The Generals (11 page)

The United States was daily getting more and more involved in such a war, so the question was not
whether
such a war should be fought, but
how
. Howard, the third H. H. Howard to wear the three stars of a lieutenant general, and a man generally recognized as one of the Army’s few really brilliant officers (some said only Max Taylor was brighter, and Taylor—now the President’s military advisor—was long retired) had been given the job of designing an airmobile division. And he had gotten an extraordinary amount of authority in order to do that.

While Howard had not been relieved of his command of XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg, he was spending just about all of his time at Benning. There the Howard Board—lavishly funded—was finding out just how quickly platoons and companies and battalions could be moved by helicopter from one place to another. This was done by actually moving the troops around in as realistic tests as could be developed.

When he wasn’t at Bragg, Triple H Howard was in Washington, fighting an enemy attired in Air Force blue. The Air Force bitterly resented the notion of the Army having its own in-theater airlift capability, and grew hysterical at the notion that it might be a good idea to arm Army aircraft.

The result of all this was that Major General Harke found himself running XVIII Airborne Corps. That would have been a prestigious assignment under any circumstances. But now, since the invasion of Cuba was just days away, and since that invasion was to be led by the 82nd Airborne Division, which was assigned to XVIII Corps, it was arguably the best place Major General Kenneth L. Harke could find himself.

Secretary of Defense McNamara placed such a priority on the Howard Board that it was likely that Triple H Howard would not be permitted to leave Benning and resume command of XVIII Corps. Harke would thus be in a position to demonstrate his ability to command a corps by actually commanding it in action in Cuba. If he did that, he was assured of at least a third star, and probably later a fourth. So for him Commander in Chief, Pacific, or C-in-C, Europe, or NATO Commander, or even Chief of Staff was no longer simply a fantasy.

Major General Harke had been away from his office all day, and was tired when he got out of the Ford staff car at the rear of the building, a converted three-story brick building directly across from Post Theater #1 on the main post.

When General Harke walked into the reception room outside his office, everyone in the room stood up. In the red-leather-upholstered chair nearest the sergeant major’s desk was Colonel Roland G. Minor, Deputy (at the moment “Acting”) Commander of the U.S. Army Special Warfare Center and School.

“Is it important, Minor?” General Harke said. “I’m bushed.”

“I have been presented, sir, with Special Orders personally signed by General Hanrahan placing me on TDY to Corps, sir. MacMillan has assumed command. For all practical purposes, sir, I have been relieved.”

A wave of anger flushed through General Harke.

Goddamn Hanrahan! I will have that insubordinate, disloyal sonofabitch’s head on a pole or die trying
.

“I guess you had better come in, Colonel, and tell me about it,” General Harke said. His voice was level and calm, as if Colonel Minor had come to tell him about arrangements for the post bowling tournament.

“Excuse me, General,” the sergeant major said. “The general is here.”

He looked at him in surprise.

“He came in about an hour ago, sir,” the sergeant major said. “I told him where you were.”

“Stay where you are, Minor,” General Harke said.

“Yes, sir,” Colonel Minor said.

Harke went to the door to the office of the commanding general and knocked, the act reminding him painfully that it was Triple H Howard’s door, not his, and that he had been a fool to believe that Triple H Howard could be kept from the command of his corps if it was going to war.

“Come in,” Howard called. Harke went inside and saluted.

“I hope I haven’t kept you waiting long, sir.”

“Not long, Ken,” Howard said. “What’s going on?”

General Howard was in fatigues. They were impeccably tailored and stiffly starched, to be sure, but they were fatigues. Over them he wore an olive drab zipper jacket with a fur collar. It was an aviator’s jacket, and it was, by regulation, restricted to use when personnel were engaged in flight operations. General Howard had his own ideas about proper uniforms. He also had a World War II horsehide Air Corps jacket that he wore when the mood struck him.

The epaulets of the OD aviator’s jacket carried the three stars of his rank. To the breast of the jacket were sewn a name tag, the XVIII Airborne Corps patch, and embroidered representations of three of General Howard’s military qualification badges, his Combat Infantryman’s Badge, his Aviator’s wings (recently obtained; Howard figured that he better be able to fly planes if the Howard Board was going to be able to do the job it was supposed to), and his parachutist’s wings. General Harke did not like the precedence General Howard had elected to give them, correctly believing it reflected General Howard’s own opinion of their relative importance. His Combat Infantry Badge was on top. His aviator’s wings were below the CIB, and the jump wings were on the bottom.

“Hanrahan sent Minor here on TDY, sir,” Harke said. “In effect, he relieved him. He put MacMillan in charge over there.”

“Over there” was Smokebomb Hill, the U.S. Army Special Warfare Center and School. Harke obviously didn’t even like to use the name. General Howard made a disparaging “that’s not important” gesture with his hand.

“What’s happening with the Corps?” Howard said. “I’d like to have a look at the maps, get briefed.”

“Yes, sir,” Harke said. “I have the maps set up in the War Room, sir.”

Howard led the way to the War Room, a conference room equipped much like a small theater: There was a small stage, a lectern, and a device that held more than twenty maps.

General Howard sat in one of the theater-type chairs and signaled General Harke to begin.

“I’ve been in Washington, General,” Harke said, “where I met with the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and the Chief of Transportation, and in Fort Monroe, where I talked with the CONARC CG and his staff. The problems in both cases are logistical.”

General Howard slumped low in his seat, took a light green panatela from his fatigues, lit it, and held it between his teeth.

“With the Air Force aircraft which have been made available to us, sir, we are prepared on thirty minutes’ notice to move in one lift the forward element of 82nd Airborne Division Headquarters, the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, plus some supporting Artillery, Signal, Engineer, Ordnance, Medical, and Transportation personnel.”

“The airlift is here? In place?” General Howard asked.

“Yes, sir,” General Harke said. He went to the row of maps, pulled out a large-scale map of the north coast of Cuba, and pointed to it with a three-foot pointer as he continued.

“The first drop, on the plain between Cárdenas and Varadero, has as its mission the capture of the airport, and the elimination of any Cuban forces which would hinder the amphibious landing of initial elements of the 2nd Armored Division near Varadero. This is essentially the war plan DCSOPS drew up last year.”

“I understand 2nd Armored has rail problems,” Howard said.

“Yes, sir, my liaison officer has kept me abreast of that. It would appear General Lemper has some egg on his face.”

“Is there anything we can do for them?” Howard asked.

General Harke reacted as if the question surprised him.

“I don’t see how, sir. And it is General Lemper’s problem, not ours. And as you will shortly hear, General, we have our own problems.”

Howard just perceptibly nodded his head.

“Go on, Ken,” he said.

“As you know, sir, as reinforced, the 505th Regiment, although it has not been formally designated as such, is actually a brigade—a pocket division—able to completely support itself in the initial stages of the operation. I have little concern that Phase One will go off as scheduled, and pretty much as it’s supposed to.

“Phase Two, however, may cause trouble. Immediately after dropping the 505th, the Air Force aircraft are to return to Florida to enplane the 508th PIR. Then, depending on whether or not the airport has been secured, the 508th will either land at the airport, or parachute into the original drop zone.

“At present, we do not intend to send in the 502nd PIR, which is Corps Reserve, until the airport is secure.”

“Is that a polite way of saying the 502nd won’t go in until it’s perfectly clear that
both
the air landing and the amphibious assault have gone off more or less successfully?”

“Yes, sir,” Harke admitted.

“Well, then, let’s hope General Lemper can somehow get 2nd Armored off the dime,” General Howard said.

“It will be the mission,” General Harke went on, “of the 502nd to accompany, as infantry, the by-then-landed balance of the 2nd Armored, which will advance along the coast road to Havana. The 505th and 508th will insure that no Cuban reinforcements are brought up against the port, or the 2nd Armored Division’s rear.”

“Sounds fine, Ken. What are our problems as you see them?”

“In my judgment, sir, we have been allocated shamefully insufficient sea-lift capability, and grossly inadequate heli-lift capability.”

“‘Shamefully’? ‘Grossly inadequate’?” General Howard quoted. It was a question, not a challenge.

“Yes, sir. And conversely, I believe the heli-lift and sea-lift capability assigned by S-3 JAF to the 2nd Armored is in excess of its reasonable requirements. The JAF S-3 is General Jiggs, and predictably he has seen fit to take care of Armor. Even though they have far more TO&E
*
trucks than we do, they, nevertheless, have been augmented by General Jiggs with three TC
**
truck companies.”

“They also have more tanks than we do,” Howard said. “Tanks require vast quantities of fuel. Fuel has to be transported.”

“The point is, sir, that we simply have to have more helicopters and more Otters and Beavers than we’ve been given by Jiggs. There is no way we can move rapidly toward Havana if we can’t keep the 502nd supplied, and there is no other way to do it than by light aircraft. Would you like the tonnage figures, General?”

“I’m familiar with the tonnage figures, Ken,” General Howard said.

“It is not a question of any problem getting light aircraft to Cuba,” Harke went on. “Even an H-13 can make it across from Florida, if necessary. It poses no problem whatever for large helicopters. Beavers and Otters taking off from Key West can arrive in Cuba with three hours plus of fuel in their tanks.”

“You’re preaching to the saved, Ken,” Howard said. “I presume you discussed this with Paul Jiggs?”

“General Jiggs rather bluntly informed me that the situation had been considered before his decisions were made, and that he did not have the time to enter into a debate with me about his decisions. I then attempted to bring our position to General Boone’s attention, sir.”

“And?”

“General Boone said he didn’t have the time to discuss it with me, that I’d have to work it out myself with Jiggs. At that point, I felt the situation required that I discuss it with OCT
*
and DCSOPS
**
.”

“What happened?”

“OCT agrees that 2nd Armored can do without some of its aviation assets, but DCSOPS wouldn’t even listen to me. I was told rather bluntly that the decision was properly that of the Joint Assault Force commander, General Boone, and that DCSOPS would not presume to interfere.”

“Did you really think they would?” Howard asked conversationally.

“Under the circumstances, General, I was prepared to take the heat for going out of channels. You’re aware I went to CONARC, sir?”

“I heard about it,” Howard said. “Let’s hear your version of what happened.”

“I went to CONARC because they have authority to allocate all Army aircraft in the country, those which have not already been assigned to JAF or the CONARC Reserve.”

“And what did CONARC say?” Howard asked.

“The CONARC commander said that I could ‘talk to Rucker’ and see what fixed-and rotary-wing aircraft could be spared from the Aviation Center’s training fleet ‘in a pinch.’ When I called Rucker, Rucker told me every aircraft which could be spared had already been sent to Florida, and that ‘contingency plans’ called for the shutting down of the school training program and sending what was left of the fleet to Joint Assault Force if necessary. And to change to that program, I was told, would require authority from JAF at MacDill.”

“So you were back where you started?” Howard asked.

“Yes, sir. I didn’t really expect to get anything from Rucker. Paul Jiggs left a Colonel Martinelli in command of Rucker when he went to MacDill to become Joint Assault Force J-3. Martinelli knows where his bread is buttered. If he was going to make extra aircraft available, he would make them available to JAF, not XVIII Corps.”

General Howard shrugged. General Harke took the gesture to signal agreement.

“All of this,” he said, “could have been avoided if XVIII Airborne Corps had been given the mission of invading Cuba, instead of some super-duper
ad hoc
Joint Assault Force which wasn’t even in existence three weeks ago.”

General Howard looked at him curiously, which again encouraged General Harke to continue.

“By definition, a corps is a headquarters under a lieutenant general commanding two or more divisions. Corps can be, and have been, a hell of a lot larger than two divisions, too. In Korea, I. D. White’s X Corps (Group) had one American and three Korean corps under it, and he was only a lieutenant general. X Corps (Group) was an army in everything but name. There’s no damned reason to have this demand Joint Assault Force under a four-star general, except that Armor doesn’t want to find itself under an Airborne commander. If Armor had its way, they would invade Cuba the way Cavalry did in 1899, by lowering horses over the sides of ships into the ocean and swimming them ashore.”