An Army at Dawn (118 page)

the Robinett problem
: Gugeler, ts, OW, MHI, x-113; diary, Feb.–March, 1943, OW, MHI; Edwin A. Russell, OH, May 15, 1950, SM, MHI (
“little dictator”
); DDE to OW, March 12, 1943, OW, MHI (
“difficult to handle”
); PMR to DDE, Apr. 12, 1943, PMR, LOC, box 4; DDE to GCM, March 3, 1943, OW, MHI (
“puzzling man”
)

his Patton problem
: OW to DDE, March 7, 1943, Chandler, 1027n; Blumenson,
The Patton Papers, 1940–1945,
188, 193, 197; Hansen, 4/96; McCurtain Scott, OH, March 1976, OW, MHI (
“Goddamit, Ward”
); diary, March 22, 1943, OW, MHI (
“Patton impatient”
).

Alexander’s new orders
: AAR, “Report of Operations 1st AD, Maknassy, 12 March–10 Apr 1943,” NARA RG 407, E 427, box 14767; AAR, CCC, 1st AD, March–Apr. 1943, NARA;
NWAf,
553–55; author visit, Apr. 2000.

He was actually facing
: Lang, “Report on the Fighting of
Kampfgruppe
Lang,” part II, 1947, FMS, #D-166, MHI;
Kriegstagebuch V,
Fifth Panzer Army, March 23–24, 1943, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 226; Kleine and Kühn,
Tiger
; Carell, 350.

A third American attack
: letter, T. Riggs to parents, June 25, 1943, PMR, LOC, box 4 (
“beautiful and uncomfortable”
); William S. McElhenny, 1st AD, ts, n.d., OW, MHI, box 1 (
“Come on!”
); AAR, 1st Bn, 6th Armored Inf; AAR, 60th Inf, March 22–24, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 7535; Camp, ed., “Tankers in Tunisia,” 15; G-2 summary No. 6, Apr. 2, 1943, II Corps, “Report on Operation, 15 March–10 Apr., 1943,” CARL, N-2652A (
“Here one can find”
); Robertson, ASEQ, ts, n.d., 1st AD, 288 (
“shootin’ gallery”
).

Patton had again
: letter, R. F. Akers, Jr., to C. B. Hansen, Jan. 12, 1951, CBH, MHI (
“Pink, you got”
); war diaries, 1943, CBH, MHI, 8-A, S-10; Blumenson,
The Patton Papers, 1940–1945,
197 (
“my conscience”
).

Ward stood
: diary, E. C. Hatfield, March 24, 1943, OW, MHI; AAR, E. C. Hatfield, 1st AD, March 27, 1943, OW, MHI, box 1 (
“Sergeant could you”
); AAR, CCC, NARA 407, E 427, 601-CCC-0.3, March–Apr. 1943;
NWAf,
556; Robinett,
Armor Command,
209; CBH, 1943, MHI; Scott, OH, OW, MHI (
“Damned inadequate”
); Blumenson,
The Patton Papers, 1940–1945,
198 (
“made a man”
).

Two days later
: diary, March 27, 1943, OW, MHI; Blumenson,
The Patton Papers, 1940–1945,
199.

The stalemate
: OW to “All Personnel, 1st AD,” March 27, 1943, PMR, GCM Lib, box 12 (
“Search your soul”
); AAR, “Report of Operations, 1st AD, Maknassy, 12 March–10 Apr. 1943,” NARA RG 407, E 427, box 14767;
NWAf,
575; DDE to GCM, Apr. 3 and 24, 1943, Chandler, 1066, 1101.

There was truth
: Blumenson,
The Patton Papers, 1940–1945,
221; Lang, “Report on the Fighting of
Kampfgruppe
Lang,” MHI; Gugeler, ts, OW, MHI, X-138 (
“With some diffidence”
), 141 (
“Look, Brad”
); Rolf, 199 (
“quite useless”
); OW note, Apr. 4, 1943, OW, MHI; diary, Apr. 4, 1943, OW, MHI (
“Bradley gave”
).

Harmon would arrive
: Harmon,
Combat Commander,
123–25 (
“stupid questions”
and
“party is all yours”
); E. N. Harmon, OH, Sept. 15, 1952, SM, MHI.

If outwardly gracious
: OW, OH, May 5, 1957, FCP, MHI (
chief of staff
); PMR to OW, Apr. 20, 1943, PMR, GCM Lib, box 12 (
“deepest gratitude”
); OW, DSC awards packet, NARA RG 338, Fifth Army, A 47-A-3948, box 56.

Ward was a good soldier
: OW to L. E. Oliver, Sept. 27, 1943, OW, MHI (
“My record”
); Boatner, 599; DDE quoted in GCM to OW, May 5, 1943, Pentagon office correspondence, GCM Lib, box 90, folder 4 (
“too sensitive”
).

Night Closes Down

With the Americans
: AAR, II Corps, “Report on Operation, 15 March–10 April 1943,” CARL, N-2652A; Knickerbocker et al., 94; S-1 log, 18th Inf, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 5941; Carter, “The Operations of the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry at El Guettar,” 23; Arnbal, 75;
NWAf,
564–69.

Moreover, the 9th Division
: AAR, “Report on Operation Conducted by 9th ID, Southern Tunisia, 26 March–8 Apr. 1943,” NARA RG 407, E 427, box 7326; D. T. Kellett, “El Guettar: Victory or Stalemate?,”
Military Review,
July 1951, 18; AAR, 39th Inf Regt, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 7501; Carter, “Carter’s War,” IV-44; Phillips,
The Making of a Professional,
76, 80, 97 (
“big galoot”
); “Hold Fast,” 1945 booklet on 9th ID; Knickerbocker et al., 71; Doubler, 294–95.

An intelligence estimate
: AAR, “Report on Operation Conducted by 9th ID” “Report on Defense of Hills 260 [
sic
] and 369,” May 23, 1943, II Corps engineers, NARA RG 338, box 147 (
five dugouts
); Heinz Werner Schmidt,
With Rommel in the Desert,
266; author visit, Apr. 2000.

Hill 369 prevented
: AAR, 47th Inf, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427, box 7514; AAR, 9th ID, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427, box 7348; Phillips,
El Guettar,
24–31 (
“lighting up”
), 37 (
“You sons”
); David E. Gillespie, ed.,
History of the Forty-Seventh Infantry Regiment
; AAR, 10th Panzer Div., March 27, 1943, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 225; Mittelman, 93-101.

Worse yet
: AAR, “Report on Operation Conducted by 9th ID” Randle, “The General and the Movie,”
Army,
Sept. 1971; Parris and Russell, 310; William M. Lee, ASEQ, n.d., 26th Inf Regt, 1st ID, MHI; Johnson,
One More Hill,
55 (
“Just lay in my hole”
); AAR, 47th Inf, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427, box 7514.

Alexander visited
: AAR, II Corps, CARL N-2652A (
professed satisfaction
); Phillips,
El Guettar,
38 (
“In all my career”
), 43–47; Mittelman, 101.

North of Highway 15
: Marion Hunt and Duane R. Sneddeker, “Over Here, Over There,”
Gateway Heritage,
winter 1993, 48 (
“We baked”
); AAR, 1st ID, “Gafsa–El Guettar,” March 31, 1943, possession of Roger Cirillo; author interview, Albert H. Smith, Jan. 24, 2000; “History of the 26th Infantry in the Present Struggle,” FDM MRC, box 301, 9/62–81; Martin,
The GI War,
56 (
“Night just closes down”
); Mason, “Reminiscences and Anecdotes,” 54 (
“fussed and fumed”
), 136.

Late on March 29
: AAR, “Report on Operation, 15 March–10 Apr. 1943,” II Corps, CARL, N-2652A;
NWAf
, 569–71 (
a fourth time
); Kellett, 18 (
little chance of success
); Blumenson,
The Patton Papers, 1940–1945,
200 (
“I feel”
).

With Patton’s protest
: C.C. Benson, “Some Tunisian Details,”
Field Artillery Journal,
Jan. 1944, 2; Moorehead, 136–37 (
“From a hundred wadis”
); D’Arcy-Dawson, 187 (
“I saw tanks hit”
); “Unit History, 1943,” 899th TD Bn, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 23879;
NWAf,
571; AAR, “Report on Operation Conducted by 9th ID,” March 30, 1943; Wellard, 80; Blumenson,
The Patton Papers, 1940–1945,
202 (
“We seem”
).

The Axis line drew back
: GSP to DDE, March 29, 1943, Patton files, DDE Lib, PP-pres, box 91 (
“Nasty
,
grim”
); AAR, 9th ID, Apr. 2, 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 7348; AAR, 9th ID surgeon, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427, box 7348; AAR, “Report on Operation Conducted by 9th ID”
NWAf,
575; Phillips,
El Guettar,
70; Randle,
Safi Adventure,
216; Mason, “Reminiscences and Anecdotes,” 69 (
“most severe”
).

The stuck-everywhere period
: Linderman, 256 (
“cell-by-cell”
); Howe,
The Battle
History of the 1st Armored Division,
217 (
“everybody ordering”
); TR to Eleanor, Apr. 8, 1943, TR, LOC, box 9.

Patton took it badly
: Blumenson,
The Patton Papers, 1940–1945,
204–205; CBH, Apr. 1, 1943, MHI; Bradley and Blair,
A General’s Life,
147; Bradley,
A Soldier’s Life,
63; Butcher diary, DDE Lib, PP-pres, box 166, A-314 (
“Every bone”
); Hansen, 4/79; Pyle,
Here Is Your War,
232.

“Forward troops”
: Coningham, Patton messages, DDE Lib, PP-pres, box 91; daily intel report, Sunset No. 47, Feb. 20, 1943 and Sunset No. 49, n.d., NSA files, NARA RG 457, SRS 1869, box 1; Tedder, 410–11; Laurence S. Kuter, “Goddammit, Georgie!,”
Air Force Magazine,
Feb. 1973, 51; D’Este,
Patton,
483; Blumenson,
The Patton Papers, 1940–1945,
207–208, 211 (
“I hope the Boches”
); Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story,
63–64; Carter, “Carter’s War,” CEOH, IV–42.

If choler infected
: Pyle,
Here Is Your War,
241–42.

What Rommel called
: Clifford, 390 (
“clean, straight”
); Ellis,
On the Front Lines,
17 (
slaughterhouse blood
); L. J. McNair, “The Struggle Is for Survival,” radio address, Nov. 11, 1942,
Vital Speeches of the Day,
111; training memorandum #22, AFHQ through II Corps G-3, “History of the 26th Infantry in the Present Struggle,” MRC FDM, box 301, 9/36; GSP Jr., “order of the day,” “History of the 26th Infantry in the Present Struggle,” MRC FDM, box 301, 9/35.

nearly 6,000 casualties
: “Report on Operation, 15 March–10 Apr. 1943,” II Corps, CARL, N-2652A; D’Este,
Bitter Victory,
62 (
“Perhaps these American”
); G-2 summary #7, Apr. 19, 1943, II Corps, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 7334; Samuel D. Spivey,
A Doughboy’s Narrative,
73 (
“we really learned”
); “History of the 26th Infantry in the Present Struggle,” MRC FDM, box 301, 10/24; Herschel H. Husinpiller, “Armored Infantry in Africa,” ts, n.d., Fort Benning Infantry School Library, 7 (
“A soldier is not”
); Parris and Russell, 308–310; Pyle,
Here Is Your War,
106 (
“They lost”
).

A very thin membrane
: “Intelligence at HQ First Army, Nov. 1942–May 1943,” ts, May 23, 1943, National Archives of Canada, RG 24, vol. 01, intelligence 10719 (
“serious menace”
); William E. Faust, ASEQ, ts, 1990, 1st ID, Divarty HHQ, MHI, 39 (
“We became ruthless”
); letter, printed in
Minneapolis Tribune,
Apr. 11, 1943, MCC-YU (
“Here Arabs live”
); Thomas A. Kindre, OH, 1994, G. Kurt Piehler, ROHA; Tom Gendron, OH, 1977, 1st ID, Michael Corley, possession of Paul Gorman; Howard D. Ashcraft,
As You Were,
10, 17 (
“to watch them dance”
).

At a training camp
: Schrijver, 118; “History of the 26th Infantry in the Present Struggle,” MRC FDM, box 301, 9/90; McManus, 67 (
“We made them dig”
); D’Arcy-Dawson, 107, 125, 133 (
“It is not pleasant”
).

After Kasserine
: author interviews, Edward Boehm, Nov. 26, 1999, and Jan. 4, 2000; Edward Boehm, “My Autobiography During World War II,” ts, 1997, possession of Roger Cirillo.

Such atrocities
: inspector general report, July 13, 1943, NARA RG 492, MTOUSA, records of the special staff, box 2011 (
“three out of five”
).

But other crimes
: “Historical Report of the Provost Marshal Section of the Atlantic Base Section,” Oct. 5, 1942, to May 31, 1943, NARA RG 492, provost marshal general, box 2228; Giraud letter in memo, Apr. 3, 1943, NARA RG 331, AFHQ micro, R-204-F; memo, J. C. Holmes, chief, AFHQ liaison section to G-1 (personnel), May 3, 1943, NARA RG 331, AFHQ micro, R-204-F; memo, NATO provost marshal to G-1, May 6, 1943, NARA RG 331, AFHQ micro, R-204-F.

Some of the most appalling
: “Report of the Battalion Chief of Leon Tenneroni,” Bône, Apr. 21, 1943, in “Inspections and Investigations by Inspectors General and Other Officers & Reports Of [
sic
],” vol. II, serial #8, HQ NATO, June 6, 1943, to CG, 8th AAF, “Report of Security Investigation,” NARA RG 492, MTO, Records of the Special Staff, box 1043; “History of the 98th Engineer (General Service) Regiment,” Aug. 17, 1941–May 1944, NARA RG 407, E 427, Engineers, box 19556; WWII U.S. Army executions, JAG, history branch office, U.S. force, ETO, 8-3.5 AA, v. 1; memo, “comparison of executions during WWI and WWII,” U.S. Army JAG to undersecretary of war, Apr. 22, 1946, author’s possession.

“I Had a Plan…Now I Have None”

“a soft feel”
: TR to Eleanor, Apr. 6, 1943, TR, LOC, box 9;
Destruction,
374–75 (
“last man”
and “Non è stata”).

It was not especially good
: Adrian Stewart,
Eighth Army’s Greatest Victories,
189; Jackson,
Alexander of Tunis as Military Commander,
189; Benson, “Some Tunisian Details,” 2 (
“Attack and destroy”
).

They swung at air
: Wellard, 80 (
“abreast like a Spanish fleet”
); AAR, “The El Guettar Operation, Intelligence Report,” Benson Force, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427, box 3126; Blumenson,
The Patton Papers, 1940–1945,
213;
NWAf
, 577; “Report on Operation, 15 March–10 Apr. 1943,” II Corps, CARL, N-2652A; Hoffman,
Stauffenberg,
177–80; Boatner, 534.