The Day of Battle (108 page)

“
You are a great leader
”:
PP,
272; John North, ed.,
The Alexander Memoirs, 1940
–
1945,
45–46; Hirshson, 360 (“
Do you kill?
”); GSP to DDE, Feb. 20, 1942, DDE Lib, PP-pres, box 91 (“
You name them
”); memoir, Kenyon Joyce, ts, n.d., MHI, 345 (“
colorful
”).

“
a question of destiny
”: GSP to Bea, July 5, 1943, LOC MS Div, Chrono File, box 10.

Ernie Pyle was with them: SSA,
66; Pyle, 12 (“
On fine days
”); Lee G. Miller,
The Story of Ernie Pyle,
267 (
he rose at three
A.M.
).

“
older and a little apart
”: David Nichols, ed.,
Ernie’s War,
18; Quentin Reynolds,
The Curtain Rises,
256 (“
a family Bible
”); Miller, 261 (“
fundamentally sad
”).

“
lost in the dark
”: Richard Collier,
Fighting Words,
140, 144, 152; Miller (“
athlete’s foot
”).

thirty cubic feet:
Harold Larson, “Troop Transports in WWII,” ts, March 1945, CMH, 4-13. AA12, 53; Brown,
The Whorehouse of the World,
142; IG investigation, fall 1943, MTOUSA AG, NARA RG 492, 333.7, box 1432 (
Army inspectors
); Russell B. Capelle,
Casablanca to the Neckar,
18 (
its mystery
).

They made do:
Valentine, 10; George F. Hall papers, HIA, box 1 (
seven times as high
); AAR, 26th Inf Regt, “The Beginning of the End,” n.d., MRC FDM (
hellhole
); Williamson, “Tales of a Thunderbird,” 86 (“bona sera”).

They packed and unpacked:
annex, Admin Order No. 1, June 14, 1943, Seventh Army, Walter J. Muller papers, HIA, box 2; chart, Wayne M. Harris, ASEQ, 157th Inf, MHI (
82.02 pounds
); Harold W. Thatcher, “The Development of Special Rations for the Army,” 1944, Historical Section, QM General, MHI, 4-5 (“
D rations
”).

“
It’s interesting to see
”: corr, TR to Eleanor, July 7, 8, 1943, LOC MS Div, box 10.

“
Commander Houdini
”: Graeme Zielinski, “Capt. Richard Steere, 92; Meteorologist for Patton,”
WP,
March 22, 2001, B-6; “Navy Honors D.C. Officer, Weather Expert,”
WP,
Dec. 7, 1943, B-9.

Summer blows:
Charles C. Bates and John F. Fuller,
America’s Weather Warriors,
74.

“
flat-bottomed delight
”: Collins, 200; Jack Belden, “As I Saw It,” in Albert H. Smith, Jr.,
The Sicily Campaign: Recollections of an Infantry Company Commander,
143 (“
Mussolini wind
”); memo, Bert M. Rudd, “Landing Craft and Bases,” AGF Observer, July 16, 1943, ANSCOL, NARA RG 334, NWC Lib, box 150, 6; Bill Mauldin,
The Brass Ring,
143 (
two dozen balloons
); “Personal Diary of Langan W. Swent,” July 9, 1943, HIA, box 1 (
helmsmen struggled
); Pyle, 13.

Never had the amphibious vessels: CM,
209; Karig, 255 (“
green water cascaded
”); Donald J. Hunt, “USS
LST 313
and Battery A, 33rd Field Artillery,” ts, 1997, MRC FDM, 46 (
heavy shudder
); William A. Carter, “Carter’s War,” ts, 1983, CEOH, box V-14, VII-3 (“
47 degrees
”); Mason, 279–82 (“
nothing to the right
”); James Phinney Baxter III,
Scientists Against Time,
77 (
charms on a watch chain
); Karig, 237 (Florence Nightingale).

“
You probably enjoy
”:
What to Do Aboard the Transport,
244.

“
All of us are miserable
”: Samuel David Spivey,
A Doughboy’s Narrative,
85; Franklyn A. Johnson,
One More Hill,
81 (“
First I am afraid
”); John Ellis,
On the Front Lines,
60 (“
Bags, Vomit
”); Ralph G. Martin,
The G.I. War, 1941
–
1945,
67 (“
secret shame
”).

“
Land of My Fathers
”: Buckley, 24; Farley Mowat,
And No Birds Sang,
46–50 (“
green and groaning
”); Francis A. Even, “The Tenth Engineers,” ts, 1996, author’s possession, 7 (
African donkeys
); memo, Bert M. Rudd, “Landing Craft and Bases,” AGF Observer, July 16, 1943, ANSCOL, NARA RG 334, NWC Lib, box 150, 6 (“
Ship rolled thirty degrees
”); Martha Harris, ed., “The Harris Family in World War II,” 23 (
peritonitis
); Steve Kluger,
Yank,
105 (“
walk and walk
”).

“‘
Is God on our side
’”: Strome Galloway,
A Regiment at War,
70.

“
It’s goddam foolish
”: Jack Belden, “As I Saw It,” in Smith, 144; “Reminiscences of Walter C. W. Ansel,” 145 (“
first to yelp
”).

On
Monrovia:
SSA,
68; Garland, 109 (
at least four hours
); Hewitt, “Naval Aspects of the Sicilian Campaign,” 705 (“
get ashore
”); OH, HKH, Jan. 23, 1951, Howard M. Smyth, SM, MHI.

Late on Friday afternoon:
lecture, “Narrative by Rear Adm. Alan G. Kirk,” Oct. 2, 1943, Pearl Harbor, NHC; Clagett, unpub bio of HKH, 392–98; Bates and Fuller, 74; Bernard Fergusson,
The Watery Maze,
240–44.

“
Always the vibration
”: McCallum, 150; letter, John T. Dawson to family, July 9, 1943, MRC FDM.

“
taking it green
”: W. S. Chalmers,
Full Cycle,
177; John F. Hummer,
An Infantryman’s Journal,
20 (
smoking lamps
); war log, U.S.S.
Monrovia,
NARA RG 38, OCNO, WWII war diaries, box 1233; “Account Written by Brig. Gen. McLain,” ts, summer 1943, NARA RG 319, OCMH, 2-3.7 cc2, Sicily, “45th Div Landings,” box 247, 1 (
sheer cliffs
).

“
my communications with Washington
”: Chandler, vol. 2, 1212;
Crusade in Europe,
172 (“
I wish I knew
”).

“
all the winds of heaven
”: Winton, 316; McCallum, 146 (“
Road to the Isles
”); Cunningham, 550–51 (“
solid sheets
”); Francis de Guingand,
Operation Victory,
289–90 (
gin
).

Eisenhower reviewed:
Chandler, vol. II, 1247 (“
the operation will proceed
”), 1247n; F. M. Whitely to J. N. Kennedy, July 14, 1943, UK NA, WO 204/307 (
reconnaissance plane
); Stephen, 84 (“
recklessness
”); Roger Parkinson,
A Day’s March Nearer Home,
137 (“
not favourable
”).

“
To be perfectly honest
”:
Three Years,
348–49; Alan Lloyd,
The Gliders,
39 (
searchlight beams
); Garland, 109; John S. D. Eisenhower,
Allies,
319 (
lucky coins
); Coles, “Participation of the Ninth and Twelfth Air Forces,” 81 (
vital turn
).

“
tell some stories
”:
Three Years,
350; Vincent Orange,
Tedder: Quietly in Command,
225; Abraham, “Time Off for War,” 70 (
razor
).

“
in the lap of the gods
”: Miller, 520; DDE,
Letters to Mamie,
134–35.
Death or Glory

Patton woke:
George S. Patton,
War as I Knew It,
65; combat narrative, Mitchell Jamieson, “Invasion of Sicily,” May 2, 1944, NHC, 4–5; diary, July 9, 1943, GSP, LOC MS Div, box 2, folder 15 (
pitched overboard
).

“
We may feel anxious
”:
PP,
275–76.

He found Hewitt:
Albert C. Wedemeyer,
Wedemeyer Reports!,
224; HKH, “The Sicilian Campaign,” n.d., NARA RG 319, OCMH, 270/19/6/3, box 242, 83 (
ten knots
); S. W. Roskill,
The War at Sea, 1939
–
1945,
116 (Unruffled); N.L.A. Jewell,
Secret Mission Submarine,
113 (“
I saw hundreds
”).

“
a mass of flames
”: Patton, 65; diary, Hobart Gay, July 9, 1943, USMA Lib, 98; Bernard Stambler, “Campaign in Sicily,” ts, n.d., vol. 2, CMH, 2-3.7 AA.L (“
All the beach
”); Walter Karig,
Battle Report: The Atlantic War,
238 (“
Apparently the big ships
”).

The
HUSKY
commanders:
Molony V, 55;
SSA,
72, 82 (
Yellow Line
).

“
all-or-nothing affairs
”: Molony V, 67.

“
You will find the Mediterranean
”: John Mason Brown,
To All Hands,
116; S.W.C. Pack,
Operation Husky,
139 (
Indonesian waiters
); Christopher Buckley,
Road to Rome,
27, 31 (Strathnaver
’s E-deck
); Flint Whitlock,
The Rock of Anzio,
39 (
friction tape
); Martha Harris, ed., “The Harris Family in World War II,” s.p., 1996, 20.

“
the victim coast
”: letter, Richard Pisciotta to father, May 18, 1944, 157th Inf, 45th ID, ASEQ, MHI; notes, Russell L. Nioses, ts, n.d., 179th Inf, 45th Div Museum (“
wild Indians
”); Lee G. Miller,
The Story of Ernie Pyle,
268 (“
breathing so hard
”).

“
The ship is dark
”: TR to Eleanor, July 9, 1943, TR, LOC MS Div, box 10.

“
Land the landing force
”: Susan H. Godson,
Viking of Assault,
70; “History of the 50th (Northumberland) Division During the Campaign in Sicily,” ts, n.d., UK NA, CAB 106/473, 16–17 (Winchester Castle);
Three Assault Landings,
1st Battalion, Dorsetshire Regiment, DTL, Ft. B, 10 (
tots of rum
); Farley Mowat,
The Regiment,
56–57.

“
The rocking of the small landing craft
”: Jack Belden, “As I Saw It,” in Albert H. Smith, Jr.,
The Sicily Campaign: Recollections of an Infantry Company Commander,
147–49; Bernard Nalty and Truman Strobridge, “The Lucky
Chase,
”
Sea Classics,
date uncertain, 14+ (“
a basso coughing
”).

“
Seasickness and fear
”: Paul W. Brown,
The Whorehouse of the World,
149; Malcolm S. McLean, “Adventures in Occupied Areas,” ts, 1975, MHI, 75 (
pry loose the fingers
); Paul W. Brown, 164 (“
Oh, Jesus
”); George J. Koch, memoir, ts, n.d., 1st Reconnaissance Troop, 1st ID, ASEQ, MHI (“
not meant to be sailors
”); Robert W. Black,
Rangers in World War II,
86 (“
American Patrol
”); James B. Lyle, “The Operations of Companies A and B, 1st Ranger Battalion, at Gela, Sicily,” n.d., IS, 9 (“
God be with you
”).

On the extreme left:
admin log,
LST-379,
July 10, 1943, and action report, “Landing at Torre de Gaffi, Sicily,
LST 379,
” July 18, 1943; lecture, “Narrative by Rear Adm. Alan G. Kirk,” Pearl Harbor, Oct. 2, 1943, NHC, 6 (
Cleats snapped
);
The Sicilian Campaign,
38–39 (“
Our barrage rockets
”); George Sessions Perry, “A Reporter at Large,”
New Yorker,
Aug. 14, 1943, 46+ (“
knocking steel and fire
”).

Somehow the cockleshell:
“The Lucky
Chase,
” 14+; OH, “The Reminiscences of Walter C. W. Ansel,” 1970, John T. Mason, Jr., USNI OHD, 139 (“
steer through the water
”); Intelligence Notes No. 6, July 3, 1943, HQ, 1st ID (
Coca-Cola
).

By two
A.M.
:
Jack Belden, “Battle of Sicily,”
Time,
July 26, 1943, 27+; Donald J. Hunt, “USS
LST 313
and Battery A, 33rd Field Artillery,” ts, 1997, MRC FDM, 33 (
Coxswains steered
); JPL, 42 (“
beautiful phenomenon
”).

C
HAPTER
2: T
HE
B
URNING
S
HORE

Land of the Cyclops

Few Sicilian towns:
Robert D. Kaplan,
Mediterranean Winter,
132; Karl Baedeker,
Southern Italy and Sicily,
321; Pietro Griffo,
Gela,
24, 49, 160, 211 (
bald skull
).

Patton planned:
Edwin M. Sayer, “The Operations of Company A, 505th Parachute Infantry,” Nov. 1947, IS, 6–7; Bradley Biggs,
Gavin,
19–20; William B. Breuer,
Drop Zone Sicily,
2 (
washed out of flight school
); Malcolm Muir, Jr., ed.,
The Human Tradition in the World War II Era,
178–84 (“
He could jump
”).

His 505th Parachute Infantry:
Muir, 183; Matthew B. Ridgway,
Soldier,
62 (
roughly one-third
); William T. Ryder, “Report on American Airborne Phase of Operation
HUSKY
,” n.d., NARA RG 334, NWC Lib, box 44, 16; XO diary, 1st Bn, 505th Para Inf Regt, May 17–July 9 1943, NARA RG 407, 382-Inf-(505)-0.3.0, box 12459; MBR, SOOHP, John M. Blair, 1971–72, MHI, II-55 (
injuries
); Clay Blair,
Ridgway’s Paratroopers,
78 (
fifty-three broken legs
); John C. Warren,
Airborne Missions in the Mediterranean, 1942
–
1945,
25, 28 (
without airborne expertise
); Ed Ruggero,
Combat Jump,
110 (“
para-mule
”); Ryder, “Report on American Airborne Phase,” n.d., NARA RG 334, NWC Lib, box 44, 17 (“
in the bag”
).