The Day of Battle (112 page)

the dust of St. Rita’s bones:
Norman Lewis,
In Sicily,
157; Fred Howard,
Whistle While You Wait,
71, 86 (“
life and death of a saint
”).

“
few words, many deeds
”: David Hunt,
A Don at War,
201; Moorehead, 4; McCallum, 155; Howard, 86 (“
frayed trousers
”); Lewis, 33, 67 (“
bee-eaters
”); corr, anonymous U.S. Army civil affairs officer, Aug. 1, 1943, Malcolm S. McLean papers, MHI (“
carton of cigarettes
”).

Dead enemy soldiers:
Mowat,
And No Birds Sang,
66; annex, Administrative Order No. 1, June 14, 1943, Seventh Army, Walter J. Muller papers, HIA, box 2 (“
E.D.
”); C.R.S. Harris,
Allied Administration of Italy, 1943–1945
, 37 (
grave-diggers’ strike
); Harry L. Coles and Albert K. Weinberg,
Civil Affairs: Soldiers Become Governors,
188, 483; “Report on the
First Phase of AMGOT Occupation, Sicily and Region II,” 8 (“
the mob lay down
”); Jackson, “Signal Communication in the Sicilian Campaign,” 82 (“
seven alleged saboteurs
”).

“
La donna è mobile
”: John M. Mecklin, “Former Actor Sings Aria,” United Press,
New York World-Telegram,
Aug. 9, 1943; “statement made by Francis Carpenter,” July 14, 1943, SEM, NHC, box 50, folder 22.

No one was more eager:
Allan R. Milett, “Overrated and Underrated,”
American Heritage,
vol. 51, no. 3 (May–June 2000); Omar N. Bradley and Clay Blair,
A General’s Life,
179 (“
Feeling worse
”); Paul L. Skogsberg, “A Slice of World War II,” ts, n.d., 1st Recon Troop, 1st ID, ASEQ, MHI, 48 (“
cavalry tonsils
”); Hansen diary, July 10–11, 1943, Hansen, MHI (
seasick
); Bradley Commentaries, Hansen, MHI, box 1, 13-A, S-24 (
life preserver
); “Operations of II Corps in Sicily,” Sept. 1, 1943, 6–7.

“
elderly rifleman
”: Robert H. Adelman and George Walton,
Rome Fell Today,
55; Martin Blumenson,
The Battle of the Generals,
31; Charles Christian Wertenbaker, “Omar Nelson Bradley,”
Life,
June 5, 1944, 101+ (“
Ozark lake
”); OH, ONB, Aug. 14, 1969, George S. Pappas, ONB, MHI (“
big, green frogs
”); OH, ONB, n.d., Kitty Buhler, ONB, MHI, 170 (“
number 8 post
”); Bradley and Blair, 690n (“
so damn normal
”).

“
Underneath the mask
”: Blumenson,
The Battle of the Generals,
31; OH, ONB, Buhler, 159–60; Bradley Commentaries, Hansen, 16-A, S-27 and S-29 (“
He’s impetuous
”).

Among the most pressing problems:
Just under fifty thousand enemy POWs were captured in World War I. Figure provided by MG William A. Stofft, USA (ret.), Meuse-Argonne staff ride, USAREUR, Sept. 2004; Steinhof, 74 (“
asbestos
”); Mowat,
And No Birds Sang,
124; OH, Samuel A. D. Hunter, March 7, 1944, NHC, 22 (“
No prisoners taken here
”); Bill Mauldin,
Up Front,
64.

“
When are you going to start?
”: P/W Interrogation Report, Aug. 15, 1943, in daily report, Psychological Warfare Branch, 7th Army HQ, Sept. 9, 1943, NARA RG 226, OSS History, E 99, 190/6/7/6, box 40; Peter Schrijvers,
The Crash of Ruin,
120 (“
queer race
”).

Operation
HUSKY
had exacted:
Martin Blumenson,
Patton: The Man Behind the Legend, 1885–1945,
195 (“
kill devastatingly
”); Homer W. Jones, 7th Army JAG, Feb. 17, 1944, testimony, board of review, NATOUSA JAG, NARA RG 159, IG, 333.9, box 67; Albert C. Wedemeyer,
Wedemeyer Reports!,
226; Paul A. Cundiff,
45th Infantry CP,
91; George E. Martin,
Blow, Bugle, Blow,
96; testimony, John T. Compton, Oct. 22, 1943, court-martial records, J. T. Compton, obtained under FOIA, JAG, Arlington, Va. (“
killers are immortal
”).

Despite these admonitions:
“Report on Operation Husky,” Army Observers, Amphibious Forces, MHI; Raymond S. McLain, “Account Written by Brig. Gen. McLain,” ts, 1943, NARA RG 319, OCMH, “45th Div Landings,” 2-3.7 cc2 Sicily, box 247, 7, 11 (“
Not good
”); Garland, 189–90; Troy H. Middleton, testimony, Feb. 19, 1944, board of review, NA TOUSA JAG; Whitlock, 44 (“
ugliest looking man
”); Frank James Price,
Troy H. Middleton: A Biography,
148; Martin, 93 (“
captive can’t fight
”); AAR, 180th Inf Regt, July 10–Aug. 16, 1943, 45th ID Mus; Fisher, “The Story of the 180th Infantry Regiment,” 70–71; D’Este,
Bitter Victory,
286 (“
Dear General
”).

By early Wednesday morning:
“History of the Aviation Engineers in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations,” June 1946, AAF Engineer Command, MTO, CEOH, X-39 (
two hundred bomb craters
); “Operations of II Corps in Sicily,” Sept. 1, 1943 (“
hidden in the cockpit
”); George A. Fisher, “The Story of the 180th Infantry Regiment,” ts, 1945, 98–101 (
Flames crackled in the grain
).

Sniper fire still winked:
Wallace Wing, Co. A, 1/180th Inf, July 16, 1943, statement, court-martial record, Horace T. West, obtained under FOIA, JAG, Arlington, Va. (“
killing spirit
”); corr, Richard Pisciotta to father, May 18, 1944, 3/157th Inf, ASEQ, MHI (“
soldiers get old
”).

West proved a poor choice:
“Chronology of Case,” Horace T. West, 7th Army JAG, NA TOUSA JAG, NARA RG 159, IG, 333.9, box 67 (“
most thorough non-com
”); testimony,
H. T. West, Oct. 1943, court-martial records, obtained under FOIA; H. T. West, cited in board of review, NATOUSA JAG, NARA RG 159, IG, 333.9, box 67 (“
watch them bleed
”).

In two shuffling columns:
testimony, Haskell Brown, Oct. 1943, court-martial records, H. T. West; memo, 45th Div IG to CG, “Report of Investigation of Shooting of Prisoners of War by Sgt. Horace T. West,” Aug. 5, 1943 (“
Turn around
”).

They fell:
board of review, NATOUSA JAG.

Five hours later, it happened again:
“Operations of II Corps in Sicily,” Sept. 1, 1943, 8.

In command of Company C:
testimony, John Gazetti, Jim Hair, Raymond C. Marlow, Richard P. Blanks, court-martial records, J. T. Compton; James J. Weingartner, “Massacre at Biscari,”
Historian,
vol. 52, no. 1, Nov. 1989, 24+.

brevity of his sermons:
Cundiff, 49–50.

“
Most were lying face down
”: William King, testimony, n.d., board of review, West court-martial, NATOUSA JAG, NARA RG 159, IG, 333.9, box 67; William King, statement to investigators, July 16, 1943, West court-martial (“
They felt ashamed
”); Martin, 96.

“
I told Bradley
”:
PP,
288.

Two war correspondents:
“Talk with Alexander Clifford,” Apr. 4, 1944, LH, 11/1944/29; letters, LH to Alexander Clifford, Nov. 8, 1948, and A. Clifford to LH, Nov. 17, 1948, LH, 1/175/28-29; corr, GSP to GCM, July 18, 1943, NARA RG 319, OCMH, 2-3.7 CC2 Sicily, box 250.

“
we should try the two men
”:
PP,
316; IG report, Aug. 5, 1943, cited in West court-martial records; D’Este,
Patton,
509 (“
Try the bastards
”).

“
an order to annihilate
”: Compton, testimony, court-martial records; Weingartner, “Massacre at Biscari,” 24 (“
took him at his word
”).

“
Good riddance
”: Martin, 97.

“
The whole tendency in the thing
”: Forrest E. Cookson, testimony, Feb. 16, 1944, NA TOUSA JAG, NARA RG 159, IG, 333.9, box 67; diary, HCB, July 13, 1943, DDE Lib, A-863 (“
feared reprisal
”).

“
the savagery that is war
”: “Memorandum for Gen. Brannon, ‘Records of Trial,’” from “Lt. Col. W. H. Johnson, Jr., JAGC,” May 26, 1950, and “Memorandum for Judge Patterson,” from “Col. Stanley Grogan, GSC, acting director,” Feb. 1, 1944, West court-martial records.

“
evil spirits seemed to come out
”: Roy P. Stewart, “Raymond S. McLain, America’s Greatest Citizen Soldier,”
Chronicles of Oklahoma,
vol. 59, no. 1 (spring 1981), 4+; Robert H. Patton,
The Pattons,
265 (“
fair-haired boys
”); Cundiff, 92 (“
thoughtless killers
”).

C
HAPTER
3: A
N
I
SLAND
R
EDOUBT

“Into Battle with Stout Hearts”

The command car purred:
John Gunther,
D Day,
111; Carlo D’Este,
Bitter Victory,
93; L.S.B. Shapiro,
They Left the Back Door Open,
42 (
dry-goods shopkeeper
), 68; Dick Malone,
Missing from the Record,
45 (“
which one is me
”); Alan Moorehead,
Montgomery,
36 (“
mousetrap
”); Farley Mowat,
And No Birds Sang,
74 (“
Deadly stuff
”); Daniel G. Dancocks,
The D-Day Dodgers: The Canadians in Italy, 1943–1945,
48 (“
good plans
”); J. K. Windeatt, “Very Ordinary Soldier,” ts, 1989, IWM 90/20/1, 64 (
handing lighters
).

If the campaign:
Garland, 206–7; Molony V, 93, 106.

Montgomery presented this:
Stanley P. Hirshson,
General Patton: A Soldier’s Life,
372; Omar N. Bradley and Clay Blair,
A General’s Story,
188; AAR, Seventh Army G-3, n.d., NARA RG 319, OCMH, 2-3.7 CC2 Sicily, box 250 (“
on two axes
”); Alexander S. Cochran, “Constructing a Military Coalition from Materials at Hand,” paper, SMH, Apr. 16, 1999, 12 (
Eisenhower declined
); JPL, 78.

Baleful consequences followed:
Garland, 207; Molony V, 110–11; Benjamin A. Dickson, “G-2 Journal: Algiers to the Elbe,” MHI, 84 (
Bradley scrambled
); Nigel Hamilton,
Master of the Battlefield
, 317 (
divergent axes
).

“
you can’t allow him
”: Bradley and Blair, 188–89;
PP,
285 (“
What fools
”); Robert E. Coffin and Joan N. Coffin, “The Robert Edmonston Coffin–Joan Nelson Coffin Family Book,” 80–81 (“
right up his ass
”); GK, July 13, 1943.

“
The feeling of discord
”:
Three Years,
321;
PP,
243 (“
straw man
”); diary, Apr. 28, 1943, GSP, LOC MS Div, 166; JPL, 107; diary, Everett Hughes, June 22, 1943, David Irving Collection, micro 97276/5, MHI (“
our only defeat
”).

“
What a headache
”: Hamilton, 481; OH, Alan Moorehead, Jan. 21, 1947, FCP, MHI; Molony V, 512; OH, W. B. Smith, May 8, 1947, FCP, MHI; Brian Horrocks,
A Full Life,
159; W.G.F. Jackson,
Alexander of Tunis as Military Commander,
211 (“
dance to the tune
”); Brian Holden Reid, “The Italian Campaign, 1943–1945: A Reappraisal of Allied Generalship,”
Journal of Strategic Studies,
vol. 13, no. 1 (March 1990), 128+ (
the general’s name
);
PP,
239 (“
not quite a gentleman
”).

Son of a meek Anglican:
T. A. Heatchcote,
The British Field Marshals, 1763–1997,
213; John Keegan, ed.,
Churchill’s Generals,
150 (“
bad boy
”); Moorhead,
Montgomery,
29, 34 (“
I do not want to portray him
”); Michael Howard, “Leadership in the British Army in the Second World War,” in G. D. Sheffield,
Leadership and Command,
106 (“
not as warriors itching
”); Peter Roach,
The 8.15 to War,
59 (
cricket metaphors
); Hamilton, 300 (
antipathy to cats
); T.E.B. Howarth, ed.,
Monty at Close Quarters,
36, 42 (“
always being right
”); Fred Majdalany,
Cassino: Portrait of a Battle,
42 (“
no coughing
”); Richard S. Malone,
A Portrait of War, 1939–1943,
175.

In Africa:
Stephen Brooks, ed.,
Montgomery and the Eighth Army,
292, 381n (
white heather
); Moorehead,
Montgomery,
157 (
odes
); Phillip Knightley,
The First Casualty,
306 (“
backing into the limelight
”); John Kennedy,
The Business of War,
291 (“
Colonel Lennox
”); Shapiro, 44 (
clapped and clapped
); Piers Brendon,
Ike: His Life and Times,
117 (“
love of publicity
”).

“
I do not think Alex
”: Nigel Nicolson,
Alex: The Life of Field Marshal Earl Alexander of Tunis,
197; Danchev, 417–18; Lt. Gen. Sir Frederick E. Morgan, “
OVERLORD
by the Under-Dog-in-Chief,” ts, n.d., FCP, MHI; OH, Arthur Coningham, Feb. 14, 1947, FCP, MHI (
ever more cautious
); Gunther, 97; Michael Carver, ed.,
The War Lords: Military Commanders of the Twentieth Century,
501 (“
to believe in their task
”); Malone,
Missing from the Record,
17–18 (“
Do you know why
”).

“
Into battle with stout hearts
”: “Personal Message from the Army Commander,” July 1943, George F. Hall Papers, HIA, box 1; Brooks, ed., 255 (“
We have won
”).

Thousands of Axis troops in western Sicily:
Walter Fries, “Der Kampf Um Sizilien,” FMS, #T-2, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 245, 23; Fridolin von Senger und Etterlin, “Die Abwehr der Achsenmächte auf Sizilien,”
Allgemeine schweizerische Militär Zeitschrift
, 116 Jahrang, Nr. 12, Dec. 1950, 861; Wilhelm Schmalz, “Der Kampf um Sizilien im Abschnitt der Brigade Schmalz,” n.d., NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 245 (“
to win time
”); Martin Pöppel,
Heaven and Hell,
126; Senger, “Liaison Activities with Italian 6th Army,” 1951, FMS, #C-095, 56 (
internecine gunplay
); war diary, Comando Supremo, “Operazioni in Sicilia dal 9 al 19 luglo,” NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 246 (
three-hour firefight
); Franz Kurowski,
The History of the Fallschirmpanzerkorps Hermann Göring,
201 (“
Holy Virgin medals
”).

“
a hole-and-corner area
”: D’Este, 349; Christopher Buckley,
Road to Rome,
71–72 (“not
tank country
”); Frank Gervasi,
The Violent Decade,
469 (“
the fuckin’ desert
”).

Eighth Army’s attempt:
“Airborne Operations Conference,” July 24, 1943, Algiers, “Material on Operation
HUSKY
, 1943, Allied Forces,” MHI Lib; Garland, 218–19; John C. Warren,
Airborne Missions in the Mediterranean, 1942–1945,
51; “Proceeding of Board of Officers Considering Airborne Operations,” Aug. 1943, AFHQ, JPL, MHI, box 11;
AAFinWWII,
454; B. H. Liddell Hart,
The Other Side of the Hill,
355 (
German paratroopers also jumped
); R. Priestly, “Volunteers,” ts, n.d., IWM, 83/24/1, 6 (“
One shouted for comrades
”); T.B.H. Otway,
Airborne Forces,
126–30; Michael Hickey,
Out of the Sky: A History of Airborne Warfare,
104–5; John Frost,
A Drop Too Many,
185.

“
seemed to mislay his genius
”: Carver, ed., 501; Gunther, 118, 141 (“
struck on the head
”); S.W.C. Pack,
Operation Husky,
143; Neil McCallum,
Journey with a Pistol,
153 (“
break the farmer’s walls
”); Malone,
A Portrait of War,
162 (
robbed of their boots
); Dancocks, 3 (
dead dogs
).

“
The enemy is tough
”: Gunther, 121–25.

“
paved with bodies
”: Field Marshal Lord Carver,
The Imperial War Museum Book of the War in Italy, 1943–1945
, 37, 46 (“
flies walked
”); “History of the 50th (Northumberland) Division During the Campaign in Sicily,” ts, n.d., UK NA, CAB 106/473, 43–44 (
welts of dust
); Peter Stainforth,
Wings of Wind,
167, 171 (“
moving men
”).

By Sunday morning, July 18: SSA,
179; Francis De Guingand,
Operation Victory,
310 (
fire-resistant
); “History of the 50th (Northumberland) Division,” 62; Hamilton, 317; Douglas N. Wimberly, “Scottish Soldier: The Memoirs of Major General Douglas Wimberly,” vol. 2, 1979, IWM, PP/MCR/182, 178 (
50,000 cigarettes
);
Three Years,
363, 372–73; Kay Summersby,
Eisenhower Was My Boss,
113 (“
What’s the matter
”); Gunther, 121 (“
Both sides are tired
”).

“How I Love Wars”

Patton had been sulking:
Charles R. Codman,
Drive,
107–8;
SSt,
140 (“
on our prats
”).

He found General Alexander:
Harold Macmillan,
The Blast of War, 1939–1945,
302; Harold Macmillan,
War Diaries,
146–47, 154.

“
Have I got to stay here?
”: OH, Harold R.L.G. Alexander, Jan. 10–15, 1949, SM, NARA RG 319, OCMH, SSI, box 242; A. C. Wedemeyer, “Observer’s Report,” Aug. 24 1943, AGF File No. 19.1, NARA RG 319, OCMH, 2-3.7 CC2, box 247, 18; Garland, 236–38; F. H. Hinsley et al.,
British Intelligence in the Second World War,
90–91 (
Ultra two days earlier
); OH, LKT and William W. Eagles, Apr. 19, 1951, SM, MHI (“
glamour of capturing Palermo
”).

Alexander studied:
F. W. Winterbotham,
The Ultra Secret,
105; Carlo D’Este,
Eisenhower,
414 (“
bone from the neck up
”); Carver, 107 (“
no ideas
”); Gregory Blaxland,
Alexander’s Generals,
16 (“
Czarist Russia
”); Gervasi, 517 (“
just had a steam bath
”).

“
a born leader, not a made one
”: B. H. Liddell Hart, “Extracts,” June 1946, LH 1/7/54; Hamilton, 473 (“
an English country gentleman
”); Frank L. Kluckhohn, “‘Attack, Attack Again’ Is Alexander’s Motto,”
NYT Magazine,
Aug. 8, 1943, 20+ (
could not write his name
); Lord Moran,
Churchill: Taken from the Diaries of Lord Moran,
187; Macmillan,
War Diaries,
188 (“
seeing the point
”);
PP,
267.

Oblivious to the anguish:
Jackson, 221; OH, Alexander, SM (“
The hell with this
”); Alexander to Brooke, April 3, 1943, Alanbrooke Papers, LHC, 6/2/17 (“
not professional soldiers
”).

Off Patton’s forces went at a gallop:
letter, Oscar W. Koch to James A. Norell, Dec. 15, 1960, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 250; Pietro Arancio,
Agrigento,
14 (“
loveliest of mortal cities
”);
SSA,
175; Robert D. Kaplan,
Mediterranean Winter,
123; L.V. Bertarelli,
Southern Italy,
459; Edward B. Kitchens, Jr., “The Operations of the 3rd Ranger Infantry Battalion in the Landings at Licata,” 1949, IS, 18–24; Michael J. King, “Rangers: Selected Combat Operations in World War II,” June 1985, CSI, 26–27; James J. Altieri,
Darby’s Rangers: An Illustrated Portrayal of the Original Rangers,
53;
CM,
220–21 (
Darby’s Rangers assembled
).

Unaware that Agrigento:
William O. Darby and William H. Daumer,
Darby’s Rangers: We Led the Way,
99; Anders Kjar Arnbal,
The Barrel-Land Dance Hall Rangers,
118 (
stovepipe hats
).

three safes found in an Italian naval headquarters:
Some evidence suggests assistance from local mafiosi who had been contacted by U.S. Navy intelligence agents as part of a covert arrangement with Charles “Lucky” Luciano, the Sicilian-born New York crime boss then serving time in a New York prison. Rodney Campbell,
The Luciano Project,
117, 126, 176–78; Patrick K. O’Donnell,
Operatives, Spies, and Saboteurs,
50; Max Corvo,
The O.S.S. in Italy, 1942–1945,
23.

soldiers cracked them:
OH, Samuel A. D. Hunter, March 7, 1944, NHC, 15–18;
The Sicilian Campaign,
131.

“
During the night of 17/18 July
”: G-2 periodic report No. 9, July 19, 1943, Seventh Army, NARA RG 319, OCMH, 2-3.7 CC2 Sicily, box 247;
CM,
224.

Corporal
Audie Leon Murphy:
Audie Murphy,
To Hell and Back,
7–8; Harold B. Simpson,
Audie Murphy, American Soldier,
18–20, 47.

He had a slow, stooped gait:
corr, Albert Lewis Pyle to Carl Swickerath, Feb. 23, 1973, ALM, box 1, 2; Don Graham,
No Name on the Bullet,
57, 60 (
tobacco smoke
), 39; Audie Murphy, “You Do the Prayin’,”
Modern Screen,
Jan. 1956, 56+ (“
You do the prayin
’”); Murphy,
To Hell and Back,
10; Simpson, 70; “Lieutenant Audie Murphy,”
AB,
no. 3, 1973, 28+.

“
some Dago name
”: William E. Faust, memoir, ts, n.d., ASEQ, 1st ID, MHI, 71; Franklyn A. Johnson,
One More Hill,
105 (
Fascist salute
); John Hersey, “AMGOT at Work,”
Life,
vol. 15, no. 8, Aug. 23, 1943, 25 (“
Kiss your hand!
”); aide’s diaries, July 21, 1943, LKT Jr. papers, GCM Lib, box 18, folder 3 (
Italian saddle
); George Sessions Perry, “A Reporter at Large,”
New Yorker,
Aug. 14, 1943, 46+ (“
One never seemed
”).

Emulating Stonewall Jackson’s foot cavalry:
AAR, HQ, 7th RCT, July 24, 1943; Leo J. Meyer, “Strategy and Logistical History: MTO,” ts, n.d., CMH, 2-3.7 CC5, XIV–35 (“
chalk and cattle dung
”); Daniel R. Champagne,
Dogface Soldiers,
29 (“
are my dogs barking
”);
CM,
226; Garland, 246; Gordon A. Blaker,
Iron Knights,
184 (“
Mount up
”); Edmund F. Ball,
Staff Officer with the Fifth Army,
176–78 (
Bradley kept a map
).