Twelve Desperate Miles (48 page)

  
1
“You are going to be released”:
René Malevergne,
The Exfiltration of René Malevergne
(unpublished diary), p. 195.

  
2
Exactly when Captain John:
“The Voyage of the Steamship ‘Contessa’ from American to African Shores,” p. 9; Historical Records, 1942–1944, Folder 2, November 1–December 31, 1942. Records of the Office of the Chief of Transportation, 1917–1966, Record Group 336 51-1.5, National Archives Building, Philadelphia, PA.

  
3
“Leslay”:
Malevergne,
Exfiltration of René Malevergne
, p. 196.

  
4
“that the impossible be done”:
Ibid., p. 196.

  
5
Malevergne thought it was Panamanian:
Ibid., p. 196.

  
6
a load essential to the commandos:
Ibid., p. 196.

  
7
“a sitting duck”:
Betty McLaughlin, widow of Hazelton McLaughlin, interview with the author, August 10, 2010.

  
8
“churning up mud and sand”:
Bertram Fowler, “Twelve Desperate Miles,”
Saturday Evening Post
, August 28, 1943.

  
9
Soon gaping holes:
George F. Howe,
United States Army in World War II: The Mediterranean Theater of Operations, Northwest Africa
(Washington, D.C.: U.S. Army Center of Military History, 1991), p. 168.

10
Occasional sniper fire continued:
Ibid., p. 169.

11
Semmes relayed Hamilton’s message:
Annexes to final report to commander Western Task Force, Sub-taskforce Goalpost plans and reports, p. 13. Records of the War Department Special and General Staffs, Record Group RG 165, Entry 418, Box 1292, National Archives Building, College Park, MD.

12
Rumors of enemy troops:
Howe,
United States Army in World War II
, p. 179.

13
For René Malevergne, still lingering:
Malevergne,
Exfiltration of René Malevergne
, p. 198.

  
1
a self-lubricating bearing:
Bill Kimbel, interview with the author, March 3, 2010.

  
2
Ernest Shackleton, for instance:
Deirdre O’Regan, “Lignum Vitae—The Bosun’s Favorite Wood,”
http://www.lignum-vitae.com/customer-stories.html
.

  
3
“Working twenty-four hours a day”:
“The Voyage of the Steamship ‘Contessa’ from American to African Shores,” p. 10; Historical Records, 1942–1944, Folder 2, November 1–December 31, 1942. Records of the Office of the Chief of Transportation, 1917–1966, Record Group 336 51-1.5, National Archives Building, Philadelphia, PA.

  
4
“It should not be omitted”:
Ibid., p. 10.

  
5
Despite numerous requests:
Ibid.

  
6
“to lend something of a military display”:
Lucian Truscott,
Command Mission, a Personal Story
(New York: Dutton, 1954), p. 122.

  
7
“a brightly colored pageant”:
George F. Howe,
United States Army in World War II: The Mediterranean Theater of Operations, Northwest Africa
(Washington, D.C.: U.S. Army Center of Military History, 1991), p. 170.

  
8
“only the Sherman tanks”:
Samuel Eliot Morison,
History of United States Naval Operations in World War II
, vol. 2,
Operations in North African Waters October 1942–June 1943
(Boston: Atlantic Little, Brown, 1954), p. 164.

  
9
received word from Admiral Darlan:
This is the same Darlan who had refused to see Malevergne when he returned from France after his trial. Eisenhower’s deal with Darlan, a notorious Fascist sympathizer despised by de Gaulle, would be the subject of much criticism in the days, weeks, and months to come. Darlan himself was assassinated in December 1942.

10
“General Noguès and Admiral Michelier”:
Blumenson, ed.,
The Patton Papers
(New York: Da Capo Press, 1996–1998), p. 110.

11
“I had my orders”:
Morison,
History of United States Naval Operations
, vol. 2, p. 164.

12
Like Truscott’s regional proposal:
Howe,
United States Army in World War II
, p. 174. It should be noted that the draft terms failed to account for the subjects of the sultan of Morocco.

13
“To the liberation of France”:
Ibid., p. 174.

  
1
“It’s impossible to change”:
Aljean Harmetz,
Round Up the Usual Suspects
(New York: Hyperion, 1992), p. 280.

  
2
“
Casablanca
had sold”:
Ibid., p. 282.

  
3
“We’ve got an old rule”:
Walter Cronkite,
A Reporter’s Life
(New York: Ballantine Books, 1996), p. 86.

  
4
“You cut every road”:
Ibid., p. 86.

  
5
“I later learned”:
Ibid., p. 90.

  
6
“Please tell [General] Gross”:
George Patton to Brehon Somervell, November 22, 1942. Records of the War Department Special and General Staffs, Record Group 165:418:1291: Doc109 National Archive Building, College Park, MD.

  
7
“By his outstanding professional”:
The Captain John commendation is attached to “The Voyage of the Steamship ‘Contessa’ from American to African Shores,” p. 11; Historical Records, 1942–1944, Folder 2, November 1–December 31, 1942. Records of the Office of the Chief of Transportation, 1917–1966, Record Group 336 51-1.5, National Archives Building, Philadelphia, PA.

  
8
“M. Malevergne volunteered his services”:
The family of René Malevergne maintains a Web site honoring his memory and accomplishments:
http://www.malevergne.free.fr/
. His commendations and citations can be found there.

  
9
Correspondence between the two:
The postwar correspondence between William Eddy and René Malevergne can be found among the William Alfred Eddy Papers at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey. A few years after René’s death, Germaine contacted Eddy looking for the diary, which had, for obscure reasons, been passed among American foreign service offices in North Africa and disappeared. By the end of the 1960s, it had been rediscovered and was back in Germaine’s hands. Germaine was now living in Grenoble, France, near her sons, René and Claude. A professor of history at the University of Texas–Arlington, Leon Borden Blair, became interested in the manuscript and translated it into English. René and Claude Malevergne still live in Grenoble, where René works as a neurosurgeon and Claude is in public relations.

10
In August 1969:
Details of the passing of Captain John and Bess come from interviews with family members, including grandsons Louis and Tim Koerner, and family friend Bill Kimbel.

11
The
Contessa
came back to the Gulf:
Mark H. Goldberg,
Going Bananas
(Kings Point, NY: American Merchant Marine Museum Foundation, 1993), p. 216.