The Day of Battle (134 page)

At seven
A.M.
, the first radio dispatch:
King, 156–57; D’Este, 493n.

“
Some of the fellows are giving up
”: Darby and Baumer, 164.

“
Shoot if they come any closer
”: Taggart, 115.

“
They are coming into the building
”: Darby and Baumer, 164–65; King, “Rangers,” 38–39 (“
So long, Colonel
”).

“
Use your head
”: Taggart, 115; Altieri,
The Spearheaders,
312 (“
God bless all of you
”).

“
Ehalt, I leave everything
”: Black, 160.

“
My old sergeant major
”: Taggart, 115; King, 157; Altieri,
The Spearheaders,
312; Darby and Baumer, 167 (“
couldn’t stand the thought
”).

“
Situation is confused
”: aide’s diaries, Jan. 30, 1944; Scott, 103–4 (“
tiny, darting figures
”).

Confusion and cacophony persisted:
AAR, 1st Ranger Bn; AAR, 4th Ranger Bn, Feb. 15, 1944, and “Journal of Operations,” 4th Ranger Bn, Jan. 22–31, 1944, Robert W. Black papers, MHI, box 4, folder 11; Altieri,
Darby’s Rangers,
76; Darby and Baumer, 159–60; diary, Jan. 30, 1944, Don E. Carleton papers, HIA, box 1 (“
Whole show is folded
”).

“
packing meat
”: Audie Murphy,
To Hell and Back,
83, 107, 121; Juergensen,
Beachheads and Mountains,
18, 23; Don Graham,
No Name on the Bullet,
52–53 (
knocked Murphy senseless
).

For a renewed push on Monday:
diary, Jan. 30–31, 1944, Don E. Carleton papers, HIA, box 1; aide’s diaries, Jan. 30, 1944;
AAFinWWII,
vol. 3, 349; JJT, XII-9, 11, 15 (“
Not a man to let a weapon sit
”).

“
Toffey is rolling
”: Scott, 104; Taggart, 117;
Anzio Beachhead,
map no. 7; White, 84; Grunzweig, “The Operations of the 1st Battalion, 7th Infantry” (“
barely existed as a fighting
force
”); Darby and Baumer, 167; AAR, 4th Ranger Bn, Feb. 15, 1944, and “Journal of Operations,” 4th Ranger Bn, Jan. 22–31, 1944; Murphy, 108.

The division was spent: Anzio Beachhead,
36, map no. 7; JJT, XII-16 (“
fearless leadership
”).

Darby drove to the bivouac:
Milton Lehman, “The Rangers Fought Ahead of Everybody,”
Saturday Evening Post,
June 15, 1946, 50+; D’Este, 169.

Captured Rangers shuffled:
film, “Liberation of Rome,” 1944, combat report no. 1, NARA RG 111, CR001; O’Donnell, 96; Romine, “My Life in Combat, and as a POW,” 88–89; memoir, Frank Mattivi, n.d., in “2004 Reunion Program Book,” 88–89 (“
I am a prisoner
”).

The February 1 morning report:
morning report, 1st Ranger Bn, Feb. 1, 1944, Robert W. Black papers, MHI, box 2, folder 9; Hogan, 58;
Anzio Beachhead,
30; Stewart, “The Ranger Force at the Battle of Cisterna,” 57.

An estimated 250 to 300:
Estimates of Rangers killed vary widely. While scholars such as Carlo D’Este put the number as high as three hundred, a report to the Ranger Battalions Association thirty years after the battle claimed, perhaps improbably, that only a dozen died. D’Este, 169; O’Donnell, 84; Black, 165. See also King, “Rangers,” http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resources/csi/King/King.asp#C.

the 4th Battalion suffered
: Hogan, 58; memo, G. B. Devore, “Armored Replacements,” March 18, 1944, AGF Board, AFHQ, DTL, Ft. B (
Anglo-American losses on January 30
); journal, Fourteenth Army, Jan. 31, 1944, 10 (“
enemy has suffered heavily
”).

The hunt for scapegoats:
diary, MWC, Jan. 30, 1944, Citadel, box 65; King, “Rangers,” 31; OH, JPL, May 24, 1948, SM, MHI (
until Lucas pointed out
); Associated Press, March 8, 1944, cited in Marsha Henry Goff, “Reunion to Bring World War II Rangers to Lawrence,” Lawrence [Kans.]
Journal-World,
May 19, 2006; Hogan, 58; Ivan Peterman, “Peterman Discloses Story of Lost Rangers at Anzio Beachhead,” Apr. 15, 1944,
Philadelphia Inquirer,
1; AAR, “Mounting and Initial Phase of Operation
SHINGLE
,” March 15, 1944, VI Corps, NARA RG 407, 206-3.0, box 3740 (“
ascribed only to chance
”).

The beachhead on the VI Corps right:
Molony V, 676; diary, MWC, Feb. 4, 1944, Citadel, box 65 (“
consolidate your beachhead
”).

Lucas invited reporters to his upstairs suite:
Vaughan-Thomas, 90 (“
a mighty tough fighter
”); H. M. Wilson, “Report by the Supreme Allied Commander Mediterranean,” 1946, part 1, 28 (
more than six thousand casualties
).

C
HAPTER
9: T
HE
M
URDER
S
PACE

This World and the Next World at Strife

“
indulged in his wild orgies
”: Karl Baedeker,
Southern Italy,
5; National Archeological Museum, Cassino; author visits, Sept. 1995, May 2004, Nov. 2006;
The Tiger Triumphs,
50 (“
a preacher above his congregation
”); Tommaso Leccisotti,
Monte Cassino,
13 (“
From here is the way
”).

Rounding the last bend:
David Hapgood and David Richardson,
Monte Cassino,
238–39; Fred Majdalany,
Cassino: Portrait of a Battle,
5; http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02467b.htm (“
agreeable to the Lord
”); Leccisotti, 14–15, 19; “The Abbey of Montecassino,” tourist brochure, n.d. (“
on a bright street
”);
StoC,
401; Bradford A. Evans,
The Bombing of Monte Cassino,
11–12; “Monte Cassino,”
The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,
http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/lit/poetry/TheCompletePoeticalWorksofHenryWadsworthLongfellow/chap21.html.

The town below had first been bombed:
Leccisotti, 112;
StoC,
399; Rudolf Böhmler,
Monte Cassino,
105, 107–13 (“
To befoul the Abbey
”); Franz Kurowski,
The History of the Fallschirmpanzerkorps Hermann Göring,
220 (
swag was breathtaking
); Hapgood and
Richardson, 35 (
silk-clad reliquaries
); Lynn H. Nicholas,
The Rape of Europa,
244 (
fifteen crates went missing
).

As the evacuation concluded: StoC,
400–401; memo, “The bombing of Monte Cassino Abbey,” W.M. Harris, Sept. 2, 1949, CMH, Geog Italy, 373.11 (“allein das Gebäude”); diary, WFST, Dec. 27, 1943, CMH, Geog Italy, 373.11 (“
best reserves must stand
”).

“
every rock-drilling machine
”: Franz Kurowski,
Battleground Italy, 1943
–
1945,
359; Leccisotti, 117;
StoC,
400–401; diary, WFSt, Nov. 17, 1943 (
tobacco bonuses
); Böhmler, 163 (
German field hospitals
).

The first stray shell:
Leccisotti, 118; Hapgood and Richardson, 7, 81, 100–101 (“
these terrible days
”).

Forty terrified women rushed:
memo, “Monte Cassino Abbey,” HQ, Fifth Army, G-2, Feb. 28, 1944, in F. Jones, “The Bombing of Monte Cassino, 15 February 1944,” Oct. 14, 1949, Cabinet Historical Section, UK PRO, CAB 106/699, appendix 3, 69;
StoC,
401; Fred Majdalany,
Cassino: Portrait of a Battle,
112–13 (
pounded on the oak door
); Leccisotti, 118 (“
Insane with fear
”).

The door swung open:
Leccisotti, 118; Herbert Bloch, “The Bombardment of Monte Cassino,” 1973, CMH, Geog Italy, 373.11, 411.

The failure of the frontal attack: StoC,
367, 374; N. C. Phillips,
Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War: Italy,
vol. 1, 185 (“
dejected landscape
”).

The French nearly won through:
“Draft Report on FEC,” n.d., SM, CMH, box 1.

“
Look for the fellow wearing
”: “Special Report on Attitude of U.S. Troops Toward French,” March 8, 1944, HQ, SOS, NATOUSA, NARA RG 492, 311.7, box 931; “Draft Report on FEC” (
bowing back the German line
); Gregory Blaxland,
Alexander’s Generals,
43 (
occupied Monte Belvedere
); Ralph S. Mavrogordato, “XIV Panzer Corps Defensive Operations Along the Garigliano, Gari, and Rapido Rivers,” Nov. 1955, NARA RG 319, E 145, OCMH, R series, R-78, 57 (
escarpment so vital
).

“
It is ordinary men
”: John Ellis,
Cassino: The Hollow Victory,
65, 58 (“
tearing at his brains
”), 146–47 (“
That calmed them
”); Molony V, 627.

Six German battalions:
Ian Gooderson,
Cassino 1944,
65; operations report, 3rd Algerian Div, Feb. 16, 1944, in “French Action and Pertinent Orders, Rapido-Cassino,” Fifth Army, HQ, Robert J. Wood papers, MHI (“
Hill 700 has been taken
”); Blaxland, 43 (
sip of water
); Douglas Porch,
The Path to Victory,
533 (“
Haven’t eaten or drunk
”).

“
The human mechanism
”: Ellis, 149; “Draft Report on FEC”
StoC,
372; Molony V, 629n (
a battalion each day
); Blaxland, 43 (“
could do no more
”).

Now the thankless task:
http://www.army.mil/CMH/topics/apam/100BnWW2.htm; 201 file, Charles W. Ryder papers, DDE Lib, box 2.

the 34th attacked north of Cassino: StoC,
371.

The attack resumed farther north:
AAR, 2nd Bn, 168th Inf, CMH, Geog files, 370.2;
StoC,
373, 377 (“
Cassino heights will be captured
”); OH, Andrew J. Goodpaster, Aug. 17, 2004, with author, Washington, D.C. (
S-mines popping
); AAR, “Attack on Cassino,” G. B. Devore, Co C, 760th Tank Bn, attached to 756th Tank Bn, in report no. 140, AFG board, Apr. 3, 1944, CARL, N-7245-G (
followed the faint glow
); John L. Powers, “Crossing the Rapido,”
IJ,
May 1945, 50+ (
six-inch ruts
); Kenneth Maitland Davies,
To the Last Man,
122 (
phosphorus
); “Historical Narrative and Journal,” G-3, 34th ID, Oct. 1943–May 1944, Charles W. Ryder papers, DDE Lib, box 4; GK, Feb. 1, 1944 (“
Believe we shall have Cassino
”).

Kesselring had shifted:
Chester G. Starr, ed.,
From Salerno to the Alps,
108;
StoC,
374–75 (“
two boxers in the ring
”); Hapgood and Richardson, 75, 133–35; “The Background of the 135th Infantry,” ts, n.d., Iowa GSM; Matthew Parker,
Monte Cassino,
139 (“
every night the rumor
”).

In a two-acre field diced by German artillery:
James A. Luttrell, “The Operations of the 168th Infantry in the Rapido River Crossing,” 1948, IS; Donald C. Landon, “The Operations of the 2nd Bn, 135th Inf in the Cassino Offensive,” 1946, IS (
Six new lieutenants
);
Parker, 144 (
sulfa powder in salt shakers
); Belfrad H. Gray, Jr., “The Crossing of the Rapido River and Occupation of Positions Above Cassino by Company I, 168th Infantry,” 1947, IS; Davies, 124–25; OH, Howard Kippenberger, Feb. 4 and 12, 1947, SM, MHI (
so hobbled by frozen feet
).

three efforts were made to break through:
Majdalany, 85;
StoC,
382–83; memoir, C. N. “Red” Morgan, 3rd Bn, 141st Inf, n.d., Texas MFM Web site, www.kwanah.com/36Division/pstoc.htm; Clifford H. Peek, Jr., ed.,
Five Years, Five Countries, Five Campaigns,
47 (
ricochet shell
).

“
within a bare 100 meters
”: Molony V, 704; Porch (
attacked on too broad a front
); “34th Division Casualties, Cassino Operation,” Feb. 15, 1944, MWC, corr, Citadel, box 3; censorship morale reports, Nov. 1943–June 1944, NARA RG 492, MTO AG, 311.7 (“
Personally I’m glad
”); GK, Feb. 10, 1944 (“
Full moon
”).

“
suspended by invisible wires
”: Brian Harpur,
The Impossible Victory,
57; Harold L. Bond,
Return to Cassino,
82 (
smacked the roof
).

Early on February 14:
“Historical Narrative and Journal,” G-3, 34th ID; G. R. Stevens,
Fourth Indian Division,
284;
StoC,
374 (
seven hundred litter bearers
); Bond, 101–3 (
sawed logs
); William Shakespeare,
Henry IV, Part 2,
act 2, scene 2; B. Smith, “Waltonia,” ts, 1981, IWM, 67/254/1 (“
Thank God their mothers
”); Robert Capa,
Slightly Out of Focus,
116 (
white shoes
).

an American detail delivered 150 corpses:
OH, Paul Adams, 1975, Irving Monclova and Marlin Lang, MHI, SOOHP; Nicholas M. Bozic, “36th Infantry Division, Salerno to Rome,” ts, n.d., Texas MFM (“
bodies all over the hill
”); Hal Reese, IG, 36th ID, “Intermission at Cassino,” n.d., Texas MFM (“
It is such a tragedy
”). Lt. Col. Reese was killed near Anzio three months later.

Saddest of all:
G. L. Hanssen,
The Hanssens of Eastern Iowa,
32–33, 39–44, 47.

They had been at it so long:
Pyle, 127, 134–35.

“
They live and die so miserably
”: James Tobin,
Ernie Pyle’s War,
132; OH, Harold Alexander, Jan. 10–15, 1949, SM, CMH, II-23;
StoC,
383 (“
almost mutinous
”).