War as I Knew It

by George S. Patton

  soldiers had passed him, and he replied, “Ah don’t know for sure, but Ah reckon about a million”—and he could read and write and had a radio.

  For a long time I was greatly intrigued by constantly seeing groups of Arabs squatting in the dust or mud—how they avoid piles is a mystery—gossiping. Then I got the answer from a chance remark by a soldier who referred to such a group as “the morning edition of the daily news.”

  The agricultural habits of the Arab are a strange mixture of old and new. Mowing machines and combines work side by side with Ruth and Naomi — many Ruths and Naomis — cutting wheat with a sickle and carefully tying each bundle with a wisp of straw. But even when using modern machinery, the influence of the trail road is apparent because the Arab has never learned to hitch animals abreast; therefore, we see a mowing machine or a header being pulled, not by a span or two of horses, but by four horses in tandem, each horse personally conducted by an Arab, while one, or, more often, two, handle the machine. They actually also have gleaners as in Biblical times.

  The threshing is done on a dirt floor by horses walking or trotting in a circle and spreading manure as they go. Sometimes the animals simply move at liberty. At other times they pull a small roller. After some days of this operation, men armed with three-pronged wooden forks throw the chaff into the air and the wind blows it away. Finally, women, using large tray-like baskets, throw the remaining grain and manure into the air in the final stage of winnowing and get rid of at least half of the droppings and some of the dirt.

  The burial customs too are strange. In many places, usually on hilltops, there are small, square, white buildings with a dome-shaped roof which contains the remains of a holy man. These graves of Marabouts are not churches nor even shrines, simply tombs, but it is the custom to plant the dead near them without any markers or even mounds. In fact, our men have unwittingly walked on these graves with resulting unpleasantness.

  From the air, the graves can be easily seen clustered around the Marabout tomb or simply grouped on some low hill. Apparently the Arabs are as much afraid of water in death as they are in life.

  One day I saw a funeral which, for its rugged simplicity, was outstanding. In the leading cart were several elderly men sitting on the floor, while between their feet was the body, wrapped in white cloth, with half of its length sticking out of the tail of the cart and dangling in the wind. Behind this came other carts and one four-wheeled wagon, some bicyclists, and then men and women on foot, perhaps thirty in all.

  The Arab influence on Spain and Latin America is again emphasized as summer weather approaches. There is a regular epidemic of sombreros made of particolored straw, exactly like those we know at home, except that, since they are worn superimposed on the turbans, they are much larger.

  I have never had a satisfactory explanation for the turban—the one usually given that it is a tropical headdress does not hold, in view of the fact that many Arabs, particularly in the army, wear turbans which consist simply of a rag wrapped around the head, leaving the whole shaven crown bare.

  Another similarity between the Arab and the Mexican is the utter callousness with which both treat animals. Neither an Arab nor a Mexican would think of unpacking an animal during a prolonged halt. If the beast is chafed raw, the Arab does not even bother to treat the wound with lard, which is the invariable panacea with the Mexican. He just lets it bleed and trusts to Allah. Because a horse is dead lame is no reason for not working him.

  All the animals are head-shy and many are blind as a result of the cheerful custom of beating them on the head with a stick.

  The method of castrating sheep and cattle is unspeakably cruel. I think that the reason that the horse and donkey are not altered is due to their architecture, which forbids the employment of the Arab method.

  One cannot but ponder the question: What if the Arabs had been Christians? To me it seems certain that the fatalistic teachings of Mohammed and the utter degradation of women is the outstanding cause for the

  arrested development of the Arab. He is exactly as he was around the year 700, while we have kept on developing. Here, I think, is a text for some eloquent sermon on the virtues of Christianity.

  Ceremony Held at Headquarters I Armored Corps

  June 19,1943

  Colonel Chauvin informed me that he would like to confer upon me and two other officers designated by me, who had served with me in the Tunisian Campaign, an honorary membership in the 2&me Regiment de Marche de Tirailleurs Algeriens, together with the regiment’s Fourragere of the Legion of Honor.

  I named General Bradley and General Gaffey,1 and then asked if it would be possible to confer the same honor posthumously upon Major R. N. Jenson,2 which request was granted.

  The ceremony was as follows. The 1st Company of the 1st Battalion of the 2eme Regiment de Marche de Tirailleurs Algeriens, preceded by the French colors and the French band, arrived at the courtyard of our Headquarters at 4:35 in the afternoon. Inside the court was one of our platoons and the band of the 36th Engineers.

  When the French were in position, our platoon came to present arms and the band played, “To the Colors,” in honor of the French flag.

  Colonel Chauvin then accompanied General Bradley, General Gaffey, and myself to inspect the French company. When we arrived in front of the colors, which were posted on the left, the French band played the Marseillaise. At the termination of this, Colonel Chauvin, accompanied by his Chief of Staff, Commandant Gerrier, took a position in front of us and in a loud voice said, “Lieutenant General G. S. Patton, Jr., is hereby made an honorary member of the Deuxieme R6giment de Marche de Tirailleurs Algeriens and is presented with the Fourragere of the Legion of Honor.” He repeated this announcement in front of Bradley and Gaffey.

  1Brigadier General, later Major General Hugh J. Gaffey, at that time commanded the 2d Armored Division. _

  2General Patton’s Aide de Camp, killed in action in Tunisia.

  He then stated, “Major R. N. Jenson, dead on the field of honor, April 1, 1943, is hereby made an honorary member of the Deuxieme Regiment de Marche de Tiralleurs Algeriens and is presented with the Fourragere of the Legion of Honor.”

  Colonel Chauvin then took a position on my right, and the regular American Retreat was played, the flag lowered, and then our band played first the Marseillaise and then the Star-Spangled Banner. This terminated the ceremony.

  The French Color Guard consisted of Lieutenant Biard, who carried the flag, and four tirailleurs. Each of these four men was decorated with the Military Medal, which is the highest award a French soldier can receive, it being restricted to enlisted men and army commanders. The Lieutenant had the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor, and the Croix de Guerre with a number of palms.

  The officers in the French company were all Frenchmen. The men were all Berbers and were extremely fine-looking.

  It is always amazing to note the difference between a Berber dressed in his normal costume of a bathrobe and a Berber dressed in uniform. Their appearance changes for the better.

  —————

  1

  Goumiers.

  Commanding the 2d Armored Division, part of which landed in Morocco.

  8General d’Armée Auguste Nogues, French Resident General of Morocco.

  2

  Colonel F. J. de Rohan.

  *Major General Geoffrey Keyes, Deputy Commanding General, Western Task Force.

  3

  Colonel J. J. B. Williams, Chief of Artillery, Western Task Force.

  4

  brigadier General Arthur Wilson, Chief of the Service of Supply supporting Western Task Force.

  5

  Colonel H. R. Gay, Chief of Staff, Western Task Force, with General Patton throughout the war.

  6

  Colonel A. B. Conard, on-General Wilson’s staff.

  7

  Colonel, later Brigadier General G. H. Davidson, Assistant Engineer of Western Task Force.

  8

  BCaptain R. N. Jens
on, Aide to General Patton.

  9

  This has already been covered in the newspapers and newsreels; what I am saying is simply my impression. Author's note.

  10

  At that time Major General O. N. Bradley commanded the II Corps.

  11

  Captain Kay Summerby, W.A.C., Army of the U.S.

  General Henri Honore Giraud.

  sGeneral Georges Catroux, Deputy for General de Gaulle in Africa.

  12

  Commander of the Mediterranean British naval forces.

  13

  Commander of the British 18th Army Group, composed of First and Eighth British Armies.

  14

  ^ajor General A. N. Anderson, Commander of the British First Army in Tunisia.

  15

  Air Marshall Sir Arthur Tedder, Air Commander under General Eisenhower.

  16

  Wice Air Marshal Sir Arthur Conyngham.

  17

  Representative of the British Foreign Office in Algiers.

  18

  ^Political and civil affairs adviser to General Eisenhower.

  OPERATION “HUSKY”

  The I Armored Corps, which planned the Sicilian Campaign, was what remained of Western Task Force Headquarters after furnishing men and officers for the newly created Fifth Army. Corps Headquarters was reinforced for the invasion, and upon landing in Sicily, was renamed United States Seventh Army Headquarters.

  The Allied Ground Forces were commanded by General Sir Harold Alexander and comprised the British Eighth Army, under General Montgomery, and the United States Seventh Army, under General Patton. The American and British naval forces were commanded by Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham, and the air forces by Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder.

  The armies were landed on July 10, 1943,1 with the British Eighth Army taking the southeast side of the island and the American Seventh, the southwest.

  Troops of the 7th Infantry Regiment, 3d Division, Colonel H. B. Sherman commanding, entered Messina on the night of August 16. On the morning of the seventeenth, General Patton entered the city, and Sicily fell. The campaign had lasted thirty-eight days.

  P.D.H.

  1General Patton was lying in his bunk the night before the Sicilian landing when he heard two doughboys talking outside his window. “Well,” said one, “when we go ashore in the morning, I reckon we’ll hear that the marines have landed.”

  The Invasion of Sicily

  July 11,1943

  General Gay, Captain Stiller, and I, and some soldiers left the Monrovia in the Admiral’s barge at 0900 and reached the beach at Gela at 0930.

  Dukw

  Standing on the beach, I noticed two Dukws,1 destroyed by personnel mines, and about seven small landing craft beached. While I was making these observations, the enemy opened fire with what was probably an 88 mm. or a 105 mm. gun. The shells hit the water about thirty yards from the beach, but could not get into the beach on account of the defilade afforded by the town.

  After our scout car was de-waterproofed, I intended to go to the Headquarters of the 1st Division, about three miles to the southeast along the coast road. As we got into Gela, we noticed a flag on the left and decided to call on Colonel W. O. Darby, commanding the Rangers. This was very fortunate, because, had we proceeded down the road, we should have run into seven German tanks, which at that moment were advancing along it toward the town.

  1Amphibious two-and-a-half-ton trucks.

  As we arrived at the Rangers Command Post, Colonel Darby and the town of Gela were being attacked from the northeast by quite a number of Germans and Italians. Darby had a battery of captured German 77’s, “K” Company of the 3d Battalion of the 26th Infantry, two Ranger battalions, a company of 4.2 chemical mortars, and a battalion of the 39th Engineers.

  He was cut off from the 1st Division on his right by the seven tanks, which now closed in to one thousand yards of the right side of the town.

  We went up to an Observation Post, about a hundred yards behind the front line, where we could plainly see the enemy moving across the field, perhaps eight hundred yards away.

  Darby had the roads patrolled by groups of three half-tracks. These half-tracks, intended, not for combat, but to carry engineers’ equipment, worked very well, greatly annoying the Italians, who apparently had no mobile artillery with them.

  The Italian advance seemed to stick at about 1150, and we went back to Darby’s Headquarters to find out what was taking place on the right, which we could see from the town of Gela.

  About the time we got there, two Hurricane Bombers dropped bombs in the town. Then German artillery, apparently 88 mm. all-purpose guns, opened fire. They hit the building we were in twice, and also made a hole in the roof of the building across the street, but no one was hurt except softie civilians. I have never heard so much screaming.

  About that time an officer from the 3d Division came in with ten tanks, having made the trip by the shore road from Licata1 to Gela. Two tanks of Combat Command “B” also arrived.1 2

  I told Gaffey to close the gap between Gela and the 1st Division and to send a company of tanks to help Darby. This was done. Darby counter-attacked at once to his left and took five hundred prisoners. We also destroyed the seven tanks east of Gela.

  After I got the situation of the 3d Division from the officer who had made the trip, General Roosevelt3 arrived and I talked to him about the failure of the 1st Division to carry its objective last night. The chief reason, as far as I can see, is that the division attacked without anti-tank guns and without moving up their artillery. When they were counter-attacked by the German tanks, they did very well and accounted for quite a few of them.

  The bag of enemy tanks for the day is, I think, about fourteen. I have seen eleven.

  I then decided to go down and see General Allen4

  and General Gaffey. While we were driving down the road, we met Allen coming in and halted on a hill. This was about 1530. While we were there, fourteen German bombers came over and were attacked by the anti-aircraft. We got off the road, but as it was parallel to the line of flight of the enemy airplanes, quite a number of fragments from the anti-aircraft hit along the road. One piece struck within, I should think, five to ten yards of General Gay and myself. During this attack, we saw two bombers and one other plane shot down.

  After this, we mounted our cars and drove to the Headquarters of the 2d Armored Division. While we were there, a German battery kept shelling us, but not very accurately, or else the hill behind was too high to clear, as nearly all of the shots were overs. We arranged for Allen and Gaffey to take Ponte Olivo Airfield in the morning.

  We then drove back to Gela without incident except that I think it is quite unusual for an Army Commander and his Chief of Staff to travel some six miles on a road parallel to the fronts of two armies and about equally distant from the two.

  On the way back to Gela, I happened to be looking out to sea. From a Liberty freight ship, which the Germans had bombed about a half-hour earlier, smoke was issuing. Before our eyes a tremendous explosion threw white and black clouds several thousand feet into the air. The ship was literally blown in two, but at the present writing, some six hours later, the rear half is still afloat. Most, if not all, of the army personnel on board, who numbered only one hundred and fifteen, were saved.

  While we were on the beach at Gela, waiting for a boat to take us out to the Monrovia, I saw the most stupid thing I have ever seen soldiers do. There were about three hundred 500-pound bombs and seven tons of 20 mm. high-explosive shell piled on the sand, and, in between the bombs and boxes of ammunition, these soldiers were digging foxholes. I told them that if they wanted to save the Graves Registration burials that was a fine thing to do, but otherwise they’d better dig somewhere else.

  About the time we got through explaining this to them, two Hurricane Bombers came over and strafed the beach, and all the soldiers jumped right back into the same

  holes they had dug. I continued to
walk up and down and soon shamed them into getting up.

  We got back to the Monrovia at 1900, completely wet. This is the first day in this campaign that I think I earned my pay.

  July 18, 1943

  Since the initial successful assault on the beaches before daylight on the tenth, we have continued to push along several days ahead of our assumed schedule. This has been due to the fact that having once got the enemy started, we have not let him stop, but have, so to speak, kept on his heels.

  It is also due to the fact that the Italians and Germans spent tremendous effort in time, labor, and money, building defensive positions. I am sure that, just as in the case of the Walls of Troy and the Roman walls across Europe, the fact that they trusted to defensive positions reduced their power to fight. Had they spent one-third as much effort in fighting as they did in building, we never could have taken the positions.

  On the other hand, the Italian troops, most of whom are from Northern Italy, have fought very desperately. The German troops have not fought as well as those we destroyed in Tunisia. This is particularly true of their tanks. They have shown gallantry, but bad judgment.

  The tally of prisoners, guns, etc., speak more forcefully than words as to the success of the operation. While comparisons are odious, I believe that up to yesterday the Eighth Army had not taken over five thousand prisoners.

  The enemy has been booby-trapping his dead, firing on us from the rear after we have passed through him, and using dum-dum bullets. This has caused us some casualties, but has caused him a great deal more.