The Day of Battle (129 page)

“
If the enemy withdraws forces now
”: memo, GK to MWC, “Impending Operations,” Dec. 28, 1943, II Corps IG, CMH, 370.2; memo, GK to MWC, Jan. 13, 1944, II Corps IG, CMH, 370.2 (“
effort of the 46th Division
”); Blumenson,
Bloody River,
70 (“
gradualism
”).

Geoff Keyes knew his business:
Perhaps stopping Thorpe was relative; the West Point yearbook found his running in 1912 “the most wonderful and spectacular ever seen on our field.” Army lost to the Carlisle Indian School, 27–6. Obit,
Assembly,
Sept. 1973, 121;
Howitzer,
1913, 168.

Son of a cavalryman
: Blumenson,
Bloody River,
46–47; memo, A. C. Wedemeyer, Aug. 24, 1943, NARA RG 319, OCMH, 2-3.7 CC2, AFG file no. 319.1, box 247, appendix C (“
calm, deliberate, circumspect
”); Adleman and Walton, 89–90 (“
everything but a sense of humor
”); Chandler, vol. 3, 1465 (“
intensely human
”).

“
God forbid
”: GK, Jan. 16–18, 1943.

“
too cavalry
”: Blumenson,
Bloody River,
46–49; memo, William A. Walker, “Report of Interview” (“
visionary
”).

both men remained mute:
GK, “Statement Covering the Rapido River Operation, 20–22 Jan. 1944,” Sept. 10, 1946, WD, in “The Rapido River Crossing,” CMH, 370.2; testimony, R. J. Butchers, II Corps G-3, Jan. 24, 1944, IG investigation, CMH, 370.2.

“
We have done everything
”: diary, Jan. 20, 1944, FLW, HIA, box 1.

Sant’Angelo was a drab farm village:
author visits, Sept. 1995, May 2004, Nov. 2006; D’Epiro, 135–38, 151–56 (“
she-wolf
”).

Three hundred impressed Italians:
Don Whitehead, “
Beachhead Don,
” 78–80; “Investigation and Interrogation Report: Operation Lightening [
sic
],” 70 (“
strongest point
”); analysis, “Effect of Rapido Operation on German Plans and Dispositions,” n.d., MWC, Citadel, box 39 (“
strongest single German division
”); Tenth Army journal cited in memo, Thomas North, “Rapido Operation Action,” March 18, 1946, MWC, Citadel, box 39 (“
enemy has crept up
”).

“
The waiting is the worst part
”: Matthew Parker,
Monte Cassino,
92 (“
oil my tommy gun
”); Molony V, 609–11; Ralph S. Mavrogordato, “XIV Panzer Corps Defensive Operations Along the Garigliano, Gari, and Rapido Rivers, 17–31 January, 1944,” Nov. 1955, NARA RG 319, E 145, R-78, 20; Robin Neillands,
Eighth Army,
260–72 (“
Moving off in trucks
”); Field Marshal Lord Carver,
The Imperial War Museum Book of the War in Italy, 1943–1945,
113 (“
blood wagons
”).

They gained the far bank: StoC,
320; John Ellis,
Cassino: The Hollow Victory,
77 (“
mine marsh
”); Mavrogordato, “XIV Panzer Corps Defensive Operations,” 20 (
storm the Liri Valley
).

46th Division soldiers, drawn from Yorkshire:
Gregory Blaxland,
Alexander’s Generals,
33; David Scott Daniell,
The Royal Hampshire Regiment,
vol. 3, 153 (“
bleak, disturbing place
”).

“
Then nothing went right
”: Daniell, 155, 157; “Engineer History, Fifth Army,” 73; “Air Support of Fifth Army for Rapido River and Cassino Attacks,” Apr. 7, 1944, HQ, Fifth Army, air support control, Robert J. Woods papers, “Report on Cassino Operations,” MHI; Starr, ed., 88 (
Boats bucked and spun
); Blaxland, 38;
StoC,
320.

A few hours later the burly British:
Blaxland, 39; diary, FLW, Jan. 20, 1944, HIA, box 1.

“
Always the same story
”: diary, GK, Jan. 20, 1943;
Calculated,
269 (“
lack of strong aggressive leadership
”); “Engineer History, Fifth Army,” 73; diary, MWC, Jan. 20, 1943, Citadel, box 65; Brian Harpur,
The Impossible Victory,
121, 125 (“
Man of Destiny
”).

“
It is essential that I make the attack
”: diary, MWC, Jan. 20, 1943, Citadel, box 65.

Since the Salerno landings nineteen weeks earlier:
testimony, Andrew F. Price, XO, 141st Inf, “The Rapido River Crossing,” U.S. House, 26–30 (
60 percent
); Smith, 44 (
three-quarters of the officers
); corr, John D. Goode to Robert L. Wagner, n.d., Texas MFM (“
no longer a team
”); Fred Walker, Jr., “Mission Impossible at Cassino,” ts, 1986, MHI, 3, 8 (
units were understrength
); notebook, Will Lang, n.d., USMA Arch (
New bazooka teams
); corr, John E. Phillips to chief of staff, U.S. Army, July 8, 1946, CMH, Geog Files, 370.2 (“
physically, mentally, and morally
”).

Several hundred replacements showed up:
OH, Paul D. Adams, 1975, Irving Monclova and Marlin Lang, SOOHP, MHI; Ray Wells, “Battalion Commander,”
Fighting 36th Historical Quarterly,
spring 1992, part 2 (“
some would die
”); notebook, Will Lang, n.d., USMA Arch.

“
The mission should never
”:
Texas,
305–6;
StoC,
332 (
extra bandoliers
); Smith, 36 (“
handed a cigar
”).

At 7:30
P.M.
, sixteen artillery battalions:
narrative of events, and testimony, Andrew F. Price, XO, 141st Inf, 26–30; John E. Krebs,
To Rome and Beyond,
48–49; Hamilton H. Howze,
A Cavalryman’s Story,
90–91; Brooks E. Kleber and Dale Birdsell,
The Chemical Warfare Service: Chemicals in Combat,
443 (
smoke spiraled vertically
).

The attack was to fall across a three-mile front:
corr, Phillips to chief of staff, July 8, 1946; Blumenson,
Bloody River,
91.

Along the rail tracks south of Trocchio:
AAR, Arthur J. Lazenby, 19th Engineer Regt, S-3, n.d., NARA RG 407, ENGR-19-03.0; Robert L. Wagner,
The Texas Army,
103; Blumenson,
Bloody River,
81; testimony, Leon F. Morand, II Corps asst. engineer, Jan. 24, 1944, IG investigation, CMH, 370.2 (
twenty rubber boats
); Herman M. Volheim, “The Operations of the 3rd Battalion, 143rd Infantry in the Attacks Across the Rapido River,” 1949, IS (
Wooden catwalks
); Howze, 89 (
two hundred tanks waiting
).

Hoisting the heavy boats:
“Operations on Rapido River,” 141st Inf, Jan. 23, 1944, in AAR, “Report of Operations, January 1944,” 36th ID (
rush of eastbound German shells
); “History of the 26th Infantry in the Present Struggle,” ts, n.d., MRC FDM, 1991.25, box 445, 38; Flint Whitlock,
The Rock of Anzio,
109 (“
blood turn solid
”); Franz Kurowski,
Battleground Italy, 1943–1945,
78 (“
Hitler’s bandsaw
”); testimony, John C.L. Adams, in IG investigation, NATOUSA, March 1, 1944, NARA RG 492, 333.5, box 1055 (“
Riflemen tossed away
”); Paul W. Pritchard, “Smoke Generator Operations in the Mediterranean and European Theaters of Operation,” ts, 1985, U.S. Army Chemical School, 62 (
thousand smoke pots
); AAR, 68th Armored Field Artillery Bn, Feb. 1944, NARA RG 338, II Corps historical section, box 145 (“
check all shells for mustard
”).

Little else went right:
“Operations on Rapido River,” 141st Inf, Jan. 23, 1944; Wagner, 105;
StoC,
333; Smith, 37, 41; testimony, R. J. Butchers, II Corps G-3, Jan 25, 1944, IG investigation, CMH, 370.2 (
Paddles, rifles, and human limbs
); AAR, 2nd Bn, 19th Engineer Regt, “Rapido River Crossing,” Feb. 6, 1944, NARA RG 407, ENGR-19-03.0 (
switched to a brown cord
); AAR, 141st Inf Regt, Feb. 9, 1944, Aaron W. Wyatt, Jr., ASEQ, MHI (“
hard when you’re dying
”); Frank Gervasi,
The Violent Decade,
545 (“
walked as men do in a cow pasture
”).

“
a streetcar coming down sideways
”: Smith, 42; Warner Wisian, “Reminiscence,” ts, Nov. 1995, 141st Inf Regt, ASEQ, MHI (
dragged the cumbersome rubber boats
).

Soldiers fell without ever firing a shot:
summary, IG investigation, NATOUSA, March 1, 1944, NARA RG 492, 333.5, box 1055; Smith, 38 (“
Eight of us drowned
”), 41–42 (“
octopus in a crooked sack
”); corr, Phillips to chief of staff, July 8, 1946 (“
I could hear paddles slapping
”).

helmets to scrape a few inches:
Warner Wisian, “Reminiscence” “Report on Cassino Operations,” June 5, 1944, HQ, Fifth Army, Robert J. Wood papers, MHI (
Thirty-one thousand artillery rounds
); corr, Goode to Wagner, n.d., Texas MFM (“
tuning fork
”); testimony, Leon F. Morand, Jan 24, 1944, IG investigation, CMH, 370.2 (
four MG-42s
); AAR, 2nd Bn, 19th Engineer Regt.

“
like a Judas goat
”: corr, Goode to Wagner, n.d., Texas MFM;
StoC,
335–36; AAR, “Operations on Rapido River,” 141st Inf (“
So many litter carriers
”);
Texas,
315–16 (“
there were plenty
”).

Engineers stretched a net:
testimony, Andrew F. Price, 26–30.

“
I knew something was wrong
”: Wagner, 92.

Two crossing sites had been selected:
Volheim, “The Operations of the 3rd Battalion, 143rd Infantry” AAR, “143rd Infantry,” Jan. 1944, ASEQ, MHI;
StoC,
337.

lashing the buttocks, backs, and legs:
“Report on Cassino Operations,” June 5, 1944, HQ, Fifth Army, Robert J. Wood papers, MHI, 7; AAR, “143rd Infantry,” Jan. 1944, ASEQ, MHI (
Facing annihilation
).

Five hundred yards downstream:
AAR, William H. Martin, “Narrative of Rapido Crossing,” Jan. 27, 1944, 143rd Inf Regt, 36th ID, MHI, 05-36;
StoC,
338; Volheim, “The Operations of the 3rd Battalion, 143rd Infantry” (“
flashes seemed to turn the fog
”).

“
I had to throw dirt at it
”: testimony, Clarence D. Dalton, II Corps, Jan. 25, 1944, IG investigation, CMH, 370.2.

“
The attack last night was a failure
”: diary, Jan. 21, 1943, FLW, HIA, box 1; Blumenson,
Bloody River,
102.

“
bend every effort
”:
StoC,
341; GK, “Statement Covering the Rapido River Operation” (
staff officers with a clipboard
).

“
Anybody can draw lines
”: diary, Jan. 21, 1944, FLW, HIA, box 1.

An Ultra intercept two nights earlier:
Hinsley et al., 510–11; MEB, “Shifting of German Units Before and During Nettuno Landing,” Jan. 1956, NARA RG 319, E 145, OCMH, R-75, 26; Blaxland, 38; Ralph Bennet, “Ultra and Some Command Decisions,” in Walter Laquer, ed.,
The Second World War: Essays in Military and Political History,
223;
StoC,
319 (“
a slender thread
”).

“
a dead man every ten yards
”: Smith, 60; Bill Hartung, ts, n.d., 143rd Inf, Texas MFM website, 36th ID Assoc, www.kwanah.com/36Division/pstoc.htm (“
what we were walking on
”).

On the division left, the 143rd Infantry:
Volheim, “The Operations of the 3rd Battalion”
StoC,
341, 343 (“
couple of fingers shot off
”); Smith, 57 (“
my last old day
”).

neglected to bring an air compressor:
Leonard B. Gallagher, II Corps engineer, “Memo C/S,” Jan. 24, 1944, addendum, IG investigation, CMH, 370.2; Blumenson,
Bloody River,
105–15 (
found no survivors
); AAR, 2nd Bn, 19th Engineer Regt (“
draw more of our troops over
”);
StoC,
351
(Some soldiers had balked
).

“
Fire wholeheartedly
”: Wagner, 112–14. Another account quotes Chapin’s war cry as, “Fire foolhardily, men, fire foolhardily!” Smith, 53–54.

Corraled by minefields and barbed wire:
The 141st Infantry bridgehead on January 22 was estimated as two hundred yards deep by six hundred yards wide. “Synopsis of 36th Inf. Div. Activity,” Jan. 24, 1944, II Corps, IG investigation, CMH, 370.2; Wagner, 114 (“
May I shake hands?
”).

GIs inched forward:
Russell J. Darkes, “Twenty-five Years in the Military,” ts, n.d., Texas MFM, 28; affidavit, George G. Davis, 16th Engineer Bn, n.d., IG investigation, CMH, 370.2 (“
Get out of your holes
”); Robert Wallace,
The Italian Campaign,
116–17 (“
pushed his body along
”).

A private sobbed:
Ralph G. Martin, “Rapido Fight Shapes Up as One of Toughest Yet,” Jan. 25, 1943,
Stars and Stripes,
1; Gervasi, 544 (
PIECES
); Allan Palmer, “Casualty Survey, Cassino, Italy,”
Wound Ballistics,
536–37 (“
definitive treatment
”).

Certainly the doctors were busy:
Charles M. Wiltse,
The Medical Department: Medical Service in the Mediterranean and Minor Theaters,
244; Smith, 72, 74 (“
Patch up these holes
”).

Three hundred German artillery rounds:
AAR, “Report of Operations, January 1944,” 36th ID, chronology; GK, Jan. 22, 1944 (“
Something wrong
”); testimony, Leonard B. Gallagher, II Corps engineer, Jan. 24, 1944, and Wade M. Green, II Corps assistant engineer, Jan. 25, 1944, IG investigation, CMH, 370.2; AAR, 2nd Bn, 19th Engineer Regt (“
Talking or coughing drew fire
”); AAR, “Report of Operations, January 1944,” 36th ID, chronology (“
no work being done
”).