On the fifteenth, it had been arranged for an eminent scholar to show us the sights, which we presumed were the pyramids. We went to Shepheard’s Hotel to pick up this genius, but when I told him I wanted to go to the pyramids, he was shocked, and said that, though he had lived in Cairo for forty years, he had been there only once, and that the only things worth seeing in Cairo were the mosques. I told him I had seen all the mosques I wanted to and would have to dispense with his services.
We drove to the pyramids and picked up a fairly fluent but very ignorant native guide. To me the pyramids were quite disappointing. They are not as big nor as impressive as those around Mexico City. The Sphinx is in a poor state of preservation and rather smaller than I had expected. However, the rock temple at the foot of the Sphinx is a remarkable construction. Apparently they piled up the rocks and then cut the chapels or tombs out of them.
One of the tombs has a slab roof about twenty feet long by six feet wide by two feet thick which has been slipped into notches and upright walls and is very highly polished. This polishing and chipping was all done with bronze chisels, the Egyptians having some method of tempering bronze which has now been lost.
At 5:30 I made a talk on landing operations to all the officers of the Middle East Command, some five hundred in all. I believe that the talk went off quite well as, contrary to the British custom, they applauded and several of them wrote me letters, one of them saying that in all his previous military career he had not learned as much as in my thirty-minute lecture.
December 16,1943
Major General Beaumont Nesbitt, in charge of visiting firemen, took me to Shepheard’s Hotel, where we picked up the rest of the Staff and drove for two and one-half hours along the fresh-water canal to the Combined Operations Training Center which is on the shores of the small Bitter Lake. Apparently the British were so interested in the talk I had given yesterday evening that they asked me to repeat it to some two hundred student officers and Lieutenant General R. M. Scobie, who commands the British training there.
The Training Center, while not nearly as large or as good as the one we had at Mostaganum, had one or two improvements over our methods. They had mock-ups of the sides of ships built out into the water so that actual landing boats could come alongside, and the men could have the practice of going down the nettings into moving boats.
On the way back we had a regular dust storm, and it was quite hard to see.
General Sir Henry Maitland-Wilson had returned and was at dinner. He is a very large man and quite jovial. I was more impressed with him than with almost any other British officer I have met. All of them, including the General, were very much interested in my reaction to General Montgomery, but I was very careful in what I said and refused to be drawn out.
On the seventeenth, General Nesbitt took me to meet General Anders, who commands the Polish II Corps. Accompanied by General Anders and the rest of our Staff, we drove to the Polish camp near Faqus, which is on the eastern side of the Delta. We had a guard of honor of a very fine-looking group of soldiers. We then had lunch. At lunch, General Anders pinned on me the insignia of a Polish Lieutenant General and the shoulder patch of the II Polish Corps. Not to be outdone, I gave him one of my United States insignia and the shoulder patch of the Seventh Army.
He struck me as very much of a man. He was Chief of Staff of a Russian division in World War I. He has been hit seven times and won the Polish decoration for valor twice. His troops are the best-looking troops, including British and American, that I have ever seen. He told me, laughing, that if his corps got in between a German and Russian army, they would have difficulty in deciding which they wanted to fight the most.
After we had inspected the II Polish Corps, Colonel Cummings1 and I drove to Alexandria where we had been invited by the Commanding officer of the Levant, Vice Admiral Sir Arthur Willis. We crossed the whole of the Delta to get to Alexandria, but unfortunately most of the trip was in the dark so that we did not see a great deal.
December 18,1943
At ten o’clock, Colonel Mosely, who has ridden in the Grand National four times, called for us and took us to the Yacht Club, where we were met by an Admiral and taken in a barge to inspect the harbor.
We then visited the British Tank Repair Works, which is very imposing in size and uninspiring in organization and maintenance. Among other things, we found gaskets were made by hand.
We drove back to Cairo across the desert, a distance of about one hundred and fifty miles.
1Colonel R. E. Cummings, Adjutant General for General Patton during entire service overseas.
December 19,1943
We left Cairo at 0700 and flew up the Nile to Karnak. General Wilson had provided us with a Major Emory, who is a very distinguished Egyptologist in civil life and was number two in the Carter Expedition which dug up Tut’s grave.
Kamak is on the east bank. Here we took some dilapidated Fords from the airfield to the river and then crossed in a native boat. We then took three other Fords and drove first to the Valley of the Kings. This was most interesting, as Major Emory had made many of the excavations there himself.
We first entered King Tut’s tomb, which, according to Major Emory, is very small. There were originally three sarcophagi beside a stone casket. At the present time only the number two sarcophagus is in place, and in it are the remains of King Tut. The number one sarcophagus, which was of solid gold, the bullion value of which is seven thousand pounds, is in the Museum at Cairo. The one in which the King reposes is of wood, but covered with gold plating. The third outside wooden one is also in the Museum at Cairo.
Major Emory stated that the tomb of the King is built more or less as a replica of his house, and that in each room of the tomb there were the implements appropriate to that room in the house. He pointed out that, whereas an enormous amount of valuable objects were taken from King Tut’s tomb, there must have been a vastly greater number in some tombs through which he led us, because, in comparison to the tomb of some of the Rame-ses, King Tut’s was just a cubbyhole.
From the Valley of the Kings we drove to Thebes and inspected the tomb of a Prime Minister who lived in the next reign following King Tut. This was a most interesting tomb for two reasons: first, it had been discovered and opened by Major Emory; and second, it is one of the few places in Egypt where the stereotyped form of bas-relief does not exist. On one side of the entrance to the tomb the bas-relief is of the old type. On the other side it is quite modernized. The reason for this was that during the tour of office of the Prime Minister the reform religion came in, so that, while half of his tomb was cut before he was reformed, the other half was cut afterwards.
Another point which is very interesting was to see how the Egyptians worked. On the wall of this tomb, which had never been completed, you could see the line drawings of the artists who drew the sculptures, next you could see where they had been roughly chiseled out, and finally as they were completed.
We then drove to the temple and dwelling of Rameses II. There is a very interesting thing there. During his fighting in Syria, Rameses had come across crenelated battlements and had crenelations on the battlements of his palace.
We crossed the river, had lunch, and then visited the Temple of Luxor and that of Kamak. These two temples are about half a mile apart. Certainly, anyone who is interested in ruins should see all the non-Egyptian ones first because the Egyptian ruins make others look like nothing.
In the courtyard of Karnak there is a Roman Forum, which if viewed by itself would be quite impressive, but to* which you have to have your attention called in order to see it, on account of its being so much overshadowed by the Egyptian monuments.
There is still in one part of Kamak the inclined plane which the Egyptians used to move stones for the erection of their buildings.
There are several obelisks in the temple. Major Emory called our attention to the fact that in the obelisks in New York, London, Paris, and Madrid, when our skilled engineers tried to erect them,
they always chipped the base by not having them land perfectly perpendicularly on the pediment, but these obelisks at Kamak, which weigh at least seventy-five tons apiece, are in perfect position and alignment on the bases with no chipping.
We returned to Cairo, landing after dark. The next day, the twentieth, we flew to Palermo.
Malta
Field Marshal Lord Gort invited me to visit him at Malta, so after a trip to Algiers, Colonel Codman, Captain Stiller, and I took off on the morning of January 4, 1944. As we were not to reach Malta until three o’clock, we had time to fly over the battlefields where the II Corps fought last spring.
When we were about sixty miles northwest of Constantine, the pilot, Captain Hetzer, told me that he had once seen a Roman ruin in that vicinity, so we hunted for it and presently found it. It is quite a large city with a big temple in a good state of preservation and a fine theatre, and yet its name is not shown on any map which I have been able to find.
As we approached Tebessa, we flew over the places where I had first taken command of the II Corps. In my mind’s eye I could still see the fields covered with tanks, guns, and tents, but even in so short a time every trace of those troops had been obliterated.
The great dumps at Tebessa, which were the object of the German thrust through the Kasserine Pass, have now been completely cleared up and there is no indication that they ever existed. The same is true at Feriana where we had a Command Post, and also at Gafsa.
Looking over the country where we fought during the battle of El Guettar gives one a definite idea of the greatness of the American soldier. The mountains are impossibly difficult. I am glad that when I fought this battle I did not know how hard the country was, since we could not get an airplane from which to look at it and we had to make our decisions from the map. Had I known how difficult it was, I might have been less bold—but it is always well to remember that the country is just as hard on the enemy as it is on you.
On the other hand, the gum-tree road which penetrated our position, and over which I spent many anxious hours, is not anywhere as dangerous an avenue as it shows on the map, and had I been able to look at it from the air, I might have slept better.
After leaving El Guettar, we flew over Maknassy, where, too, all the wreckage and tanks we lost there have been completely removed.
Malta, which we reached at three o’clock, is quite different from the way I had pictured it. It is almost completely covered with villages and the areas between them are crowded with tiny fields. The only place where this crowding does not exist is on the airfields.
The island is made out of a soft porous stone which works as easily as wood when in a quarry, but which hardens when exposed to air.
In order to protect themselves against the German bombardments, a great many of the vital installations at Malta have, as the world knows, been buried in caves, but I do not believe the world knows how big these caves are, nor how relatively easy it is to construct them. Certainly, the clean-up job which the British have done since the Blitz is worthy of the greatest praise.
All the Air Corps installations, including the caves, were shown us by my friend. Air Marshal Park, who had commanded the RAF in Malta during the fighting there and had done a very wonderful job. The RAF in Malta is the best-dressed and best-disciplined Air Force that I have ever seen, whether it be American or English.
On the next day, Captain Holland, Lord Gort’s Aide, took us on a sightseeing trip around the island during which we visited forts, the harbors, several churches, and other points of interest.
The forts are of a different type from any I have ever examined, being pre-Vauban, but nevertheless artillery-proof. This means that the walls are from eight to sixteen feet thick and the crenelations are for artillery rather than for small arms.
During the Siege of 1528, the three forts, one on the island and the others on the two peninsulas, were held by about four hundred knights and some eight hundred mercenaries against some forty thousand Turks.
In the construction of these forts, the nature of the island is again of advantage and has been exploited, as it is simply necessary to cut away the rock to produce a wall, while the rock thus cut away is utilized to project the wall farther up.
The most interesting thing I saw is the library of the Knights of Malta. We were taken through this by the librarian. He speaks and reads in script nine languages, so he is perfectly capable of translating the valuable collection of manuscripts in the library.
One codex, dating from 1420 and depicting the life
of Saint Anthony, who spent his time being pursued by devils in the form of beautiful women, was particularly interesting to me because in one of the pictures it showed an armorer’s shop in which suits of armor, varying in date from early 1100 to 1400, were hung up for sale just as one hangs up clothes now in a pawnship. The point of interest is that most historians are prone to classify armor by dates, whereas here we have visual proof that as late as 1400 all types of armor, both mail and plate, were still being used.
Another codex which was interesting was one of the original printings of the Bible, using wood type. In this case all the capitals were omitted and subsequently illuminated by hand.
In order to be a Knight of Malta, it was necessary to have sixteen crosses of nobility, so that when anyone came up to be a knight, he had to present his genealogy, which was then studied by a college of heralds, and, if proven correct, permitted him to join. Since all these genealogies, covering the knights from sometime in 1100 to date, are preserved in the library, it gives the greatest historical family tree in the world.
In addition to the requirement of sixteen crosses of nobility, a knight had to spend eighteen months at sea on the galleys as a fighter, and then work in a hospital.
The knight also had to take four vows—Poverty, Chastity, Humility, and Obedience. The vow of Poverty required him to give four-fifths of his then estate to the Order. However, if he was a successful knight, he received from the Order more than a hundredfold over what he gave, so that most of them died very rich. This was particularly true before 1800 when the knights had a sort of stranglehold on the privateering business in the Mediterranean and used their hatred for the Turks as a means of veiling their personally conducted piracy against Turks and against anyone else whom they could catch.
The vow of Chastity was not enforced except by one Grand Master, who, in order to discourage the amorous activities of his dependents, required that all the girls live across the harbor from the forts, so that when a knight wanted to see his lady-love, he had to row across and thereby bring discredit upon himself. Apparently the discredit consisted of the other knights cheering him.
The vow of Humility was got around by the simple expedient of washing a poor man’s feet three times. The vow of Obedience was rigidly enforced.
It is interesting to remember that the average Maltese has never seen a mountain, a river, a lake, a forest, or a railway train, and, according to my friends, he has no desire to meet any of them.
PART TWO
OPERATION “OVERLORD”
This brief account of the actions of the Third Army and the XIX Tactical Air Command, commanded by Brigadier General, later Major General, O. P. Weyland, in the conflict just terminated, is a hastily written personal narrative for the benefit of my family and a few old and intimate friends.
I apologize for the frequent appearance of the first personal pronoun, and since I have criticized numerous individuals without knowing their side of the question, I must add that the story is as factual as it is possible for me to make it from my personal notes and at the time it is written.
G.S.P., Jr.
July-August, 1945
1 THE CAMPAIGN OF FRANCE, AVRANCHE3, BREST TO THE MOSELLE
1 August to 24 September, 1944
On July 28, 1944, General Patton was given control of the troops of the Third Army then on the Continent of Europe.
The First Army had begun its St. Lo push on July 26. Gaining
in momentum in the succeeding days, it came to a climax when General Patton exploded his Third Army onto the Brittany Peninsula on August 1.
In two weeks, troops of the Third Army had driven the fleeing Germans on the peninsula into the ports of Lorient and Brest; had cleared the Loire River to Angers; and had moved beyond Le Mans and Alengon in its drive east. {See Map, pages 102-103.) By the end of August, the Germans were still contained in the Brittany ports, and the drive of the Third Army to the east, gaining in momentum, had by-passed Paris and had reached Reims, Verdun, and Commercy. {See Map, pages 118-119.)
As early as the fifth of September, Third Army elements were in Metz and Pont-à-Mousson, and by September 15 (see Map, page 138), elements of the XU and XX Corps were along the Moselle, and, in some places, across the river. Plans from above anchored the Third Army progress to the east and lack of gas and other essential supplies brought the all-out advance to a standstill.
As the campaign ended on September 25, the Third Army had cleared the enemy from the west bank of the Moselle, north of Metz, and had gained substantial bridgeheads east of the Moselle, south of Metz. Luneville and Rambervillers were well within the Third Army’s front lines.
During the period covered in this chapter, the American Seventh Army landed successfully in Southern France and moved north with speed and daring, contacting elements of the Third Army on September 11, north of Dijon.
The First American Army and Second British Army made parallel drives across Northern France, reaching the Belgian border, and in early September captured Antwerp and Namur. The Russians and Rumanians crossed Bulgaria, and the Russians opened a new offensive south of East Prussia. The American Ninth Army was formed on the Continent and took over from the Third Army the reduction of the ports on the Brittany Peninsula.
War as I Knew It Page 9