The Liberation Trilogy Box Set

by Rick Atkinson

  No sooner did: Rame, Road to Tunis, 247–48 (“like a bright diamond” and “within a matter of minutes”); Pyle, Here Is Your War, 170 (“Brown geysers”).

  The killing was confined: Lavoie et al., “The First Armored Division at Faïd-Kasserine” Macksey, Crucible of Power, 149–153 (electric blue); Macksey, Tank Versus Tank, performance chart, 107; Ellis, On the Front Lines, 117 (“it takes ten minutes”); “Record of Events,” 2nd Bn appendix to AAR, 1st Armored Regt, North African campaign, Nov. 8, 1942–May 9, 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 14916 (“None returned”).

  “As dusk began”: R. E. McQuillin, comments on draft of Northwest Africa: Seizing the Initiative in the West, n.d., NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 228; Balzer, ASEQ, 1st Armored Regt, MHI (“I found myself”); Howe, The Battle History of the 1st Armored Division, 163–65 (“We might have walloped”); NWAf, 415; DDE, “Commander-in-Chief’s Dispatch, North African Campaign, 1942–1943,” 35; Krekeler, ASEQ, 91st Armored FA, MHI; Anderson to DDE, Feb. 15, 1943, 1743 hrs, NARA RG 331 micro, AFHQ G-3 Forward, R-99-D, 319.1 (“dangerously dispersed”); Tobin, 82 (“awful nights”).

  “Sometimes That Is Not Good Enough”

  The immolation: Des Moines Sunday Register, July 18, 1943, 1; AAR, 2nd Bn, 168th Inf Regt, Feb. 3–19, 1943, “Kasserine Pass Battles,” vol. I, part 1, CMH; Austin, 87 (“Message okay”).

  At 10:30 P.M.: AAR, 2nd Bn, 168th Inf Regt, Feb. 15–16, 1943, Iowa GSM (“so close”); Norland Norgaard, AP dispatch in Red Oak Express, Feb. 22, 1943, 1; Des Moines Sunday Register, July 18, 1943, 1; “An American Story: The Life and Times of a Midlands Family,” Omaha World-Herald, Nov. 9, 1997, 1; Hougen, The Story of the Famous 34th Infantry Division; NWAf, 424; Eugene L. Daniels, DSC citation, NATOUSA Gen’l. Order 66, July 30, 1943, NARA RG 492.

  Drake’s ordeal: AAR account, Marvin E. Williams, 3rd Bn, 168th Inf, “Kasserine Pass Battles,” vol. I, part 1, CMH (“Besieged”); letter, Drake to Ryder, Oct. 4, 1944, Ryder Papers, DDE Lib, box 1; Tätigkeitsbericht, 10th Panzer Div., Feb. 16, 1943, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 225; AAR, “168th Inf Regiment Narrative of Action,” Iowa GSM; Blumenson, Kasserine Pass, 196; Kriegstagebuch, 21st Panzer Div., Feb. 17, 1943, “Kasserine Pass Battles,” vol. I, part 2, CMH; Robert L. Owen, ts, Jan. 19, 1993, “Kasserine Pass file,” Iowa GSM; AAR accounts, G. C. Line, T. D. Drake, “Kasserine Pass Battles,” vol. I, part 1, CMH; “Brief Statement of Lt. Col. John H. Van Vliet, Jr.,” in “168th Inf Regt. Narrative of Action,” Iowa GSM; AAR, Harry P. Hoffman, 3rd Bn, 168th Inf Regt, Iowa GSM.

  A few minutes later: H. P. Hoffman, G. C. Line, T. D. Drake accounts, “Kasserine Pass Battles,” vol. I, part 1, CMH; Van Vliet account, “168th Inf Regt. Narrative of Action,” Iowa GSM; Larson, ed., “The History and Contribution to American Democracy of Volunteer ‘Citizen Soldiers’ of Southwest Iowa, 1930–1945,” 57–58; AAR, 3rd Bn, 168th Inf Regt, Feb. 16–17, 1943, Iowa GSM.

  “We marched”: Bill Roth, “The Longest Days of a G.I.,” n.d., Iowa GSM (“Whenever the moon”); Larson, ed., 61–63; author interview, Dave Berlovich, Oct. 19, 1999 (“You’re marked”).

  Dawn caught them: author interviews, Clifton J. Warner, Ross W. Cline, Oct. 19, 1999; AAR, 3rd Bn, 168th Inf Regt, Feb. 17, 1943, Iowa GSM; Drake, in “Kasserine Pass Battles,” vol. I, part 1 (“gained the desired ground”); William Walling Luttrell, “A Personal Account of the Experiences as a German Prisoner of War,” ts, n.d., Iowa GSM (“He took one look”); Van Vliet account, “168th Inf Regt. Narrative of Action,” Iowa GSM; letter, Drake to Ryder, Oct. 4, 1944, Ryder Papers, DDE Lib, box 1 (“You go to hell”); Blumenson, Kasserine Pass, 199; Roth, “The Longest Days of a G.I.” Kriegstagebuch, 21st Panzer Div., Feb. 17, 1943, “Kasserine Pass Battles,” vol. I, part 2, CMH; NWAf, 424; Larson, ed., 61–63, 66–67; letter, Gerald C. Line to wife, March 2, 1943, Iowa GSM, #1999.25.2 (“sane or insane”).

  Their triumph at Sidi bou Zid: “Signal Communication in the North African Campaigns,” 1945, Historical Section, Special Activities Branch, Office of the Chief Signal Officer, “Tactical Communication in World War II, Part 1,” MHI, 166 (“unbelievably low”); Philipsborn report to Robinett, CCB, 1st AD, Feb. 16, 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427; Howe, “American Signal Intelligence in Northwest Africa and Western Europe,” 1980, U.S. Cryptologic History, series IV, WWII, vol. I, NARA RG 457, NSA files, SRH 391, box 114, 29–30; war diary, Panzer Army Afrika, Feb. 16, 1943, “Kasserine Pass Battles,” vol. I, part 2, (mislabeled “Fifth Panzer Army”), CMH; Destruction, 292; NWAf, 425–26.

  Rommel’s staff car: Liddell Hart, ed., The Rommel Papers, 398–400 (“Hitler! Rommel!”); Messenger, 50.

  Arnim had: Liddell Hart, ed., The Rommel Papers, 400 (“I had never gambled”); war diary, Panzer Army Afrika, Feb. 18, 1943, “Kasserine Pass Battles,” vol. I, part 2, CMH; Irving, The Trail of the Fox, 270; Arnim, “Recollections of Tunisia,” FMS, C-098, 55; minutes of conference with Kesselring, Arnim, et al., war diary, 10th Panzer Div, Feb. 15, 1943, “Kasserine Pass Battles,” vol. I, part 2.

  Allied intelligence detected: Hugh Skillen, Spies of the Airwaves, 274; Bennett, Ultra and Mediterranean Strategy, 206–207.

  Kesselring dithered: war diary, Panzer Army Afrika, Feb. 18, 19, 1943, “Kasserine Pass Battles,” vol. I, part 2, CMH; NWAf, 440; Liddell Hart, ed., The Rommel Papers, 402 (“appalling and unbelievable”), 411 (“old war horse”).

  Not since A.D. 647: Blumenson, Kasserine Pass, 178; Robinett, Armor Command, 165–66 (“indescribable confusion”); Howze, “The Battle of Sidi bou Zid” Schrijvers, 63 (“slapping us around”).

  Panic built slowly: Martin, 47; Cowdrey, 117 (“a ghastly word”); Roberta Love Tayloe, Combat Nurse: A Journal of World War II, 39; letter, unsigned, Feb. 23, 1943, MCC, YU (“Americans never retreat”).

  Night deepened: letter, unsigned, Feb. 17, 1943, MCC, YU (“Shooting. Have to go”); “Account of Carleton S. Coon,” NARA RG 226, OSS records, E 99, box 39, folder 8 (“We didn’t want to”); “Signal Communication in the North African Campaigns,” 1945, Historical Section, Special Activities Branch, Office of the Chief Signal Officer, “Tactical Communication in World War II, Part 1,” MHI, 100, 164 (pigeon platoon).

  At 8:30 P.M.: Howe, The Battle History of the 1st Armored Division, 172; Philipsborn report to Robinett, CCB, 1st AD, Feb. 16, 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427; NWAf, 432; letter, R. I. Stack to G. F. Howe, March 8, 1951, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 226; Rame, 253; Ankrum, 221 (“I’ll be damned”); Robert M. Marsh, ASEQ, ts, notes to G. F. Howe, Sept. 23, 1952, 81st Reconnaissance Bn, 1st AD, MHI (“We were next”); Oswald Jett, ASEQ, “As I Saw the War,” ts, n.d., 47th Medical Bn, 1st AD, MHI, 287 (“Get that junk”).

  The fog of war: McCurtain Scott, OH, March 1976, Gugeler, OW, MHI (“annoyed and rattled”); diary, Feb. 16, 1943, OW, MHI; Gugeler, ts, OW, MHI, x-85.

  Ward was further discomposed: CCA, “Narrative of Events from 23 January 1943 to 26 Feb.,” NARA RG 407, E 427, 601-CCA-0.3, box 14825; Ben Crosby, OH, March 1951, G. F. Howe, SM, MHI; letter, R. I. Stack to G. F. Howe, March 8, 1951, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 226 (“I told General Ward”); author visit, Apr. 2000; NWAf, 432.

  Fredendall immediately: phone memos, Feb. 16–17, 1943, LKT Jr. Papers, GCM Lib, box 9; Truscott, Command Missions, 159–62 (“tanks were fighting”); Blumenson, Kasserine Pass, 191; PMR, “Comments on Kasserine Pass by Martin Blumenson,” PMR, MHI, 7; II Corps provost marshal journal, Feb. 19, 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 3126.

  This farrago: Kriegstagebuch, 21st Panzer Div., Feb. 16–17, 1943, “Kasserine Pass Battles,” vol. I, part 2, CMH; Howe, The Battle History of the 1st Armored Division, 172–73; war diary, 10th Panzer Div., Feb. 17, 1943, “Kasserine Pass Battles,” vol. I, part 2, CMH.

  “Move the big elephants”: Robinett, Armor Command, 165–69 (“When things are going badly”); Robinett, “The Axis Offensive in Central Tunisia,” lecture, n.d., PMR, LOC MS Div.

  In truth: Blumenson, Kasserine Pass, 192 (“Everything is going badly”); phone transcript, Feb. 17, 1943, 1055 hrs., LKT Jr. Papers, GCM
Lib, box 9 (“I have had”).

  Ward and Robinett braced: L. C. Gates, The History of the 10th Foot, 1919–1950, 135; letter, T. Riggs to parents, June 25, 1943, PMR, LOC MS Div, box 4 (“We stood in the cactus”).

  Fifteen minutes: Tank Destroyer Forces World War II, 27 (“Everybody was throwing”); Gardiner, “We Fought at Kasserine,” 8 (“I counted thirty-five”); Robinett, Armor Command, 167–75 (“let them have it!”); Robinett, “The Axis Offensive in Central Tunisia,” lecture; n.d.; Howe, The Battle History of the 1st Armored Division, 175–79; NWAf, 434–36; CCB log, Feb. 17, 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427, 601-CCB-0.3, box 14825.

  “War is cruelty”: Foote, The Civil War, vol. III, 602; Rame, 252, 254 (“The night was heavy”); Tobin, 82 (“You need feel”).

  “This Place Is Too Hot”

  Two formidable sentinels: author visits, Sept. 1996 and Apr. 2000; NWAf, 348, 446 (“gigantic, crudely corrugated”).

  Kasserine Pass is not impregnable: NWAf, 446 (“offers such advantages”); phone transcript, Feb. 17, 1943, 1340 hrs. (“I am holding”), and phone memo, Rooks to Truscott, Feb. 18, 1943, LKT Jr. Papers, GCM Lib, box 9; AAR, 19th Engineers, March 8, 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 19248; Beck et al., 96–98 (failed to complete); Conway, SOOHP, MHI (“trying to draw a line”).

  Just beyond: NWAf, 440–42, 453; Hoffman, Stauffenberg, 171; war diary, Panzer Army Afrika, Feb. 19, 1943, “Kasserine Pass Battles,” vol. I, part 2; Kesselring, Memoirs, 151; Destruction, 295.

  Even at his distant remove: “History of the 26th Infantry in the Present Struggle,” MRC FDM, 8/14–16 (“pull a Stonewall Jackson”); phone transcript, Feb. 18, 1943, 1022 hrs., LKT Jr. Papers, GCM Lib, box 9; Heller and Stofft, eds., 255–57 (hold back more than 200); letter, Stark to OW, Jan. 28, 1951, OW, MHI; “Historical Record of the 19th Engineer Regiment,” Oct. 1942–Oct. 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 19248; AAR, 2nd Bn, 19th Engineers, RG 407, box 19248; author interview, Hans von Luck, May 1994, Hamburg; Hans von Luck, Panzer Commander, 113; war diary, Afrika Korps, Feb. 19, 1943, “Kasserine Pass Battles,” vol. I, part 2.

  And, soon, on the right: Davis, “The Battle of Kasserine Pass,” 22; “History of the 26th Infantry in the Present Struggle,” MRC FDM, 8/19; NWAf, 451.

  Shadows swallowed: memo, Charles A. L. Dunphie, forwarded to G. F. Howe from Cabinet Office historical section, Sept. 11, 1951, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 229 (“out of his depth”); “Report of Operations,” II Corps, May 2, 1943, “Kasserine Pass Battles,” vol. 1, part 2, CMH (“well in hand”); letter, Stark to OW, Jan. 28, 1951, OW, MHI (“that blockhead”); “History of the 26th Infantry,” MRC FDM, 8/21.

  Even as this puff: diary, Charles M. Thomas, Co. C, 19th Engineers, possession of Roger Cirillo (“The worst of it all”); letter, George F. Hertz, published in Iowa City Daily Iowan, May 19, 1943, MCC, YU; Ellis, On the Front Lines, 89 (“women sobbing”).

  Night fever spread: AAR, 19th Engineers, March 8, 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 19248 (“A considerable number of men”); “History of the 26th Infantry,” MRC FDM, 8/22; NWAf, 452; “Historical Record of the 19th Engineer Regiment,” Oct. 1942–Oct. 1943, NARA RG 407, box 19248; II Corps provost marshal journal, report from William A. Seitz, Co. A, 26th Inf, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427, box 3126 (“In some instances”).

  Bad as the bad night: NWAf, 454–55; Hoffman, Stauffenberg, 171.

  The American collapse: “History of the 26th Infantry,” MRC FDM, 8/24–25; diary, C. M. Thomas, possession of Roger Cirillo (“Forget about”); Blumenson, Kasserine Pass, 249–52; “Historical Record of the 19th Engineer Regiment,” Oct. 1942–Oct. 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 19248 (“This place is too hot”).

  The “uncoordinated withdrawal”: AAR, 19th Engineer Regt, March 8, 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 19248; “History of the 26th Infantry,” MRC FDM, 8/22–25 (French gunners and “action shots” and “Fight to the last man”); Blumenson, Kasserine Pass, 255 (Casualties just among infantrymen); NWAf, 455; Conway, SOOHP, MHI (Washington on horseback); letter, Stark to OW, Jan. 28, 1951, OW, MHI (“We had to crawl”).

  “Order, Counter-order, and Disorder”

  Demolitionists laid: Rame, 263 (slabs of guncotton); McNamara, 57; “Tébessa Tableaux,” ts, n.d., Samuel L. Meyers Papers, MHI (slaughtering every chicken).

  As always in the great clash: letter, TR to Eleanor, Feb. 24, 1943, TR, LOC; Renehan, 234; Roosevelt, Day Before Yesterday, 441.

  Little buoyancy: Mason, “Reminiscences and Anecdotes of World War II,” MRC FDM (“head in hands”); These Are the Generals, 227 (“I like that man”); James R. Webb, “First Waltz with Rommel,” ts, n.d., James R. Webb Papers, DDE Lib, box 1 (“If I were back home”); Michael Carver, ed., The War Lords: Military Commanders of the Twentieth Century, 603 (“I saw his attitude change”); Blumenson, Kasserine Pass, 280.

  Fredendall repaired: “Diary Covering the Activities of General Fredendall and Supporting Players, Dec. ’42-March ’43,” James R. Webb Collection, DDE Lib (“Dabney, open up the bottle”); Clift Andrus, notes on Omar Bradley’s A Soldier’s Story, n.d., MRC FDM (“Dinner!”).

  “I’m going to be”: Hal Boyle, “Brass Seen at Fault at Kasserine Pass,” Associated Press, Feb. 11, 1948, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 225; Fredendall to DDE, Feb. 19, 1943, DDE Lib, PP-pres, box 42 (“Ward appears tired”).

  While Eisenhower pondered: NWAf, 457–58; Robinett, Armor Command, 175–77; Robinett, “The Axis Offensive in Central Tunisia, Feb. 1943,” lecture; Robinett, letter to G. F. Howe, March 4, 1952, PMR, LOC MS Div., box 4; letter, Philipsborn to G. F. Howe, Feb. 18, 1952, PMR, LOC MS Div., box 4 (“There is no use”); Dunphie memo, forwarded to G. F. Howe from Cabinet Office historical section, Sept. 11, 1951, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 229; Porter, SOOHP, MHI (“Get hold”); letter, F.A.V. Copland-Griffiths to A. F. Smith, March 19, 1943, 1st Guards Bde, PRO WO 175/186 (“the most perfect example”).

  Into the muddle: Alexander, “The African Campaign from El Alamein to Tunis,” 869; DDE to Alexander, Feb. 7, 1943, NARA RG 331, AFHQ micro, R-5-C; Blaxland, 160; Alexander to DDE, Feb. 19, 1943, 1920 hrs., Alexander files, DDE Lib, box 3, folder 8; Alexander to Montgomery, Feb. 22, 1943, in Stephen Brooks, ed., Montgomery and the Eighth Army, 152 (“very shocked”).

  He cut a dashing: Austin, 105; Carver, ed., The War Lords, 332–37 (“natural good manners” and “able more than clever”); Boatner, 4–5; Doherty, Irish Generals, 32, 36 (“At the worst crises”), 38 (Churchill’s favorite); D’Este, Eisenhower: A Soldier’s Life, 650 (mss) (“Our position is catastrophic”); Rupert Clarke, With Alex at War, xii–xiii; Brian Holden Reid, in John Keegan, ed., Churchill’s Generals, 105 (“archetypal Edwardian hero”).

  Some thought him stupid: Reid, in Keegan, ed., Churchill’s Generals, 104 (“Wellington without the wit”), 108 (“empty vessel”), 109 (“Intellect was not”); Rolf, 25; Clarke, With Alex at War, xii (tap dancing); Dominick Graham and Shelford Bidwell, Tug of War: The Battle for Italy, 1943–1945, 36 (“the campaigns of Belisarius”).

  Brilliantly slow: Alexander, OH, n.d., G. F. Howe, SM, MHI (“solid soldier” and “allowing the Germans”); Hamilton, 166 (“The poor body”); Destruction, 304 (“Real fault” and “My Main anxiety”); “Reminiscences of Hanson Weightman Baldwin,” OH, 1976, John T. Mason, Jr., USNI OHD (“old school tie”); Reid, in Keegan, ed., 114 (“quite useless”).

  First, Rommel’s northern thrust: war diary, 10th Panzer Div., Feb. 19, 1943, “Kasserine Pass Battles,” vol. I, part 2, CMH; Benjamin Caffey, OH, Feb. 1950, G. F. Howe, SM, MHI; NWAf, 452–53; Johnson, One More Hill, 37 (“If they attack us”); Howard and Sparrow, 119; “18th Infantry, Draft Regimental Wartime History,” Stanhope Mason Collection, MRC FDM; Camp, ed., 23 (“taking shoe boxes”).

  A renewed assault: author interview, Clem Miller, Jan. 4, 2000; author interviews, Edward Boehm, Nov. 26, 1999, and Jan. 4, 2000; Edward Boehm, “My Autobiography in WWII,” ts, 1997, possession of Roger Cirillo, 36; “The Fragrance of Spring Was Heavy in the Air,” account of 185th FA Bn, Trail Tales, Boone Cou
nty (Iowa) Historical Society, No. 35, 1979, 37; Vernon Hohenberger, “Retracing My Footsteps in World War II,” ts, n.d., Iowa GSM, 37; “The Tunisian Campaign, 34th Division,” Iowa GSM, 5.

  Checked on the right: AAR, 10th Bn, The Rifle Brigade, PRO, WO 175/518; Destruction, 297; Davis, “The Battle of Kasserine Pass,” 22 (“like caterpillars dropping”); The Rifle Brigade in the Second World War, 1939–1945, 217; Austin, 90; D.G.A., “With Tanks to Tunis,” Blackwoods, June 1945, 399 (“We were forced” and “as hard as stiff legs”); ffrench Blake, 118.

  Rommel again held: Liddell Hart, ed., The Rommel Papers, 405; NWAf, 458, 460; Robinett, “Comments on Kasserine Pass by Martin Blumenson,” PMR, MHI, 13, 16.

  A reconnaissance report: author visit, Apr. 2000; NWAf, 461.

  The scouts were wrong: Stanhope Mason and F. W. Gibb, OH, Apr. 26, 1951, G. F. Howe, SM, MHI; letter, Joseph T. Dawson to brother, Feb. 21, 1943, Dawson Collection, MRC FDM (“this is our sector”); Hazen, 104; Steven Clay, Blood and Sacrifice: The History of the 16th Infantry Regiment from the Civil War Through the Gulf War, 33 (mss); Edwin L. Powell, Jr., OH, 1982, Lynn L. Sims, CEOH, 130; Robinett, Armor Command, 181; letter, Philipsborn to G. F. Howe, Feb. 18, 1953, with PMR comments, PMR, LOC MS Div, box 4 (“simply written on the ground”).

  Anderson on this very Saturday: “Personal Diary of Lt. Gen. C. W. Allfrey, the Tunisian Campaign (with 5 Corps),” Feb. 21, 23, 1943, Allfrey Collection, LHC (“American fighting value”); Haggerty, “A History of the Ranger Battalions in World War II,” Ph.D. diss, 121 (“a hairy-chested commander”); Altieri, The Spearheaders, 236 (“Onward we stagger”).