by Alex Kershaw
11 “Hell, no—they’re German”: Ibid.
12 “Shoot them”: Felix Sparks, interview with Chris Miskimon, March 11, 2005. Quoted courtesy of interviewer.
13 Two German tanks exploded: Buechner, Sparks, p. 84.
14 The third tank pulled: Felix Sparks, 157th Infantry Association newsletter, March 31, 1989.
15 An M10 moved thirty: Whitlock, Rock of Anzio, p. 186
16 Sparks saw dust fly: Ibid.
17 “Medics!” cried wounded men: Bishop et al., The Fighting Forty-Fifth, p. 74.
18 Heart rates soared and some men’s: Dave Grossman, On Killing, pp. 44–57.
19 Finally, the German tanks: Whitlock, Rock of Anzio, p. 187.
20 Sparks and his company: Hallowell et al., Eager for Duty, p. 58.
21 “Would you agree to”: Buechner, Sparks, p. 85.
22 “Yes, that would be”: Whitlock, Rock of Anzio, p. 196.
23 The Germans now threatened: Felix Sparks, 157th Infantry Association newsletter, February 1, 1985.
24 It would have taken: After Action Report, National Archives.
25 “You can’t do us”: Felix Sparks, interview with Chris Miskimon, quoted courtesy of interviewer.
26 He radioed his Second: After Action Report, National Archives.
27 Seven enemy divisions were: Allen, Anzio, p. 3.
28 “My name is Müller”: Ibid., p. 1.
29 “What’s your name now”: Ibid.
30 There were some five: Jack Hallowell, “The Battle of the Caves”, 45th Infantry Division Museum, p. 4.
31 Sparks now had just: D’Este, Fatal Decision, p. 246.
32 “To hell with takin’ ”: Jack Hallowell, “The Battle of the Caves,” 45th Infantry Division Museum, p. 4.
33 McDermott ran off: 157th Infantry Regiment, After Action Report, February 1944, National Archives.
34 McDermott was never seen: Hallowell et al., Eager for Duty, p. 66.
35 “The enemy prevented”: Buechner, Sparks, p. 87.
36 More German planes wreaked: Hallowell et al., Eager for Duty, p. 65.
CHAPTER EIGHT—A BLOOD-DIMMED TIDE
1 “If we ever get”: Buechner, Sparks, pp. 99–100.
2 Men shouldered their machine guns: Hallowell et al., Eager for Duty, p. 60.
3 “So they gave our”: Whitlock, Rock of Anzio, p. 202.
4 “It looks like a”: Jack Hallowell, “The Battle of the Caves,” 45th Infantry Division Museum, p. 4.
5 Brown responded: “Withdraw and”: Ibid.
6 He was blubbering, mumbling: D’Este, Fatal Decision, p. 234.
7 Utterly exhausted, Sparks: Hallowell et al., Eager for Duty, p. 65.
8 Sparks knew every one: Felix Sparks, Regis University interview.
9 The Germans kept coming: Sheehan, Anzio, p. 131.
10 “Yeah,” said the machine gunner: Jack Hallowell, “The Battle of the Caves,” 45th Infantry Division Museum, pp. 4–9.
CHAPTER NINE—THE BATTLE OF THE CAVES
1 At noon on February 18: Vaughan-Thomas, Anzio, p. 190.
2 In some of the: Fifth Army History, privately published, 1946, Part 4, Chapter 8, p. 138.
3 Back in America: Jack Hallowell, “The Battle of the Caves,” 45th Infantry Division Museum, p. 7.
4 An incredible six hundred: Sheehan, Anzio, p. 146.
5 Three men were killed: Jack Hallowell, “The Battle of the Caves,” 45th Infantry Division Museum, p. 6.
6 He constantly swigged a lemonade: Cundiff, 45th Infantry CP, p. 46.
7 One Thunderbird sniper finally: Hallowell et al., Eager for Duty, p. 70.
8 By the following morning: Allen, Anzio, p. 5.
9 In one sector, German: Sheehan, Anzio, p. 138.
10 “They [also] told of”: Ibid., p. 139.
11 “I’ve been lying under”: D’Este, Fatal Decision, p. 237.
12 And if his useless: Clark, Anzio, Italy and the Battle for Rome, p. 195.
13 At 2:55 A.M. on February 20: 157th S-2 Journal, February 20, 1944, National Archives.
14 Once the British arrived: Whitlock, Rock of Anzio, p. 242.
15 They made a hideous: Franklin, Medic, p. 87.
16 Dozens of men from: Lloyd Wells, Anzio (University of Missouri Press, 2004), p. 69.
17 By the time the: Ibid.
18 “His wounds were not life threatening”: Vincent P. Cookingham, “The Battle of the Caves, Results of Personal Research,” pp. 3–4. Quoted with permission. Personal correspondence with the author.
19 The next thing he: Ibid.
20 Men with terrible wounds: Whitlock, Rock of Anzio, p. 211.
21 The Germans opened fire: Hallowell et al., Eager for Duty, p. 65.
22 Though the water was: Ibid.
23 “They need me out”: Jack Hallowell, “The Battle of the Caves,” 45th Infantry Division Museum, p. 7.
24 O’Neill and his Psalm-reciting: Bill O’Neill, interview with author.
25 Others made a thin: graffagnino.com/doctorslounge/anzio1944.htm.
CHAPTER TEN—CROSSING THE LINE
1 It was time to: Whitlock, Rock of Anzio, p. 246.
2 As Sparks prepared to: Ibid.
3 The position had been: Ibid.
4 Empty-handed and “spooked” by: Ibid.
5 Terrified Thunderbirds followed him: graffagnino.com/doctorslounge/anzio1944.htm.
6 Others lagged behind, slowed: Vaughan-Thomas, Anzio, p. 188.
7 He had not eaten: Whitlock, Rock of Anzio, p. 246.
8 He stuffed his mouth: Jack Hallowell, interview with author.
9 He did not return: Jack Hallowell, “The Battle of the Caves,” 45th Infantry Division Museum, p. 12.
10 Every one of them: Felix Sparks, Regis University interview.
11 “We’re Americans!” shouted Sparks: Whitlock, Rock of Anzio, p. 247.
12 He had gone without: Jack Hallowell, interview with author.
13 Sparks was barely able: Ibid.
14 Sparks was still carrying: Ibid.
15 It was, in Sparks’s: Felix Sparks, Regis University interview.
16 Several could not walk: Sheehan, Anzio, p. 148.
17 The Thunderbirds had saved: D’Este, Fatal Decision, p. 250.
18 “First at Stalingrad, now”: Sheehan, Anzio, p. 139.
19 “Our enemy was of”: Brooks, With Utmost Spirit, p. 378
20 Sparks and his fellow: graffagnino.com/doctorslounge/anzio1944.htm.
21 “In the annals of”: John S. D. Eisenhower, They Fought at Anzio, p. 194.
22 Their cries and groans: Felix Sparks, 157th Infantry Association newsletter, March 31, 1989.
CHAPTER ELEVEN—THE BITCH-HEAD
1 The streets of Naples: DePastino, Bill Mauldin, p. 147.
2 Even the hundreds of: Lewis, Naples 44, p. 86.
3 “Only five hundred”: Moorehead, Eclipse, p. 67.
4 Naples was a vast: Mauldin, Up Front, p. 117.
5 “Beautiful signorina”: Moorehead, Eclipse, p. 67.
6 For those with real: By December 1944, more men were casualties of VD than of combat, according to some reports.
7 No matter the rank: John Piazza, interview with author.
8 “A red rag was”: Franklin, Medic, p. 79.
9 Of the tens of: Atkinson, Day of Battle, p. 448.
10 “We were taking more”: Moorehead, Eclipse, p. 70.
11 Sparks would soon receive: Felix Sparks, interview with author.
12 The gorgeous San Carlo: Atkinson, Day of Battle, p. 447.
13 The cheap vermouth and: Cundiff, 45th Infantry CP, p. 154.
14 He was said to: Jack Hallowell, interview with author.
15 Otherwise, every night before: Mary Sparks, interview with author.
16 The photographs of her: Felix Sparks, letter to parents, April 29, 1944, quoted courtesy of Blair Lee Sparks.
17 “Instead we have stranded”: Vaughan-Thomas, Anzio, p. 189.
18 At Monte Cassino, where: Allanbrook, See Naples, p. 175.
19 The Soviets outnumbered the: Keegan, The Second World War, p. 477.
20 “If we old fools”: Westphal, The German Army, p. 160.
21 One did not know: Franklin, Medic, p. 101.
22 “The one he used”: Guy Prestia, interview with author.
23 But before they had: Felix Sparks, Regis University Interview.
24 Across the “Bitch-Head,” what: Hastings, Winston’s War, pp. 33–35.
25 Thunderbirds likened themselves to: Hallowell et al., Eager for Duty, p. 73.
26 The taller men like: John Piazza, interview with author.
27 Neither the propaganda leaflets: Bill Lyford, interview with author.
28 “A person would hold”: Pyle, Brave Men, p. 302.
29 One day, Sparks received: Felix Sparks, Regis University lecture.
30 “Won’t you please tell”: Buechner, Sparks, pp. 97–98.
31 It ended with the: Felix Sparks, Regis University lecture.
32 It was not knowing: Sparks, Déjà Vu, p. 165.
CHAPTER TWELVE—THE BREAKOUT
1 Sparks wondered if he: Felix Sparks, Regis University lecture.
2 To confuse the enemy: Hallowell et al., Eager for Duty, p. 81.
3 Lyford at first enjoyed: Bill Lyford, interview with author.
4 He rolled back into: Bill Lyford, Colorado National Guard interview.
5 For two days, Sparks: Winston Churchill, correspondence with George C. Marshall, April 16, 1944.
6 Losing a limb might: Hallowell et al., Eager for Duty, p. 82.
7 Just like their forefathers: Ibid., p. 83.
8 Would inexperienced squad and: Felix Sparks, Regis University lecture.
9 Dawn cracked on the: After Action Report, National Archives.
10 Squads filed into gullies: Hallowell et al., Eager for Duty, p. 83.
11 “And after that I”: Ibid., p. 84.
12 At 5:45 A.M., the horizon: Felix Sparks, Regis University interview.
13 “A wall of fire”: Truscott, Command Decisions, p. 371.
14 To Sparks, it sounded: Whitlock, Rock of Anzio, p. 288.
15 Men climbed out of: Felix Sparks, Regis University lecture.
16 They were soon passing: Bill Lyford, interview with author.
17 Sparks ordered tank destroyers: Whitlock, Rock of Anzio, p. 294.
18 “I was yelling at”: Ibid., p. 297.
19 Thanks to several tank: After Action Report, National Archives, G-3 report.
20 I Company took the hill: Franklin, Medic, p. 113.
21 A rampaging Barfoot: Captain Van T. Barfoot, The Operation of 3rd Platoon, Company L, 157th Infantry, 22–24 May, Fort Benning Infantry Officers Course monograph, 1948.
22 “Boy, you’ve made it”: Clark, Anzio, Italy and the Battle of Rome, p. 295.
23 It had taken four: Felix Sparks, Regis University lecture.
24 Among the fatalities was: Ibid.
25 “Men looked down on”: Hallowell et al., Eager for Duty, p. 94.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN—ROME
1 “He wore a somewhat”: Truscott, Command Missions, p. 548.
2 Frederick would receive eight: Clark, Anzio, Italy and the Battle, p. 316.
3 Lithe and fit as: Atkinson, Day of Battle, p. 282.
4 At Anzio, his men: Kemp, Commemorative History, p. 31.
5 “What’s holding you up”: Sevareid, Not So Wild a Dream, p. 411.
6 In opting for a Roman: Whicker, Whicker’s War, p. 179.
7 Clark’s yearning to be: Molony, The Mediterranean and Middle East, vol. VI, p. 234.
8 “We Americans had slogged”: D’Este, Fatal Decision, pp. 370–71.
9 “I’m holding off the”: Sheehan, Anzio, p. 210.
10 “We can’t be held”: Ibid.
11 Flashbulbs popped as Clark: Sevareid, Not So Wild a Dream, p. 411.
12 “That’s what’s holding up”: Hicks, The Last Fighting General, p. 140.
13 “I don’t have time”: Ibid, p. 141.
14 Ecstatic locals showered him: Buechner, Sparks, p. 101.
15 “On this historic occasion”: Sevareid, Not So Wild a Dream, p. 414.
16 It was a great victory: Atkinson, Day of Battle, p. 574.
17 The Italian campaign: Langworth, Churchill by Himself, p. 43.
18 “How grateful they should”: Buechner, Sparks, p. 95.
19 “As for the nectarines”: Ibid.
20 “They didn’t even let”: Walters, Silent Missions, p. 97.
21 According to the journalist: Whicker, Whicker’s War, p. 182.
22 As the Allies stormed: Hallowell et al., Eager for Duty, p. 95.
23 “We are all completely”: Felix Sparks, letter to parents, June 12, 1944, quoted courtesy of Blair Lee Sparks.
24 “With that beachhead in”: Hallowell et al., Eager for Duty, p. 96.
25 On June 19, the: After Action Report, National Archives, June 1944.
26 “Everyone fell in love”: Hallowell et al., Eager for Duty, p. 97.
27 None other than Mark: Rex Raney, interview with author.
28 “I’m not crazy about”: Felix Sparks, letter to parents, June 12, 1944, quoted courtesy of Blair Lee Sparks.
29 “And I’ve heard a”: Hallowell et al., Eager for Duty, p. 97.
30 “Given their choices, they”: Ibid.
31 On terraces along the: Cundiff, 45th Infantry CP, pp. 182–83.
32 “They had been more”: Ibid., p. 184.
33 “We speak about half”: “Report of William Russell Criss,” 45th Infantry Division Museum.
34 A nearby beach resembled: Clarence Schmitt, interview with author.
35 They had paid not: Cundiff, 45th Infantry CP, p. 223.
36 In early August, the: After Action Report, National Archives.
37 Aged just twenty-six: Felix Sparks, interview with Chris Miskimon.
PART FOUR—FRANCE
1 “There were several times”: Felix Sparks, interview with author.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN—DAY 401
1 He crept behind: Adleman and Walton, The Champagne Campaign, pp. 107–8.
2 “Jesus Christ!” blurted: Hicks, The Last Fighting General, p. 155.
3 “Your helmet in this”: Whiting, America’s Forgotten Army, p. 58.
4 Sparks and his men: Munsell, Story of a Regiment, p. 71.
5 Will I be alive: Bill Lyford, letter to author, November 5, 2011.
6 “How do you like”: Hallowell et al., Eager for Duty, p. 100.
7 “Hell,” said one grizzled: Stars and Stripes, The Story of the 45th Infantry Division, Kessinger Publishing, LaVergne, Tennessee, 2007, p. 24.
8 He had fiercely opposed: Churchill had threatened to resign. Clark was also vehemently opposed: “Stalin … was one of the strongest boosters of the invasion of southern France. He knew exactly what he wanted and one of the things he wanted most was to keep us out of the Balkans, which Stalin had staked out for the Red Army.” Source: Whiting, America’s Forgotten Army, p. 59.
9 “The best invasion”: Graham, No Name on the Bullet, p. 67.
10 “We been waiting years”: Hallowell et al., Eager for Duty, pp. 100–2.
11 On they marched beneath: Adam Przychocki, Colorado National Guard interview.
12 Perfumed with mimosa and: Hallowell et al., Eager for Duty, pp. 100–3.
13 Sparks’s command post that: Felix Sparks, Regis University interview.
14 The casualty rate had: Buechner, Sparks, p. 102.
15 No wonder Hitler called: Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, New York, p. 721.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN—THE CHAMPAGNE CAMPAIGN
1 They pushed farther inland: Adam Przychocki, Colorado National Guard interview.
2 “And damn toot sweet!”: Hallowell et al., Eager for Duty, p. 105.
3 Before the startled Germans: Kirk Sparks, interview with author.
4 Sparks joked that he: Ibid.
/> 5 It wasn’t long before: Denver Post, April 30, 1995.
6 In one village: Kirk Sparks, interview with author.
7 Sparks set a photograph: Blair Lee Sparks, interview with author.
8 There were battered Dodge: Cundiff, 45th Infantry CP, p. 197.
9 The Coloradans in the: Ibid., p. 199.
10 There were fears it: Whiting, America’s Forgotten Army, p. 73.
11 Survive its thirty days: After Action Report, National Archives.
12 “The thrust of the”: Whitlock, Rock of Anzio, p. 322.
13 It was a macabre: After Action Report, National Archives, September 1944.
14 Sparks moved from the: Felix Sparks, army personnel file.
15 As the battle to: Felix Sparks, interview with author.
16 Generals like George Patton: Buechner, Sparks, p. 102.
17 One of the greatest problems: Felix Sparks, interview with author.
18 After five years of: Had planners correctly predicted the far greater numbers of men that were actually required in the infantry, the war in Europe would probably already have ended, and fewer of Sparks’s dogfaces would have died. Instead, they had placed their faith in airpower, and now the shortfall was showing.
19 The answer was sobering: Hastings, Armageddon, p. 380.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN—THE VOSGES
1 But they suffered heavy: After Action Report, National Archives.
2 One company lost: A. H. Speairs, An Anzio Experience, monograph, 45th Infantry Division Museum.
3 A signpost was placed: Stars and Stripes, The Story of the 45th Infantry Division, p. 27.
4 “You soon realized your”: George Courlas, interview with author.
5 “It was sometimes a relief”: Hallowell et al., Eager for Duty, p. 117.
6 Others became so tightly: Ibid.
7 “We took more small”: Felix Sparks, Regis University interview.
8 One day, a patrol: After Action Report, National Archives.
9 Shell fragments and jagged: Franklin, Medic, p. 128.
10 “My men are going”: Clarence Schmitt, interview with author.
11 “The strongest personality, subjected”: Bruce C. Clarke, Study of AGF Casualties, September 1946, National Archives.