An Army at Dawn (109 page)

“Things have not gone well”
: Anderson to Brooke, Dec. 25, 1942, PRO, WO 175/56.

CHAPTER 7: CASABLANCA

The Ice-Cream Front

At 10:30
P.M.
: “President’s Trip to Casablanca,” Guy H. Spaman to Frank J. Wilson, June 26, 1945, FDR Lib, Secret Service records, box 4; George E. Durno, “Flight to Africa: A Chronicle of the Casablanca Conference Between President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill,” n.d., FDR Lib, 200-2-U; Hassett, 127, 142, 146; Leahy, 143; Raymond W. Copson, “Summit at Casablanca,”
American History,
Apr. 2002, 60.

With a steamy sigh
: Seale, vol. II; Michael F. Reilly,
Reilly of the White House,
136–47; Goodwin, 366; Sherwood, 665.

A kind of Roman camp
: AAR, 1st Armored Signal Batt, Sept 18, 1943, NARA RG 165, director for plans and ops, corr, box 1230; Wordell and Seiler, 281.

Fragrant with begonias
: Reilly, 150; Austin, 71; Durno, 63, 66, 68; msg to DDE, Jan. 10, 1943, NARA, AFHQ micro, “Casablanca Conference,” R-49-M; Donald E. Houston,
Hell on Wheels: The 2nd Armored Division,
143 (
“Hail to the Chief”
); Macmillan,
The Blast of War,
194; memo, Arthur R. Wilson, Dec. 10, 1942, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 246 (
George Washington
).

Overseeing this feverish activity
: Austin, 71 (
“Every other four-wheeler”
); Semmes,
Portrait of Patton,
132; Patton,
War As I Knew It,
35; Codman, 76 (
“absolutely steady”
); Crawford,
Report on North Africa,
26 (
“the Ice-Cream Front”
).

Patton was miserable
: Farago, 222 (
huge Packard
); A. G. Shepard, “Report on Operation TORCH,” Commander in Chief, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, serial 0014, NARA RG 38, OCNO, box 3; Robinett,
Armor Command
, 110 (
“Where are the Germans”
); Blumenson,
Patton,
174–75 (
“Top Dog”
); John Field, “Patton of the Armored Force,”
Life,
Nov. 30, 1942, 113; Blumenson,
The Patton Papers, 1940–1945,
163 (
“kill someone”
).

Patton discharged
: Blumenson,
The Patton Papers, 1940–1945,
175, 123, 150.

Arriving from London
: Pendar,
Adventure in Diplomacy,
140 (
“working up mud”
); Thomas B. Buell,
Master of Sea Power: A Biography of Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King,
253; Pogue,
George C. Marshall: Organizer of Victory, 1943–1945,
18 (
dire warnings
).

Churchill and his entourage
: Lord Moran,
Churchill: Taken from the Diaries of Lord Moran,
85 (
silk vest and nothing else
); Ismay,
Memoirs,
284–85 (
“we were clever enough”
); Bryant, 434, 485; Kennedy, 280; W. Averell Harriman and Elie Abel,
Special Envoy to Churchill and Stalin, 1941–1946,
180 (
“Any fool can see”
); Goodwin, 301 (
“big English bulldog”
).

“at the conference”
: Matloff and Snell, 379 (
“the British will have a plan”
); Roger Parkinson,
A Day’s March Nearer Home,
14; “The Reminiscences of Walter C. W. Ansel,” 1972, USNI OHD, 3–124; Ian Jacob diary, quoted in Bryant, 540 (
“dark hole”
); Moran, 78 (
“the control of the Mediterranean”
); D’Este,
Bitter Victory: The Battle for Sicily,
38 (
“dripping of water”
); Lord Tedder,
With Prejudice,
390; Macmillan,
War Diaries: The Mediterranean, 1943–1945,
8.

Speedy Valley

Operation SATIN envisioned
:
The AAF in Northwest Africa,
29; “Memorandum of Conference at Advanced Allied Force Headquarters,” Jan. 21, 1943, NARA, AFHQ micro, R-187-D;
Three Years,
236.

SATIN was bold
:
NWAf,
350; Roskill, 433 (
437,000 soldiers
); CCS msg, Jan. 1943, NARA RG 218, JCS records, box 325 (
“The Allied forces”
); “Diary Covering the Activities of General Fredendall and Supporting Players,” Jan. 3, 1943, James R. Webb Collection, DDE Lib (
“II Corps is to be bait”
).

Eisenhower and his staff
: memo, AFHQ G-4, Jan. 15, 1943, NARA, AFHQ micro, R-188-D (
“logistically out of hand”
); “Record of Conference Held by C-in-C Allied Force,” Jan. 10, 1943, NARA, AFHQ micro, R-188-D (
“fatal to do nothing”
).

Eisenhower made several moves
: “History of Allied Force Headquarters,” 1945, MTOUSA Historical Section, NARA RG 407, E 427, 95ALI-0.1, boxes 142–43; Theodore J. Conway, SOOHP, Sept. 1977, Robert F. Ensslin, MHI; Ambrose,
Eisenhower: Soldier, General of the Army, President-Elect, 1890–1952,
226; Akers, OH, July 27, 1949, SM, MHI; D. Clayton James, with Anne Sharp Wells,
A Time for Giants,
153 (
“begged and pleaded”
); Butcher diary, DDE Lib, A-8 (
“Clark admitted”
), A-127 (
“Ike doesn’t think Clark”
), A-157, A-194 (
“manure pile”
and
lectured him
); Danchev and Todman, eds., 356 (
“very ambitious and unscrupulous”
).

“I bless the day”
: DDE to GCM, Nov. 11, 1942, Chandler, 690.

At fifty-nine
: “Outline History of II Corps,” n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427, box 3112; Robert H. Berlin,
U.S. Army World War II Corps Commanders,
5;
These Are the Generals,
227 (
“very soldierly little fellow”
); Benjamin S. Persons,
Relieved of Command,
27; “World War II Generals,” 1945, WD, USMA Lib.

Thirty-five years later
: letter, James Webb to family, Apr. 20, 1943, OW, MHI (
a conviction that neither
); Leland L. Rounds, OH, Oct. 21, 1948, SM, MHI; “Leland L. Rounds: His Tale, July 13, 1944,” OSS files, NARA RG 226, E 99, box 39 (
“Lay off”
).

Orders issued from
: Curtis, “The Song of the Fighting First,” ts, 1988, MRC FDM, 56; Carter, “Carter’s War,” ts, n.d., CEOH, III-13.

Truscott found him
: Kirkpatrick, “Orthodox Soldiers: Army Formal Schools Between the Two World Wars,” 10; Truscott,
Command Missions,
144 (
“outspoken in his opinions”
); Fredendall to LKT Jr., Jan. 22, 1943, 1050 hrs. and 1345 hrs., LKT Jr., GCM Lib, box 9, folder 5.

Fredendall also harbored
: “Diary Covering the Activities of General Fredendall,” Oct. 7, 1942, “Log of Our Transatlantic Flight,” James R. Webb Collection, DDE Lib; James,
A Time for Giants,
95 (
“Ike is the best”
); Dickson, “G-2 Journal,” MHI, 35.

Lloyd Fredendall’s chosen avenue
: Rame, 214 (
Solomon the Eunuch
); Baedeker, 315; Miller,
Ike the Soldier,
472; G-1 report, HQ II Corps, Feb. 14, 1943, NARA RG 492, MTOUSA, box 263; Carter, “Carter’s War,” III-13 (
“Fredendall’s kindergarten”
); Dickson, “G-2 Journal,” 37 (
“surrounded by children”
); “Diary Covering the Activities of General Fredendall,” Jan. 25, 1943, James R. Webb Collection, DDE Lib (
“woods are stiff”
).

Tébessa’s high plateau
: “Diary Covering the Activities of General Fredendall,” Jan. 8 (
“cold as a snake”
), Jan. 9 (
bulletproof Cadillac
), and Jan. 11 (
“Everyone is freezing”
), 1943, James R. Webb Collection, DDE Lib; Austin, 77 (
“lumber camp”
); Pyle,
Here Is Your War,
301 (
in his canvas chair
).

Day and night
: blueprint, 19th Engineer Regt, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 19248; “Historical Record of the 19th Engineer Regiment,” Oct. 1942–Oct. 1943, NARA RG 407, box 19248; “II Corps Engineer Section Journal,” Jan. 21–March 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 3234; “Diary Covering the Activities of General Fredendall,” Jan. 25, 1943, James R. Webb Collection, DDE Lib.

Some officers believed
: Truscott,
Command Missions,
146; MacVane,
Journey into War,
195 (
“Some of ours”
); Waters, SOOHP, MHI, 175–76, 202 (
some questioned
); Carter, “Carter’s War,” CEOH, IV-15 (
“We had no proper”
).

Suspected Tunisian collaborators
: “History of the 26th Infantry in the Present Struggle,” MRC FDM, 5/19, 6/13; Raff, 194–95 (
“Of the thirty-nine”
).

Ted Roosevelt, who had been peeled
: TR to Eleanor, Jan. 16 and Feb. 2, 1943, TR, LOC, box 9; Cameron, “Americanizing the Tank,” 761; “Journal for the 3rd Battalion,” 26th Infantry, Feb. 1943, MRC FDM (
“everything but the Rising Sun”
).

Among the most active
: AAR, “Account of Carleton S. Coon,” NARA RG 226, E 99, OSS, box 39, folders 8, 34, 39, 75, 85 (
“mule turds”
); Coon,
A North African Story,
68 (
“rogues and cutthroats”
), 76 (
“one Arab and one cow”
), 79; George C. Chalou, ed.,
The Secrets War: The Office of Strategic Services in World War II,
20 (
“Bad-Eyes Brigade”
);
The Overseas Targets: War Report of the OSS,
vol. 2, 19–20 (
“This use of hostages”
); Brown,
The Last Hero: Wild Bill Donovan,
266, 269 (
“Captain Retinitis”
).

“It is still”
: TR to Eleanor, Feb. 6, 1943, TR, LOC, box 9.

So were the tens
: Pyle, “Our Soldiers in Tunisia Learn the Agony of War,” ts, n.d., AAR, 26th Inf, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 5942; Mayo, 135; article, Gault MacGowan,
New York Sun,
Dec. 8, 1942 (
Army grub
); letter, Raymond Dreyer to family, March 10, 1943, MCC, YU (
Life Savers
); letter, Joseph T. Dawson to family, Apr. 26, 1943, Dawson Collection, MRC FDM (
“We often wonder”
); Abbott, 64 (
“Tunisian deer”
); Lawrence J. Starr, ASEQ, 135th Inf, 34th ID, MHI; Houston, 139;
History 67th Armored Regiment,
71.

Dysentery, parasites
: Wilson, “The Operations of the 509th Parachute Battalion in North Africa,” 1948; Hamilton H. Howze, “The Battle of Sidi bou Zid,” lecture, n.d., Cavalry School, MHI (
“Stuka time”
); D’Arcy-Dawson, 95 (
“Messerstorks”
); Ray, 34 (
250 Allied casualties
); Ford, 44 (
Evelegh ordered
); Austin, 77.

“Never out of artillery range”
: Lawrence J. Starr, ASEQ, 135th Inf, 34th ID, MHI (
“An old man at twenty”
);
Tank Destroyer Forces World War II,
24; Liebling, 66 (
“old man with chilblains”
); Robinett,
Armor Command,
139 (
“Lay it on them!”
); Abbott, 83 (
“Mother, please”
).

“I should have”
: diary, Nov. 10, 1942, OW, MHI; Robinett,
Armor Command,
28 (
“I would either go”
).

Known as Dan
: author interviews, Edith Ward Spalding, Oct. 2000, Robin Ward Yates, Sept. 2000, and John Ward Yates, August 2001; obituary,
Assembly,
March 1973; Gugeler, ts, n.d. (unpublished Ward biography), OW, MHI, I-11, III-1, V-4, VII-13, IX-4, IX-22; David A. Shugart, “On the Way: The U.S. Field Artillery in the Inter-War Period,” paper, Apr. 2000, Society for Military History, 5; W. B. Smith to OW, July 1943, OW, MHI; OW to 8th AD cadre, March 3, 1942, OW, MHI.

Ward had two peculiarities
: Gugeler, IX-16; diary, Nov. 8, 1942, Jan. 15, 20, 27, 1943, OW, MHI.

“The Touch of the World”

The Emperor of the West
: logs,
FRUS
; Reilly, 152; Elliott Roosevelt,
As He Saw It,
71 (
“Winnie is”
).

Preserving the
status quo: Austin, 73 (
“Business: Chiefs of Staff”
); Sherwood, 676 (
“Ike seems jittery”
); Eisenhower,
Crusade in Europe,
133, 135; Frederick E. Morgan, OH, n.d., FCP, MHI (
how such a man
).

He spoke without notes
: Chandler, 906n;
FRUS,
Jan. 15, 1943, 569 (
“might be a good division”
), 567 (
“At first operations”
).

Watching this performance
: Bryant, 17, 552 (
“shooting his tongue”
); Boatner, 63; Danchev and Todman, eds., xv (
“I flatly disagree”
); David Fraser,
Alanbrooke,
92–93, 297; Kennedy, 291.

did not distract
: Danchev and Todman, eds., 352 (
“ridiculous plan”
), 351 (
“Eisenhower as a general”
).

Now Brooke pounced
: msg no. COS (W) 430, British chiefs of staff, Jan. 5, 1943, Watson Notes, GCM Lib;
FRUS,
567, 574, 577; Bryant, 548;
NWAf,
353; Hinsley,
British Intelligence in the Second World War,
vol. II, 579 (
Ultra decrypt today
).

Eisenhower tried to regroup
:
FRUS,
567–69 (
“any necessary adjustments”
);
Three Years,
236 (
“Fredendall’s plan”
); “Minutes of Meeting,” CCS, Jan. 15, 1943, NARA RG 218, JCS records, box 195.