The Liberation Trilogy Box Set

by Rick Atkinson

  Fifteen thousand soldiers: Parton, 355, 386; Raymond H. Croll, memoir, ts, 1973, R.H. Croll papers, MHI, 215 (“in and out of windows”); corr, Graham Erdwurm to author, Sept. 5, 2003 (“New England cotton mill”); corr, Jon Clayton to family, Feb. 14, 1944, 7th Inf Regt, 3rd ID, ASEQ, MHI, 2 (“midnight in a madhouse”); John North, ed., The Alexander Memoirs, 1940–1945, 109 (“whoever arrived first”).

  The building had little heat: Parton, 389 (“shivering and scratching”); Lavinia Holland-Hibbert Orde, “Better Late Than Never,” ts, n.d., IWM, 96/34/1, 193; Medding, “The Road to Rome,” X-38, 49–50, 53.

  The twelve hundred rooms: Charles F. Marshall, A Ramble Through My War, 13; Medding, The Road to Rome,” X-38, 41, 55 (soldiers’ fingerprints); corr, Clayton, Feb. 14, 1944 (basketball court); memoir, P. Royle, ts, 1972, IWM, 99/72/1, 116 (venereal disease); Lynn H. Nicholas, The Rape of Europa, 234; memo, H. M. Wilson, March 20, 1944; memo, J. L. Devers, March 20, 1944; corr, H. M. Wilson, March 28, 1944; corr, J. L. Devers, March 31, 1944, all in NARA RG 492, MTOUSA AG, 33.5-446, box 1431.

  An errant bomb had bent: Churchill, Surgeon to Soldiers, 292 (“stuffy, swank dining room”); Bill Mauldin, Up Front, 139; Medding, “The Road to Rome,” X-38, 48–49 (palace porcelain); letter, R.L.V. ffrench Blake to author, July 27, 2003 (“if anyone dropped a plate”).

  Officers in the palace bar: Malcolm S. McLean, “Adventures in Occupied Areas,” ts, 1975, MHI, 68; George Biddle, Artist at War, 223; Carver, The Imperial War Museum Book of the War in Italy, 138 (“made less and less sense”); Parton, 368 (“big as cabbage leaves”); David Hunt, A Don at War, 250–51 (San Carlo Opera Company); Marshall, 14; Medding, “The Road to Rome,” X-38, 55.

  a “looking glass war”: Churchill, Surgeon to Soldiers, 292, 294; “History of the Aviation Engineers in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations,” June 1946, historical section, AAF Engineer Command, CEOH, X-39; C. L. Sulzberger, A Long Row of Candles, 234; Nicolson, The Grenadier Guards, 368; JPL, 185 (hungry soldiers soon emptied); Medding, “The Road to Rome,” X-38, 36–37, 59; Marshall, 13.

  engineers built a colony for generals: Morton, 269; Bertarelli, 259; “History of the Aviation Engineers,” X-39 (“feeling of the men”); Parton, 390.

  maintained twenty-two lofts: AAR, 6681st Signal Pigeon Co, July 9, 1944, NARA RG 407, SGCO-6681-0.1, box 23228; Hunt, 250–51 (“extremely noisy”); Vaughan-Thomas, 201 (“get in your bones”).

  Clark rarely missed a chance: diary, MWC, Jan. 28, 1944, Citadel, box 65; corr, Graham Erdwurm to author, Sept. 5, 2003 (rope factories); Medding, “The Road to Rome,” X-38, 53; http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ships/PT/PT-201.html; http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq60-5.htm (motor torpedo boats); Calculated, 292; memo, HKH to Ernest J. King, June 6, 1944, “Report of the Engagement Between the USS Sway and PTs 201 and 206 on 28 January 1944,” MWC, Citadel, box 3, folder 7 (Neither boat crew took time).

  Alexander had prodded Clark: Martin Blumenson, Mark Clark, 187; Viscount Alexander of Tunis, “The Allied Armies in Italy,” n.d., CMH, II-34 (“Risks must be taken”).

  “The left corner of Clark’s mouth”: PP, 396; MWC to Renie, Jan. 18, 1944, personal corr, Citadel (“by massaging my hair”); diary, MWC, Jan. 23, 25, 28, 1944, Citadel, box 65.

  “The more stars a man gets”: Maurine Clark, Captain’s Bride, General’s Lady, 115; Blumenson, Mark Clark, 196–97 (“You turn your lamb chops”); MWC to Renie, Jan. 11, 1944, personal corr, Citadel (“I am distressed”).

  “an awfully good man”: Blumenson, Mark Clark, 196–97; Eisenhower diary, Nov. 23, 1943, HCB, DDE Lib, A-908 (“victimized by his wife”).

  “It causes me some embarrassment”: DDE to MWC, Nov. 22, 1943, DDE Lib, PP-pres, box 23. Released from restricted materials at author’s request.

  “I do not want you to refer to me”: MWC to Renie, Nov. 27, Dec. 17, 1943, personal corr, Citadel.

  Clark’s virtues as a commander: OH, Jacob E. Smart, Nov. 1978, Arthur W. McCants and James C. Hasdorff, AFHRA 239.0512-1108 (“broad-gauged”); “Beyond the Bridgehead,” Time, Oct. 4, 1943, 28+ (“‘ringside’ visits”); OH, Harry Lemley, 1974, Gerald F. Feeney, SOOHP, MHI, 2/32; Eric Sevareid, Not So Wild a Dream, 379 (puzzled theatergoers); Charles D’Orsa, “Trials and Tribulations of an Army G-4,” ts, n.d., CARL, N-4906, 1 (“I want my headquarters”).

  “The general was a difficult man”: Vernon A. Walters, Silent Missions, 93, 95; OH, Robert J. Wood, former asst. G-3, Fifth Army, March 4, 15, 1948, and “Memo for Mr. Matthews,” March 22, 1948, SM, MHI (“very impatient man”); Sulzberger, 232 (“rather Renaissance Florentine”).

  “entitled to take Rome”: Calculated, 289; Sulzberger, 231; Sevareid, 383.

  Since Salerno, battle casualties alone: Salerno, 93–94; From the Volturno to the Winter Line, 114; Fifth Army at the Winter Line, 114; attributed to Joseph Stalin. Elizabeth Knowles, ed., The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, 636 (million deaths a statistic); Chester G. Starr, ed., From Salerno to the Alps, 269 (twenty thousand dead).

  “Sometimes if I appear to be unreasonable”: Walters, 109.

  “what looked like a piece of driftwood”: Burtt Evans [sic] and Burgess W. Scott, “Nightmare Job at Anzio,” March 3, 1944, in Steve Kluger, Yank, 159+.

  At 8:40 A.M., twelve miles south of Anzio: memo, H. S. Strauss, CO, U.S.S. Sway, to CO, Task Force 81, Jan. 29, 1944, MWC papers, Citadel, box 3, folder 7.

  One minute after the initial challenge: memo, S.M. Barnes, CO, Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 15, to HKH, March 26, 1944, MWC, Citadel, box 3, folder 7; Gervasi, 533

  “What shall we do?”: Blumenson, Mark Clark, 175–77.

  Clark helped brace the helmsman: memo, unsigned, to MWC, Jan. 28, 1944, MWC, corr, Oct. 1943–Jun 1944, box 3; Gervasi, 533; memo, Strauss, Jan. 29, 1944, (“weight on the conscience”); memo, HKH to King, June 6, 1944; diary, MWC, Jan. 28, 1944, Citadel, box 65 (“as flagrant an error”).

  “a downward slant”: Calculated, 294; Rossi and Casaldi, 159; OH, Casaldi, May 7–8, 2004 (into the wine cellars); SSA, 356 (“this white apartment house”).

  marooned all Navy pontoons ashore: “Report on Port and Beach Operations at Anzio,” 540th Engineer Combat Regt, Apr. 29, 1944, NARA RG 334, NWC Lib, ANSCOL, box 343; minutes, Anzio supply conference, Jan. 30, 1944, Naples, NARA RG 492, MTOUSA, transportation section, box 2697 (civilian schooners).

  As for the enemy: Charles W. Crawford, III, “A Study of the Adequacy of the Intelligence Provided Maj. Gen. John P. Lucas,” ts, June 1970, CARL, N-8224.494; “Historical Record, HQ, VI Corps, Mounting and Initial Phase of Operation SHINGLE,” March 15, 1944, LKT Jr., GCM Lib, box 13, folder 2 (“horse-and motorcycle-mounted”); Sheehan, 71f (estimated 72,000); E. T. Williams and R. H. Humphreys, “Reports Received by U.S. War Department on Use of Ultra in the European Theater, WWII,” Oct. 1945, NARA RG 457, E 9002, SRH-037, 9 (“We deal not with the true”).

  “Our enemies did not react”: memo, “Morale of Troops,” JPL to R.T. Frederick, Feb. 22, 1944, Robert T. Frederick papers, HIA, box 1.

  None of this surprised Clark: Arthur F. Fournier, “Influence of Ultra Intelligence upon General Clark at Anzio,” thesis, 1983, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Ft. L, 102–6; Mark, 129–30; Andrew Brookes, Air War over Italy, 1943–1945, 53 (venereal disease hospital); StoC, 388 (“three full divisions”).

  Truscott today had drafted his order: “Historical Record, HQ, VI Corps, Mounting and Initial Phase of Operation SHINGLE.”

  short ride to the Villa Borghese: SSA, 358.

  “His gloomy attitude”: JPL, 348–49; StoC, 390 (“Will go all out”).

  On January 27 and 28 an obscure fighter unit: AAFinWWII, 424.

  Blacks had fought in every American war: Morris J. MacGregor, Jr., Integration of the Armed Forces, 1940–1965, 4; Hondon B. Hargrove, Buffalo Soldiers in Italy, 2; memo, Truman K. Gibson, Jr., office, secretary of war, to Ray E. Porter, Aug. 6, 1945, NARA RG 165, WD, special planning division, general corr, 291.2, box 32 (four black Army regimen
ts); http://www.nps.gov/fols/Buffalo_Soldier/body_buffalo_soldier.html. Other accounts suggest the nickname derived from buffalo hides worn by the men to stay warm.

  “hopelessly inferior, lazy, slothful”: Daniel K. Gibran, The 92nd Infantry Division and the Italian Campaign in World War II, 3; Krewasky A. Salter, Combat Multipliers: African-American Soldiers in Four Wars, 80 (“a thousand years behind”); “History of the Office of the Inspector General in World War II,” 1946, CMH, 2-3.6 AA, 2–3, 12 (Jim Crow laws).

  When World War II began: Ulysses Lee, The Employment of Negro Troops, 88, 416 (633,000 soldiers); “The Negro in the Navy,” 1947, Bureau of Naval Personnel, “United States Naval Administration in WWII,” 1 (only six black sailors), 14–15, 41 (no black officers); Salter, 82 (“segregation will be maintained”); Matt Schudel, “Frederick C. Branch Was 1st Black Officer in U.S. Marine Corps,” Apr. 13, 2005, WP, B6.

  segregation “has proven satisfactory”: memo, “War Department policy in regard to negroes,” Oct. 16, 1940, WD, AG office, NARA RG 165, E 501, WD, special planning division, general corr, 291.2, box 32; “Attitudes of White Enlisted Men Toward Sharing Facilities with Negro Troops,” July 30, 1942, SOS, research branch, NARA RG 165, E 501, WD, general corr, 291.2, box 32 (“strong prejudice against sharing”); Hargrove, 4 (“not a sociological laboratory”); memo, HQ, AGF, July 20, 1943, chief of staff journal, NARA RG 337 (“93rd Division has three bands”); Bernard C. Nalty, Strength for the Fight, 147 (“fraught with danger”).

  The 1940 Draft Act: “African Americans in World War II,” 1994, fact sheet, commemoration committee, 50th anniversary, WWII; David M. Kennedy, Freedom from Fear, 632–33 (only 250 blacks); Lee, 213 (Mississippi congressional delegation); Hargrove, 8; article, Deton J. Brooks, Jr., Chicago Defender, Nov. 6, 1943, in Reporting World War II, vol. 1, 662; Patrick K. O’Donnell, Beyond Valor, 108 (German and Italian prisoner trustees); Time, July 10, 1944, 65, in Bell I. Wiley, “The Training of Negro Troops,” 1946, AGF, historical section, study no. 36, 13; “History of the Office of the Inspector General in World War II,” 1946, CMH, 2-3.6 AA, 2–3, 12 (“boy, darky”); Alan M. Osur, “Separate and Unequal: Race Relations in the AAF During WWII,” 7 (“Double V”), 32, 42, 45 (“Heil, Hitler!”).

  “lack of education and mechanical skill”: Wiley, “The Training of Negro Troops,” iii, 3 (“too great a concentration of Negroes”), 7; MacGregor, 24; memo, Gibson to Porter, Aug. 6, 1945 (lowest two categories).

  blacks were shunted into quartermaster companies: Erna Risch and Chester L. Kieffer, The Quartermaster Corps: Organization, Supply, and Services, vol. 2, 168–69; Collins, 190; Lee, 406 (only two in ten); Hargrove, vii.

  the 92nd would endure trials: Dale E. Wilson, “Recipe for Failure: Major General Edward M. Almond and Preparation of the U.S. 92nd Infantry Division for Combat in World War II,” Journal of Military History, vol. 56, no. 3 (July 1992), 473; Gibran, 17, 21, 35–36 (overbearing Virginian); OH, Edward M. Almond, Nov. 16, 1953, Lee Nichols, NARA RG 319, OCMH, CA, box 005, 1–8 (“The Negro doesn’t care”).

  Almond asserted that black officers lacked: In a cover note, Lucian Truscott, then commander of Fifth Army, declared himself “in entire agreement.” E. M. Almond, “Combat Effectiveness of Negro Officers and Enlisted Men,” July 2, 1945, NARA RG 165, WD, special planning div, general corr, 291.2, box 34; Wiley, “The Training of Negro Troops,” 8 (“learn slowly”).

  Such obstacles and more faced the 99th: William Alexander Percy, “Jim Crow and Uncle Sam,” Journal of Military History, vol. 67, no. 3 (July 2003), 773+; http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/history/prewwii/ta.htm; Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., Benjamin O. Davis, Jr.: American, 26–28, 75.

  A week before the invasion of Sicily: Herman S. Wolk, “Pantelleria, 1943,” Air Force Magazine, vol. 85, no. 6, June 2002; Charles E. Francis, The Tuskegee Airmen, 85; Stanley Sandler, Segregated Skies, 46 (“proper reflexes”); Percy, “Jim Crow and Uncle Sam,” 773 (“releasing a white squadron”).

  Davis, who was promoted: Lee, 450, 460; Francis, 75 (“collection of born dive bombers”); Richard G. Davis, Carl A. Spaatz and the Air War in Europe, 294 (“fault of the whites”); Percy, “Jim Crow and Uncle Sam,” 773 (225 missions).

  Then came the morning of January 27: Sandler, 56–57; Francis, 87 (“I started firing”).

  After refueling in Naples: The official Army history claimed that thirteen German planes were destroyed. Davis and others claimed only twelve. Lee, 517; Davis, 104.

  “Negroes are doing their bit”: John C. McManus, The Deadly Brotherhood, 246.

  Jerryland

  On Saturday afternoon, January 29: aide’s diaries, Jan. 29, 1943; Francis A. Even, “The Tenth Engineers,” ts, 1996, author’s possession, 34; author visit, Borgo Montello formerly Conca, May 7, 2004; e-mail, S. Casaldi to author, June 28, 2004; Hugh A. Scott, The Blue and White Devils, 103.

  He still spoke in a raspy whisper: diary, Jan. 24, 1944, Don E. Carleton papers, HIA, box 1; CM, 312; LKT Jr. to Sarah, Jan. 25, 1943, LKT Jr. papers, GCM Lib, box 1, folder 6.

  Two miles farther lay Highway 7 and Cisterna: Acts, 28:15; Trevelyan, 74; Jeff R. Stewart, “The Ranger Force at the Battle of Cisterna,” 2004, thesis, CGSC, Ft. L, 70 (five major roads); aide’s diaries, Jan. 26, 1943; CM, 312.

  “Spirits are not particularly high”: G-2 periodic report No. 130, Feb. 5, 1944, VI Corps, JPL papers, MHI, box 1; attachment, G-2 periodic report No. 138, Feb. 13, 1944, VI Corps, JPL papers, MHI, box 1 (“the air roars”); “Estimate of the Situation,” 3rd ID, G-2, Jan. 29, 1944, Robert W. Black papers, MHI, box 2, folder 10; Stewart, “The Ranger Force at the Battle of Cisterna,” 64; Nicolson, The Grenadier Guards in the War of 1939–1945, 399–400 (missed a turn); Verney, 69–70; CM, 313; Allen, 70.

  Kesselring had planned a massive counterattack: journal, Fourteenth Army, Jan. 29, 1944, “The German Operation at Anzio,” Apr. 1946, German Military Document Section, Military Intelligence Div, WD, JPL papers, MHI, box 9; “Air Participation in Operation SHINGLE, Jan. 1–Feb. 15, 1944,” Oct. 1945, CARL, N-11614, 10, appendices K and R (foul weather obscured rail targets); Calculated, 295 (“not seriously considered”); CM, 313 (Thousands of grenadiers); Anthony J. Abati, “Cisterna di Littoria: A Brave Yet Futile Effort,” Army History, fall 1991, 13+; Lloyd Clark, Anzio, 136 (exceeded 71,000), 147; Molony V, 648 (33 battalions); note on Carraceto operations, William R. C. Penney, Jan. 29, 1944, LHC, 8/12.

  Darby’s Rangers spent the afternoon: Darby and Baumer, 157; Arnbal, 229 (“solemn, tired, and quiet”), 227 (never carried personal letters); OH, William P. Yarborough, 1975, J. R. Meese and H. P. Houser, SOOHP, MHI, 54 (“cutthroats”); Milton Lehman, “The Rangers Died Fighting at Dawn,” mss, March 11, 1944, Stars and Stripes, “Combat Reports, 1st Ranger Battalion,” USMA micro, MP63-8, roll 1 (barbers stayed busy); Martin Blumenson, Anzio: The Gamble That Failed, 97 (“Mail arrived late Saturday”); Hans Juergensen, Beachheads and Mountains, 24 (like dry bones).

  Darby had been busy since dawn: AAR, “Account of Ranger Force During Period 28 January to 31 January 1944,” HQ, Ranger Force, Feb. 2, 1944, “Combat Reports, 1st Ranger Battalion,” USMA micro, MP63-8, roll 1 (“avoiding contact”); Michael J. King, William Orlando Darby, 150–51; Jerome J. Haggerty, “A History of the Ranger Battalion in World War II,” 1982, Ph.D. diss, Fordham University, MHI, 154; Darby and Baumer, 156 (“Jerryland”); Anthony J. Abati, “Cisterna di Littoria: A Brave Yet Futile Effort,” Army History, fall 1991, 13+; Nicholas J. Grunzweig, “The Operations of the 1st Battalion, 7th Infantry, at Le Mole Creek Near Cisterna,” 1949, IS.

  The size of the attack heartened him: King, 150–51; James J. Altieri, Darby’s Rangers: An Illustrated Portrayal of the Original Rangers, 74; Arnbal, 227; “The OSS Detachment at the Anzio Beachhead,” NARA RG 226, E 99, OSS history office, box 39, 1, 4 (only four enemy battalions); “The Rangers,” Life, July 2, 1944, 59+ (“shaking with patriotism”); Donald Downes, The Scarlet Thread, 150 (“finest body of troops”).

  Yet the expansion o
f the force: Each Ranger battalion was about half the size of a regular infantry battalion, and was divided into six companies.

  Too many men still bunched up: Michael J. King, “Rangers: Selected Combat Operations in World War II,” June 1985, CSI, 31; Haggerty, “A History of the Ranger Battalion in World War II,” 154; Thomas M. Johnson, “The Army’s Fightingest Outfit Comes Home,” Nov. 5, 1944, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, condensed in Reader’s Digest, Dec. 1944, 51+ (muffle a canteen).

  Would Truscott’s infantry quickly reinforce: After the war, the 4th Ranger Battalion commander said Darby believed that the Cisterna attack was “too risky.” OH, Roy Murray, May 21, 1948, SM, CMH, Geog Files, Italy 314.7.

  No Ranger reconnaissance: David W. Hogan, Jr., Raiders or Elite Infantry?, 58, 60; Robert W. Black, Rangers in World War II, 150–51; Grunzweig, “The Operations of the 1st Battalion, 7th Infantry” (hedgerows); AAR, “Account of Ranger Force” Ranger Force journal, Jan. 29, 1944, 1835 hrs, “Combat Reports, 1st Ranger Battalion,” USMA micro, MP63-8, roll 1 (“city may have considerable opposition”).

  “Pistol Packin’ Mama”: James Altieri, The Spearheaders, 308–10; Darby and Baumer, 157–59; Oscar W. Koch, G-2: Intelligence for Patton, 40–43 (sounds difficult for German-speakers); Ranger Force journal, Jan. 30, 1944; Field Order no. 2 (red Very flares).

  “Morale of men excellent”: AAR, 1st Ranger Bn, March 31, 1944, “Combat Reports, 1st Ranger Battalion,” USMA micro, MP63-8, roll 1; Alvah H. Miller, “The Men of My Command,” n.d., in “2004 Reunion Program Book,” Fort Wayne, Ind., Aug. 2004, author’s possession, 84.

  isolated farmhouse on the right side of the road: Ranger Force journal, Jan. 29, 1944; King, 152; Altieri, Darby’s Rangers, 75; StoC, 391.

  Barely half a mile up the Conca road: AAR, 4th Ranger Bn, Feb. 15, 1944, and “Journal of Operations,” 4th Ranger Bn, Jan. 22–31, 1944, Robert W. Black papers, MHI, box 4, folder 11; Altieri, Darby’s Rangers, 75; OH, Roy Murray, May 21, 1948; “Personal Diary of Langan W. Swent,” Jan. 30, 1944, Langan W. Swent papers, HIA, box 1 (white pillar of flame); Ranger Force journal, Jan. 30, 1944, 0433 hrs, “Combat Reports, 1st Ranger Battalion” King, 154; Darby and Baumer, 159 (“all was not well”).