foote, vol. 3, 395 (
“stern open air”
); Bradley and Blair,
A General’s Life,
99 (
“strangest duck”
).

Morale improved
: memo to AFHQ chief engineer, March 9, 1943, NARA, AFHQ micro, R-90-F; Robert John Rogers, “A Study of Leadership in the First Infantry Division During World War II,” master’s thesis, 1965, Fort Leavenworth, 21 (
“Watch us run”
); TR to Eleanor, March 2, 6, 11, and 20, 1943, TR, LOC, box 9.

Soldiers were viewed
: Robert R. Palmer et al.,
The Procurement and Training of Ground Combat Troops,
170, 175, 181–83 (
“as one would buy”
); Kreidberg and Henry, 647; letter, J. L. Devers to L. J. McNair, Feb. 4, 1944, NARA RG 165, Director of Plans and Ops, corr, box 1230; Taggart, ed., 41; Houston, 145; Harmon, “Notes on Combat Experience During the Tunisian and African Campaigns,” in “Kasserine Pass Battles,” vol. II, part 3; report, Walton H. Walker, June 29, 1943, NARA 165, E 418, box 1229 (
“sacks of wheat”
); “Activities of the G-1 Section During the Tunisian Campaign,” 34th ID, n.d., Iowa GSM; memo, from 5th Replacement Bn to II Corps, Apr. 12, 1943, NARA RG 492, MTO, special staff, box 1043; T. J. Camp, ed., 15; report #42, March 13, 1943, NARA RG 337, Observer Reports, box 52; “Lessons of the Tunisian Campaign, 1942–3, British Forces,” n.d., NARA RG 492, MTOUSA, box 56.

No less worrisome
: Russell Hill,
Desert Conquest,
235 (
“a bit windy”
); Donald Vining, ed.,
American Diaries of World War II,
53; Cowdrey, 137–44; Grinker and Spiegel, 234; DDE to GSP Jr., Apr. 12, 1943, NARA RG 94, II Corps, box 3161 (
“increasing number”
).

First known as shell shock
: “Casualties, Wounded, and Wounds, 1946–7,” G-3 Section, Army Field Forces, NARA RG 337, file 704, series 10, box 46 (
“the ostrich attitude”
); Wanke, 127–46; Doubler, 243–44; McManus, 67 (
“beat his head”
); Grinker and Spiegel, 14–16, 31, 38, 59, 63, 71, 232–34; Philip G. Cochran, OH, USAF HRC, 106 (
“Am I becoming uncourageous?”
).

Visiting a field hospital
: Parris and Russell, 299.

“One Needs Luck in War”

Dawn was just
: Daniell,
The Royal Hampshire Regiment,
vol. 3, 103–105; “155th Field Battery at Béja,”
Field Artillery Journal.

Eight similar attacks
:
NWAf,
502–509 (
“nincompoops”
);
Destruction,
327–28; Ray, 41; Rommel,
Krieg Ohne Hass,
363–64; McCurtain Scott, OH, March 1976, R. Gugeler, OW, MHI (
“too many generals”
).

not the nincompoops
: Daniell,
History of the East Surrey Regiment,
vol. 4, 161; Austin, 97–98; Forty,
Tank Action: From the Great War to the Gulf,
119; Parris and Russell, 268; Kühn,
Rommel in the Desert,
196; Kleine and Kühn,
Tiger: The History of a Legendary Weapon, 1942–1945; Destruction,
328n (
“Tank Killer”
).

The Germans fared
:
NWAf,
505;
Destruction,
327; Alexander, “The African Campaign from El Alamein to Tunis,” 870–71 (
“almost inevitable”
); Anderson, “Operations in North West Africa.”

Cruel mountain fighting
: Parris and Russell, 264–65; Gates, 138–43; R. Priestly, ts, n.d., 2nd Bn, Para Regt, IWM, 83/24/1; Perrett,
At All Costs,
159;
NWAf,
508; Anderson, “Operations in North West Africa” (
“not a happy period”
).

Rommel was still seething
: Liddell Hart, ed.,
The Rommel Papers,
414–16; Irving,
The Trail of the Fox,
280–84 (
“What a colony”
).

Yes, this would have made
: Liddell Hart, ed.,
The Rommel Papers,
414 (
“end of the army”
); Macksey,
Tank Versus Tank,
119 (
kicked a soccer ball
);
NWAf,
514–19;
Destruction,
322–26.

But Ultra decrypts
: Hinsley,
British Intelligence in the Second World War,
vol. 2, 283; Bennett,
Ultra and Mediterranean Strategy,
210, 379.

Thick mist lingering
: Blaxland, 189; Rolf, 162; Irving, 282;
Destruction,
325 (
“wandered rather vaguely”
); D. C. Quilter, ed.,
“No Dishonorable Name,”
159 (
“A great many”
); Ian C. Cameron,
History of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders 7th Battalion,
80 (
“wonderful shoot”
); Hamilton, 169 (
“I shall write letters”
).

“the first perfect battle”
: Clifford, 400; letter, A.J.A. Weir to parents, June 1943, IWM, 67/258/1 (
“larger than a card table”
); Bernard Ireland,
The War in the Mediterranean, 1940–1943,
198; Kesselring,
Memoirs,
152; Greiner diary, March 10, 1943, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 225; Liddell Hart, ed.,
The Rommel Papers,
415–16 (
“great gloom”
).

If hardly unexpected
: Liddell Hart, ed., 416 (
“plain suicide”
), 422; Irving,
The Trail of the Fox,
283 (
“During the drive”
and
“whole thing stinks”
), 288 (
“fallen from grace”
); Hans von Luck,
Panzer Commander,
114; author interview, Hans von Luck, Hamburg, May 1994; Westphal, 127 (“
gradually consumed
”); Kesselring, “The War in the Mediterranean, Part II, The Fighting in Tunisia and Tripolitania,” 42 (
“last trump”
); Ronald Lewin,
Rommel as Military Commander,
209 (
“not quite normal”
); Rommel to Arnim, March 12, 1943, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 226.

“I have observed”
: DDE to J.S.D. Eisenhower, March 12, 1943, Chandler, 1028.

After months of sailing
: Chandler, 961n (
“selflessness of character”
);
Three Years,
280 (
“Tell Ike”
).

“I have caught up”
: DDE to GCM, Alexander et al., Chandler, 860, 1020, 1049, 1052, 1018.

He was busier
: DDE to Edgar Eisenhower, GCM, et al., Chandler, 1018, 1024, 1009, 1050, 862; Jordan, 197 (
“Eisenhower’s genius”
).

More and more
: DDE to GCM, et al., Chandler, 1033, 1036, 860.

Rommel famously observed
: Martin Van Creveld,
Supplying War,
201; 601st Ordnance Bn, unit history, MHI;
Logistical History of NATOUSA/MTOUSA,
n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427, AG, WWII operations reports, 95-AL1-4, box 203; Bykofsky and Larson, 148; quartermaster memo, n.d., NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 225; Leighton and Coakley, 475 (
“brilliant”
).

In World War I
: lecture, B. B. Somervell, “Army Service Forces,” Aug. 9, 1943, NARA RG 334, NWC Lib, L-1-43, box 167; Kreidberg and Henry, 649; memo, North African logistics, n.d., NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 225.

Can do
: Leighton and Coakley, 485; Ellis,
Brute Force: Allied Strategy and Tactics in the Second World War,
298 (
II Corps lost more armor
); “Signal Communication in the North African Campaigns,” from “Tactical Communications in World War II,” part I, Historical Section, Chief Signal Officer, MHI, 120 (
500 miles
); McNamara, 60 (
new shoes
);
Logistical History of NATOUSA/ MTOUSA,
82.

The Americans’ “genius”
: Behrens, 333, 313 (
“creating resources”
); Kennett, 93; McNamara, 70; letter, Carter B. Magruder to LeRoy Lutes, March 21, 1943, NARA RG 319, OCMH, Ordnance Dept., box 596; “History of Planning Division, Army Service Forces,” 1946, CMH, 3-2.2 AA, 87.

“The American Army”
: Ellis,
Brute Force,
525 (
“overwhelms them”
); Donald Davison, “Aviation Engineers in the Battle of Tunisia,” 1943, 12; Beck et al., 90.

The German military
: Leighton and Coakley, 14; Cooper,
The German Army, 1933–1945,
362; Bragadin, 245–47 (
“roaring furnace”
); Friedrich Weber, “Battles of 334th Division and of Group Weber,” n.d., FMS, #D-215, MHI.

Ships not yet sunk
: Howard,
Grand Strategy,
vol. 4, 349–50; Warlimont, “High Level Decisions—The Tunisian Campaign,” Feb. 1951, FMS, #C-092a, MHI, 19;
NWAf,
368, 499n, 513fn, 682; Liddell Hart, ed.,
The Rommel Papers,
417 (
“to create the build-up”
).

Other woes
:
NWAf,
366; AAR, Wehrmacht transportation officer, Apr. 1–May 4, 1943, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 225 (
lignite
); Arnim, “Recollections of Tunisia,” FMS, C-098, MHI, 62 (
oil cakes
), 84.

These tribulations
: Lucas,
Panzer Army Africa,
173 (
“paper divisions”
); Bennett,
Ultra and Mediterranean Strategy,
373–74;
Destruction,
274 (
“if no supplies”
); Warlimont, “High Level Decisions,” Feb. 1951, FMS, #C-092a, MHI, 33–34 (
“a fortress”
); Cooper, 368 (
“Hitler wanted”
).

“The Devil Is Come Down”

The soft whir
:
Desert Victory
; Brian Horrocks,
A Full Life,
148; Brooks, ed., 176; D’Este,
Bitter Victory,
99 (
“wee bugger”
); Fred Majdalany,
The Battle of El Alamein,
150; Hill,
Desert Conquest,
252–61 (
“this conqueror business”
).

Bernard Law Montgomery
: Majdalany, 37–38 (
“lonely and loveless”
); Tute, 194; Hamilton, 142; Boatner, 372–74; John North, ed.,
The Alexander Memoirs, 1940–1945,
17 (
“One only loves”
).

the Book of Job
: Doherty,
Irish Generals,
29; W. P. Lunn-Rockliffe, “The Tunisian Campaign,”
Army Quarterly and Defence Journal,
Apr.–May 1969, 109, and June–July, 1969, 228; Rolf, 26 (
“Kill Germans”
); Alan F. Wilt,
War from the Top,
197; Gilbert, 372; Barnett,
The Desert Generals,
268 (
“sheer weight of British resources”
); Charles D. McFetridge, “In Pursuit: Montgomery After Alamein,”
Military Review,
June 1994, 54; Chalmers, 158; Hamilton, 169 (
“trust him”
).

And yet
: Barnett,
The Desert Generals,
236; Carver, ed.,
The War Lords,
501 (
“a kindliness”
).

He disdained
: Hamilton,
Master of the Battlefield,
163 (
“quite useless”
), 177, 206; D’Este,
Bitter Victory,
107n (
“Good chap”
); Brooks, ed., 194, 131, 175 (
“quite unfit”
), 150; Macksey,
The Tank Pioneers,
186; F. E. Morgan, OH, n.d., FCP, MHI (
“thoroughly disloyal”
).

Swaggering into Tunisia
: Boatner, 372; Ellis,
Brute Force,
284; Ellis,
On the Front Lines,
261; Clarke, 81 (
“We will roll”
); Barnett,
The Desert Generals,
274 (
“dray horse”
); report on benzedrine sulfate, “Military Reports on the United Nations,” No. 2, Jan. 15, 1943, WD, Military Intelligence Service, NARA RG 334, NWC Lib, box 585.

Contrary to
: Ellis,
Brute Force,
265, 286; Coningham, OH, Feb. 14, 1947, FCP, MHI (
“Once Monty”
).

This time
: msg to Rommel, Jan. 27, 1943, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 225; Stannard, ed., 287 (
vats of hot water
); Kesselring, T-3 P1, 33; Krause, “Studies on the Mareth Position,” FMS, #D-046;
Destruction,
331–33; John W. Gordon,
The Other Desert War: British Special Forces in North Africa, 1940–1943,
163.