The Day of Battle (127 page)

“
I want to sleep
”: Roy Jenkins,
Churchill,
719; WSC,
Closing the Ring,
420 (
flopped sopping
); Richard Overy,
Why the Allies Won,
268 (“
specks of dust
”).

At length the mystery:
Jerrard Tickell,
Ascalon,
14–15, 62–64;
Three Years,
457 (“
had been pacing
”); Churchill, 457 (“
end of my tether
”).

Ringed by sentries:
Gerald Pawle,
The War and Colonel Warden,
277–80; Harold Macmillan,
War Diaries,
326–27; Moran, 159; Roger Parkinson,
A Day’s March Nearer Home,
234 (“
much disturbed
”); Martin Gilbert,
Winston S. Churchill
, vol. 7, 604 (“
It’s pretty bad
”); Danchev, 497 (“
Hullo, hullo
”).

“
My master is unwell
”: Gilbert, 606, 608 (“
bumping all over
”); Danchev, 497 (
pathologist arrived
); Moran, 161.

“
He’s very glad I’ve come
”: Moran, 161–62; Gilbert, 606 (“
war is won
”); Thompson, 129–30 (“
In what better place
”); Macmillan, 326–27 (“
very breathless
”).

The preceding fortnight:
Richard M. Leighton, “
OVERLORD
Versus the Mediterranean at the Cairo-Tehran Conferences (1943),” Kent Roberts Greenfield, ed.,
Command Decisions,
189–91; James Leasor,
The Clock with Four Hands,
263 (
22,000 pounds of meat
); Macmillan, 320 (
curried prawns
); Molony V, 584 (
80 bottles
).

That Britain’s senior role:
Keith Eubank,
Summit at Teheran,
486–88.

“
Brooke got nasty
”: Forrest C. Pogue,
George C. Marshall: Organizer of Victory,
305, 307; Maurice Matloff,
Strategic Planning for Coalition Warfare, 1943–1944,
352, 353n; Greenfield, ed., 183–85.

“
peripheral and indecisive
”: Greenfield, ed., 182, 188–89; Leahy, 201; Ray S. Cline,
Washington Command Post,
227 (“
fish or cut bait
”); Arthur Bryant,
Triumph in the West,
35 (“
swing the strategy
”); Mark A. Stoler,
George C. Marshall: Soldier-Statesman of the American Century,
103 (
prayed every night
); Pogue, 294 (“
stick a knife
”); Douglas Porch,
The Path to Victory,
474; S. W. Roskill,
The White Ensign,
330; S. W. Roskill,
The War at Sea, 1939–1945,
203–5; Michael Howard,
The Mediterranean Strategy in the Second World War,
46, 70–71; John Kennedy,
The Business of War,
301–5.

Stalin gruffly threw his support:
Kent Roberts Greenfield,
American Strategy in World War II: A Reconsideration,
34; David M. Kennedy,
Freedom from Fear,
575 (
four words of English
); Greenfield, ed., 197; Robert Sherwood,
Roosevelt and Hopkins,
799 (“
getatable
”); Maurice Matloff, “Mr. Roosevelt’s Three Wars: FDR as War Leader,” 1964, Harmon Memorial Lectures in Military History, no. 6, USAF Academy, 14 (“
perfectly friendly
”).

“
first claim on the resources
”: Greenfield, 40; Richard M. Leighton, “Overlord Revisited,”
American Historical Review,
July 1963, 919+; Stoler, 107; Sherwood, 803 (“
could not sleep
”); Carlo D’Este,
Eisenhower: A Soldier’s Life,
467 (“
best politician
”).

As for Italy:
Greenfield, ed., 191.

“
Large families
”: Doris Kearns Goodwin,
No Ordinary Time,
475; OH, Ian Jacob, Verne Newton collection, “transcripts,” FDR Lib (“
at arm’s length
”).

The prime minister did not die:
Danchev, 502; Jenkins, 727 (
whisky with soda
); Moran, 164 (
white blood cell count
); Vincent Orange,
Tedder,
244 (“
fire had gone out
”); Pawle, 275 (
Royal Navy cook
); Churchill, 425 (“
What calm lives
”).

“
The Bible says
”: Gilbert, 609; Leasor, 271; WSC,
Closing the Ring,
429 (“
becoming scandalous
”); Pawle, 277–80 (“
don’t seem to know much
”).

“
Looking in his strange costume
”: Macmillan, 338; Pawle, 277–80; Gilbert, 620 (“
must be carried out
”); Warren F. Kimball, ed.,
Churchill & Roosevelt: The Complete Correspondence,
vol. 2, 633 (“
should decide the battle
”).

Christmas
had
come:
Pyle, 86; Tom Roe,
Anzio Beachhead,
23; Glendower O. Haedge, “Memoirs of World War II,” ts, n.d., Texas MFM; John F. Hummer,
An Infantryman’s Journal,
42; John Guest,
Broken Images,
158.

Had he been home:
JJT, XI-10; “History of the Peninsular Base Section,” 1944, 5 vols., CMH, 8-4 HA 1 (“
morale crates
”).

“
Merry Typhus!
”: Spike Milligan,
Mussolini: His Part in My Downfall,
212; Alton D. Brashear,
From Lee to Bari,
168, 171 (
$10 per stripe
); Buckley, 252–53.

Mark Clark on Christmas eve:
diary, MWC, Dec. 24, 1943, Citadel, box 64; MWC to Ann Clark, Dec. 23, 1943, Citadel, personal corr.

In a Bari hospital:
George S. Bergh and Reuben F. Erickson, eds., “A History of the Twenty-sixth General Hospital,” 133; S. W. Thomson,
Canadian Military History,
fall 1993, 24+; John Ellis,
On the Front Lines,
279; Zuehlke,
Ortona,
320–22; Strome Galloway,
A Regiment at War,
118 (
strumming a mandolin
); Dancocks, 191 (
Vokes dined alone
).

“
The stars have crept low
”: Hans Juergensen,
Beachheads and Mountains,
2; G.R. Stevens,
Fourth Indian Division,
270; Edmund F. Ball,
Staff Officer with the Fifth Army,
263; Ralph G. Martin,
The G.I. War,
115 (“
no more wars
”).

“
I had not seen men so exhausted
”: Howard Kippenberger,
Infantry Brigadier,
344–47; Donna Martha Budani, “Women, War, and Text: Orsognese Women’s Experience in a Sector of the Italian Front in World War II,” 1997, Ph.D. diss, American University, 119 (“
poor sad Christmas
”); order of the day, Dec. 25, 1943, 71st Panzer Grenadier Regt, “Intelligence Notes, No. 47,” AFHQ, Feb. 22, 1944, NARA RG 407, E 47, 95-AL1-2.18.

“
Usual targets of opportunity
”: James R. Pritchard, ts, n.d., 68th Armored FA Bn, ASEQ, MHI, 12; censorship morale reports, Nov. 1943–June 1944, NARA RG 492, MTO adjutant general, 311.7 (
operated by flashlight
); Julian “Duney” Philips, “War Is Not All Bad,” ts, n.d., 143rd Inf, Texas MFM, 2 (“
Now is the time
”); Leslie W. Bailey,
Through Hell and High Water,
157.

The bottom of the year:
“1944,”
Life,
Jan. 3, 1944, 20; Greenfield, ed., 183; Kennedy,
Freedom from Fear,
610; http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-fornv/germany/gersh-s/scharn2.htm (Scharnhorst); John Ellis,
Brute Force,
table 35 (
175 German divisions
).

“
The campaign is heartbreakingly slow
”: JPL, 278; “Fifth Army Medical History,” n.d., NARA RG 112, MTO surgeon general, 319.1, box 6, 183 (
strength of 200,000
);
Fifth Army at the Winter Line,
87–88; Brashear, 168; “Summary of Activities,” June 1, 1944, NA TOUSA, CMH, 20 (
Battle casualties had whittled away
); MEB, “Shifting of German Units Before and During Nettuno Landing,” Jan. 1956, NARA RG 319, E 145, OCMH, R-75, 36 (
six miles per month
); Coakley, 181 (“
no shipping available
”); Richard M. Leighton, “Overlord Revisited,”
American Historical Review,
July 1963, 919+; Porch, 460 (
British ports could not handle
);
StoC,
ix (“
static warfare
”).

“
One rather wondered
”: Francis De Guingand,
Operation Victory,
333; Farley Mowat,
And No Birds Sang,
333.

“
a plan that was distinctly conservative
”: Moorehead,
Eclipse,
60; Nigel Nicolson,
Alex: The Life of Field Marshal Earl Alexander of Tunis,
238 (“
weeks and months of forethought
”), 239 (“
average brain
”); Mark M. Boatner III,
The Biographical Dictionary of World War II,
379; “The German Operation at Anzio,” Apr. 1946, German Military Document Section, Military Intelligence Div., WD, MHI, JPL, box 9 (
allowed German forces to shift
); Ronald Lewin,
Ultra Goes to War,
343 (
better informed about his adversaries
); F. H. Hinsley et al.,
British Intelligence in the Second World War,
182, 507 (“
the Allies
often knew as much
”); J. Hamilton, “Italy, Sept.–Dec. 1943,” n.d., Cabinet Historical Section, UK NA, CAB 101/124, 42 (“
old methodical way
”).

Eisenhower privately wished:
Eisenhower Diary, HCB, DDE Lib, A-756, A-773-74, A-779; diary, MWC, Dec. 10, 1943, Citadel, box 64 (
groused about Lucas
); memo, Oct. 11, 1943, JPL, MHI, box 12 (
groused about Middleton
); Robert R. Palmer et al.,
The Procurement and Training of Ground Combat Troops,
467 (“
The battalion commander problem
”).

Twenty-three German divisions: Battle,
166–67; MEB, “Shifting of German Units,” R-75 (
nearly 300,000
); Louis P. Lochner, ed.,
The Goebbels Diaries, 1942–1943,
435; Steiger, “The Campaign in Southern Italy,” 59–60 (“
For two months now
”).

“
What will 1944 do
”: JPL, 283; memoir, P. Royle, ts, 1972, IWM, 99/72/1 (“
You got the feeling
”).

“
A terrible year has ended
”: David Hapgood and David Richardson,
Monte Cassino,
95.

A ferocious storm with gale winds
: N. P. Morrow, “Field Artillery in Italy,” Feb. 2, 1944, HQ, NARA RG 334, NWC Lib, ANSCOL, AGF OR M83, box 148; Wagner, 90; Bowlby, 13 (“
pinched the enemy’s song
”); Harriet Stradling, ed.,
Johnny,
251.

Truscott’s 3rd Division:
aide’s diaries, Dec. 31, 1943, LKT Jr., GCM Lib, box 18, folder 3; LKT Jr. to Sarah, Jan. 2 and 5, 1944, LKT Jr., GCM Lib, GCM Lib, box 1, folder 6.

“
I do not know if you will miss me
”: De Guingand, 337, appendix A; Moorehead,
Montgomery,
175

“
So there we are
”: B. L. Montgomery, “Reflections on the Campaign in Italy, 1943,” ts, addendum, Dec. 26, 1943, IWM, BLM 48, micro, reel 4; T.E.B. Howarth, ed.,
Monty at Close Quarters,
44n (“
He was a real human
”).

Eisenhower also left on the thirty-first:
Chandler, vol. 5, 14; Michael J. McKeough and Richard Lockridge,
Sgt. Mickey and General Ike,
98; Dwight D. Eisenhower,
Crusade in Europe,
217 (“
Allow someone else to run the war
”); OH, Henry Maitland Wilson, Apr. 3, 1947, Howard M. Smyth, SM, MHI (
hoped for three days’ overlap
). Eisenhower asserted that he “exhaustively reviewed” the military situation with Wilson during Christmas dinner at La Marsa. Eisenhower,
Crusade,
214.

“
rather going to seed
”: Macmillan, 321; JPL, 273.

He left believing he had accomplished:
Kenneth Strong,
Intelligence at the Top,
169; DDE, “Allied Commander-in-Chief’s Report, Italian Campaign,” n.d., 155 (“
Elimination of Italy
”); Roskill,
The War at Sea,
210 (
more than a thousand ships
); Anthony Eden,
The Reckoning,
479 (
Even Stalin had conceded
).

From Algiers, he would take:
Alexander S. Cochran, “Constructing a Military Coalition from Materials at Hand,” Apr. 16, 1999, paper, SMH conference.

“
I am very disappointed
”: Chandler, vol. 3, 1631, 1646n (
uneasy at Churchill’s advocacy
); “Press Conference of General Eisenhower, 1430 hours, 23 Dec 1943, AFHQ Advance, Italy,” MWC, Citadel, box 3 (“
Jerry is going to write off
”).

The White House sent a cooler: Three Years,
467; Dwight D. Eisenhower,
Letters to Mamie,
161; Davis, 456 (“
Nothing seems real
”); John S. D. Eisenhower,
General Ike,
100 (“
heavier
); John S. D. Eisenhower,
Strictly Personal,
51 (“
Hell, I’m going back
”); Stephen E. Ambrose,
Eisenhower: Soldier, General of the Army, President-Elect, 1890–1952,
vol. 1, 278, 280 (
absentmindedly called his wife
“
Kay
”).

“
Until we meet again
”: Chandler, vol. 3, 1650.