An Army at Dawn

by Rick Atkinson

  Corpses bobbed: Andrew T. McNamara, Quartermaster Activities of II Corps, 28; William A. Carter, “Carter’s War,” ts, 1983, CEOH, III-8; William F. Powers, OH, Herbert Hart, Aug. 1985, CEOH; John G. Rosta, OH, G. Kurt Piehler and Mark Rybak, ROHA, 1997; memo, II Corps QM, Nov. 30, 1942, NARA RG 331, AFHQ micro, R-73-D.

  Ostensibly to avoid: memo, A.B. Cunningham, Dec. 18, 1942, Admiralty 1/11915, PRO (“silence is the best policy”); Rame, 60 (hatless buccaneer); Laffin, 26; “Reminiscences of Rear Adm. George W. Bauernschmidt,” 1991, USNI OHD (pilotage fees).

  Eisenhower eventually accepted: Butcher diary, DDE Lib, A-174; A. J. Redway, “Admiral Jerauld Wright,” ts, 1995, NHC, 269; “Reminiscences of Vice Adm. Bernhard H. Bieri,” 1997, USNI OHD (“going to get that fellow”); diary, Nov. 15, 1942, OW, MHI; Gugeler, OW, MHI, x-35.

  In Barbary

  Faint odors: John P. Downing, At War with the British, 68; H. R. Knickerbocker et al., Danger Forward, 38 (“sumptuous as a condemned man’s”); NWAf, 192–93; “History of the 26th Infantry in the Present Struggle,” part IV, n.d., MRC FDM; Bill Sabin, “The Loves and Lives of 13008634,” ts, UT-K, MS-1881, box 20, 9 (“Sure I’m scared”); Rame, 7 (“Looks as if”).

  Under the plan: NWAf, 192–93. (Many U.S. Army units in North Africa were organized into regimental combat teams and battalion combat teams, usually by adding engineers and other support units to the infantry or armored core. At the risk of oversimplification, I generally retain the traditional regimental and battalion nomenclature.)

  The largest contingent: James J. Altieri, “Darby’s Rangers: An Illustrated Portrayal of the Original Rangers,” 1977, Louis F. Lisko Papers, Rangers, ASEQ, MHI; David W. Hogan, Jr., Raiders or Elite Infantry? 18; Milton Lehman, “The Rangers Fought Ahead of Everybody,” Saturday Evening Post, July 15, 1946, 15; James Altieri, The Spearheaders, 122 (“Be bloody thankful”).

  Two companies: William O. Darby and W.H. Dammer, “U.S. Rangers,” lecture, Oct. 27, 1944, Army and Navy Staff College; Anders Kjar Arnbal, The Barrel-Land Dance Hall Rangers, 11; “Reminiscences of Walter C. W. Ansel,” 1972, USNI OHD, 3–111 (“For King and country!”); Altieri, The Spearheaders, 129; Darby, Darby’s Rangers, 19–21; Jerome Joseph Haggerty, “A History of the Ranger Battalions in World War II,” 115; Knickerbocker et al., 45 (The mayor of Arzew); Ramsey, 30.

  On the weather deck: Stanley J. Grogan, “Memorandum for Mr. McCloy,” n.d., NARA RG 165, E 418, Director of Plans and Ops, box 1228; A. J. Liebling, “Find ’Em, Fix ’Em, and Fight ’Em,” New Yorker, Apr. 24, 1943, 221; C. M. Eymer, ts, MRC FDM, Allen 1989.124, box 392; Consuelo Allen, author interview, Sept. 21, 2000; Knickerbocker et al., 38.

  Terry de la Mesa Allen: William Frye, “‘Terrible Terry’ of the 1st Division Is Getting Tougher as He Goes Along,” Kansas City Star, June 17, 1943 (name swaggered); Franklyn A. Johnson, One More Hill, 9; Robert John Rogers, “A Study of Leadership in the First Infantry Division During World War II,” master’s thesis, 1965, 8; Thomas W. Dixon, “Terry Allen,” Army, Apr. 1978, 57.

  The drowsy interwar years: obituary, New York Times, Sept. 13, 1969 (“the fightingest man”); “How Major Allen Beat Cowboy Champ in 300-Mile Race,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Dec. 31, 1922; San Antonio Light, Jan. 20, 1952.

  Less successful: Rogers, “A Study of Leadership,” 8 (“most indifferent student”); Terry de la Mesa Allen Papers, MS 307, S.L.A. Marshall Military History Collection, UTEP; “Gen. Marshall Smashing Army’s Caste System in Quest for Best Leaders,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Dec. 19, 1940.

  With war, the rioters: Robert A. Hewitt, SOOHP, Earl D. Bevan, 1982, MHI (kept a list in a safe); Robert W. Porter, Jr., SOOHP, John N. Sloan, 1981, MHI; “Gen. Marshall Smashing Army’s Caste System in Quest for Best Leaders,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Dec. 19, 1940.

  After receiving: C.M. Eymer, ts, MRC FDM, Allen 1989.124, box 392; Stanhope Brasfield Mason, “Reminiscences and Anecdotes of World War II,” 1988, ts, MRC FDM; GCM to TdA, July 30, 1942, GCM Papers, Pentagon office corr, GCM Lib, box 56, folder 17 (“Be on your guard”); DDE to TdA, “Morals and Conduct,” Oct. 10, 1942, AFHQ micro, R-73-D, box 115 (a tart memorandum).

  Proud, self-absorbed: Downing, 51; Porter, SOOHP, MHI (“You should forget”); letter, TdA to Mary Frances, Oct. 23, 1942, TdA, MHI.

  Chaos awaited him: Ford, 6; Stephen V. Ralph, “The Operations of the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry in the Invasion of North Africa,” 1947, MRC FDM, 13; AAR, “Naval Commander Centre Task Force, Operation TORCH,” Dec. 27, 1942, NARA AFHQ micro, RN Operations, R 16-A; Howe, The Battle History of the 1st Armored Division, 32; MacCloskey, 83 (“Men, this is what”).

  Linguists holding bullhorns: Mason, 26; Knickerbocker et al., 24–25; John K. Waters, SOOHP, William C. Parnell III, 1980, MHI, 166 (“Okay, boys”).

  Some fired: Derrill M. Daniel, “Landings at Oran, Gela and Omaha Beaches,” 1947, Armed Forces Staff College, 9 (“They’re not shooting”); Gerald Astor, The Greatest War, 259 (“half the grapevines”); Ralph, 15 (fled down the road).

  Confusion and error: Malcolm Marshall, ed., Proud Americans of World War II, 24 (“Tank coming!”); Paul K. Skogsberg, “The North African Campaigns,” ASEQ, 1st Reconnaissance Troop, MHI, 21 (ran him through); Abbott, 28 (“Everything’s all right”); Parris and Russell, 87 (“The French die hard”).

  Terry Allen had seen worse: Liebling, “Find ’Em, Fix ’Em, and Fight ’Em,” 221; letter, TdA to Associated Press, July 23, 1947, TdA, MHI (“a mountebank”); “Peppery General, Well Known Here, Changes His Branch of Service in New Assignment of Duty,” Kansas City Star, Jan. 4, 1942; Frye, “Terrible Terry,” Kansas City Star, June 17, 1943 (“A soldier doesn’t fight”).

  Using a flashlight: Henry C. Wolfe, AAR, “Pre-Invasion Planning,” Dec. 1942, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 24348; Frye, “Terrible Terry” (“I believe”); Knickerbocker et al., 45.

  At Beach Y: George Juskalian, author interview, Feb. 25, 2000; TR to Eleanor, Nov. 11, 1942, TR, LOC.

  Bookmakers in the 1st Division: Quentin Reynolds, The Curtain Rises, 214; GCM to TdA, June 5, 1942, GCM Papers, Pentagon corr, GCM Lib, box 56, folder 17; Downing, 34 (“Goddam it”).

  Handsome he was not: Maxwell Hamilton, “Junior in Name Only,” Retired Officer, June 1981, 28 (“the most disreputable-looking”); GCM to TdA, June 5, 1942, GCM Papers, Pentagon corr, GCM Lib, box 56, folder 17 (“rare courage”); Michael Pearlman, To Make Democracy Safe for America, 249.

  His father, the twenty-sixth: Hamilton, 29, 31 (“never amount”); Pearlman, 250–51; Edward J. Renehan, Jr., The Lion’s Pride, 210, 226; Linda Donn, The Roosevelt Cousins, 99.

  Now Roosevelt was ashore: Pearlman, 251; TR to Eleanor, Oct. 20, Oct. 30, Nov. 11, 1942, Jan. 16, 1943, TR, LOC (“little, scarcely seen shapes”).

  The French counterattacked: Tank Destroyer Forces World War II, 20; Karig, 213; Robinett, Armor Command, 56.

  “Soldier, what”: William M. Lee, ASEQ, n.d., 26th Inf, MHI (“Come on, follow me”); Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., Day Before Yesterday, 440; Renehan, 66.

  VILLAIN

  One final element: “Parachutist’s combat equipment,” 2nd Bn/503rd Para Inf, “Air Campaign in N Af,” DDE Lib, box 6; “Partial Planning File, First United States’ Use of Parachute Operations in Connection with TORCH,” 1942, MHI Lib (Slips of rice paper).

  The objective of Operation VILLAIN: “Operation TORCH: The Dispatch of Aircraft from the United Kingdom by Eighth Air Force,” Sept. 14, 1944, Historical Section, U.S. Strategic Air Forces in Europe, NARA RG 407, E 427, Pre-Invasion Planning, box 24351; Lowell Rooks, II Corps chief of staff, cited in MWC, “Memorandum to General Eisenhower,” Oct. 7, 1942, DDE Lib, PP-pres, box 153 (“no material difference”); MWC, OH, SOOHP, F. S. Rittgers, Jr., 1972, MHI (“The British just want”).

  The 2nd Battalion: William Pelham Yarborough, Bail Out over North Africa, 31; John C. Warren, Airborne Missions in the Mediterranean, 1942–1945, 8–9; “Administrative History, 60th Troop Carrier Group,” AFHRA, NARA micro, R-B 0155-
0157 (“distracted conversation”).

  Clark had approved: Eighth Air Force msg, AFHRA, NARA micro, R-A 5857; Lloyd G. Wilson, “The Operations of the 509th Parachute Battalion in North Africa” William Breuer, Geronimo: American Paratroopers in World War II, 34 (“Dear God”).

  After takeoff: Warren, 7; AAR, Gordon H. Browne, NARA RG 226, OSS, E 99, boxes 39–40.

  The sun rose: AAR, Carleton S. Coon, NARA RG 226, E 99, OSS, box 39, folder 8 (banging their fists); Maurice Tugwell, Airborne to Battle: A History of Airborne Warfare, 1918–1971, 141.

  Airborne once again: Gerard M. Devlin, Paratrooper!, 138; Wilson, “The Operations of the 509th Parachute Battalion in North Africa,” 1947, 10; AAR, William P. Yarborough, Nov. 13, 1942, NARA RG 407, E 427, AG, WWII Operations Reports, box 234; “Administrative History, 60th Troop Carrier Group,” AFHRA, NARA micro, R-B 0155–0157.

  Most of Raff ’s: Breuer, 41; “USAF Airborne Operations, World War II and Korea,” 1962, USAF Historical Division, MHI, 5; Warren, 13.

  To the Last Man

  Viewed from the great: Powell, 280 (“resounded to the groans”); R.H.W.S. Hastings, The Rifle Brigade in the Second World War, 1939–1945, 209 (“white-walled city”); Tompkins, 11 (“reclining woman”).

  So it was: Murphy, 120–28 (“I am convinced”); Anthony Clayton, Three Marshals of France, 70; Tompkins, 70 (“chloroform the city”), 90 (“painful search”).

  “I am happy to say”: Langer, 346; Murphy, 127–30; Kingsbury Smith, “Unrevealed Facts About Robert Murphy,” American Mercury, Nov. 1944, 528 (“We are coming by invitation”).

  Murphy described: François Kersaudy, Churchill and De Gaulle, 222; Leahy, 48 (Popeye); Murphy, 127–30; Lamb, 211 (“a bad man”).

  By a coincidence: Russell Brooks, “The Unknown Darlan,” U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, Aug. 1955, 879; Boatner, 117; Tompkins, 65; Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, 105 (“If I could meet”); Murphy, 118, 129 (“I have known”).

  For fifteen minutes: Pendar, AAR, Jan. 3, 1945, NARA RG 226, E 99, OSS, box 40 (“The necessary”); Murphy, 131 (“Giraud is not”).

  The insurrection: Funk, 212 (“This isn’t just”), 218–20; Pendar, Adventure, 108-109 (Pirates of Penzance); AAR, “Narrative of Captain Frederick Brown,” July 17, 1945, NARA RG 26, E 99, OSS, box 40; msg, Nov. 8, 1942, NARA RG 38, OCNO, Office of Naval Intel., box 1 (“France and her honor”).

  Regrettably, the Allies: Bolstad, 31, 63; Leslie W. Bailey, “The Operations of the 3rd Battalion, 135th Infantry at Algiers,” 1948, 11; NWAf, 243.

  The lights of Algiers: AAR, A. B. Russell, RN, “Operation Terminal,” Nov. 11, 1942, SM, MHI; Leslie W. Bailey, Through Hell and High Water, 52.

  Then, on his fourth: AAR, A.F.C. Layard, in Bolstad, 225.

  Badly shaken: Richard Collier, The War in the Desert, 14 (“light out like stripey-assed baboons”); Tute, 177; Auphan and Moral, 222; Layard, 225; Bailey, Through Hell and High Water, 46.

  Fancourt sounded the recall: John MacVane, Journey into War, 59; H. L. St. J. Fancourt, “Report of Commanding Officer, Force TERMINAL,” Nov. 11, 1942, SM, MHI (“The morale effect of a destroyer”).

  Even with the ship gone: Bailey, Through Hell and High Water, 49; “A Partial History, 135th Infantry Regiment,” n.d., Iowa GSM; “Regimental History, 135th Infantry,” NARA RG 407.

  Then the unmistakable creak: Hougen, The Story of the Famous 34th Infantry Division; Kenneth Maitland Davies, To the Last Man, 97; NWAf, 244; Bolstad, 95.

  Thirty-three thousand: Richard F. Kinden, “The Road to Fort McGregor and the Long Way Home,” ts, IWM, 84/50/1 (“I should have thought”); Pack, 64 (“testing for salt”).

  Finding the right beach: Jack Marshall, “Tales of a Timid Commando,” ts, n.d., ASEQ, 34th ID, MHI; AAR, “Company B, 168th Inf,” Nov. 1942, Iowa GSM; Ankrum, 122 (“I’m sorry to tell you”); AAR, RN, Inshore Squadron, H.M.S.

  Bulolo, Dec. 8, 1942, NARA AFHQ micro, RN Ops., R-17-A; Morison, Operations in North African Waters, 206; AAR, “5 Corps Lessons From TORCH,” Nov. 26, 1942, NARA RG 334, NWC Lib, box 472.

  Outnumbered five to one: Marshall, “Tales of a Timid Commando” (“Why don’t you”); Macksey, Crucible of Power: The Fight for Tunisia, 1942–1943, 71 (“French families); Benjamin Caffey, OH, Feb. 1950, SM, MHI; Middleton, Our Share of Night, 175 (enterprising wine merchant).

  On the far western fringe: David Scott Daniell, History of the East Surrey Regiment, vol. IV, 151; Middleton, 175 (“You gentlemen”).

  The 168th Infantry: NWAf, 236; Robert R. Moore, AAR, “Record of Events from 14 Oct. 1942 to Armistice, Nov. 1942,” Iowa GSM; “The Tunisian Campaign,” 34th Div., Dec. 13, 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427, 334–0.3 (“not prepared”); letter, Moore to family, Dec. 2, 1942 (“I got my helmet creased”); Red Oak Express, Feb. 22, 1943; Des Moines Sunday Register, July 18, 1943 (“I thought the fight”); Bill Roth, “The Longest Days of a G.I.,” ts, n.d., Iowa GSM; 168th Inf Regt, pamphlet, Iowa GSM.

  “Glory Enough for Us All”

  The stars had once again: U.S.S. Brooklyn war diary, Nov. 7, 1942, SEM, NHC, box 15.

  More than 100: The Landings in North Africa, 16 (“reeling drunk”); Morison attributes the “Chinese laundry” line to Robert C. Giffen, Operations in North African Waters, 48; Kreidberg and Henry, 678; Astor, 252.

  A gale born south of Iceland: Erbes, “Hell on Wheels Surgeon,” ts, USMA Arch, 11; Robert E. Coffin, “Operation TORCH: A Perilous Preview,” Army, Nov. 1992, 42 (“I can’t believe a ship”); Philip G. Cochran, OH, 1975, USAF HRC, 418; Fitzhugh L. Palmer, Jr., “The Old Indispensables,” Proceedings, Aug. 1976, 61.

  For Hewitt, the storm: Alfred M. Gruenther to GSP, Oct. 13, 1942, NARA RG 218, CCS 381, section 1–1a, box 325; Dickson, “G-2 Journal: Algiers to the Elbe,” ts, MHI, 21; AFHQ msg, Nov. 7, 1942, NARA RG 492, MTOUSA, box 1388 (“Very poor”).

  “I hope to God”: Mountbatten, OH, n.d., HKH, NHC, box 6.

  The choice: diary, Oct. 28, 30, 1942, GSP, LOC Ms Div, box 2, folder 13.

  “We are to be congratulated”: Blumenson, Patton: The Man Behind the Legend, 168; Farago, 9, 13 (“Some goddam fool”).

  Despite their early antipathy: Blumenson, Patton: The Man Behind the Legend, 112, 121 (“War is the only place”); DDE to GSP, Jr., Oct. 13, 1942, Chandler, 618; NWAf, 44–45; “Reminiscences of Rear Adm. Elliott B. Strauss,” 1989, USNI OHD (“when things get overturned”).

  In the smallest hours: weather reports, HKH, correspondence, NHC, box 1; Tuleja, “Admiral H. Kent Hewitt,” in Howarth, ed., 319–20.

  Hewitt studied: Clagett, “Admiral H. Kent Hewitt, U.S. Navy,” 76 (“velvet”).

  A solitary banana boat: AAR, “Trip of Honduran SS Contessa,” March 22, 1943, in Wheeler, ed., 76.

  With new urgency: Harmon, Combat Commander, 81; Franklyn E. Dailey, Jr., Joining the War at Sea, 1939–1945, 137 (“resembled a fraternity house”); memo, HQ Task Force A, Oct. 10, 1942, NARA micro, Western Task Force, AFHQ G-3, R-24-C (first-day battle casualities); Harry McK. Roper, “Report on Observations Made as Observer with Task Force Brushwood,” n.d., NARA RG 337, Observer Reports, box 52; AAR, Hewitt, March 1943, NARA RG 218, JCS, CCS 381, section 1–1a, box 325 (wetted down); Morison, Operations in North African Waters, 71 (“pretend they’re Japs”).

  Commanders with an impulse: F.E.M. Whiting, correspondence, 1972, USNI OHD (“Ense petit”); Morison, Operations in North African Waters, 92 (“glory enough”); Emily Morison Beck, ed., Sailor Historian: The Best of Samuel Eliot Morison, 205 (“gangway for a fighting ship”).

  Patton napped: Patton directive, Oct. 14, 1942, NARA RG 165, Office of the Director of Plans and Operations, General Records, corr, box 1229 (“Get off that damned beach”); GCM to DDE, n.d., NARA RG 492, MTOUSA, box 1387 (“avoid firing”); NWAf, 45, 70 (“superiority complex”).

  On the darkened bridge: msg, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 229 (“We come, among”); AFHQ msg, NARA RG 218, JCS, box 325 (“Vive”); Farago, 17 (“Mes amis”).

  “God’s most favorite�
��: Hatch, George Patton: General in Spurs, 138.

  Only rebels: Brooks, “Casablanca—The French Side of the Fence,” Proceedings, Sept. 1951, 909; “Memorandum for Colonel Donovan,” OSS AAR, Jan. 1943, NARA RG 226, E 99, box 40 (scheme by Moroccan Jews); “TORCH Report,” Sept. 6, 1944, NARA RG 226, E 99, OSS, box 40 (Leroy the Badger); AAR, Émile Béthouart, NARA RG 226, E 99, OSS, box 40 (“a juvenile enthusiasm”); letter, Auguste Paul Noguès to G. F. Howe, n.d., NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 225.

  After that, nothing: Macmillan, The Blast of War, 197 (“No-Yes”); AAR, Michel Despax, July 15, 1944, NARA RG 226, E 99, OSS, box 40 (his mistress’s bed); AAR, Béthouart; letter, Noguès to Howe; Philip H. Bagby, “D-Day in Casablanca,” American Foreign Service Journal, March 1945, 16 (Senegalese soldiers); NWAf, 95.

  “The sky is dark”: letter, Dave Murdock, Arizona Republic, Dec. 6, 1942, MCC, YU. Soldier letters collected by Mina Curtiss frequently indicate the date and newspaper or magazine in which the correspondence was published.

  The lieutenant was deceived: Morison, “The Approach to Fedala,” ts, n.d., SEM, NHC, box 16 (“One plot showed”); “Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet,” 1946, vol. I, USNAd, 426 (“center of Times Square”).

  Despite this irrefutable evidence: 3rd ID, “Brushwood Final Report,” Dec. 8, 1942, NARA micro, AFHQ G-3 Operations, R-24-C; “Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet,” 1946, vol. I, USNAd, 426 (“as though one switch”); AAR, U.S. Atlantic Fleet Amphibious Force, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427, box 24430; Morison, “The Approach to Fedala,” ts, n.d., SEM, NHC, box 16; Truscott, Command Missions, 93 (“To be perfectly honest”).

  Destroyers tacked: “Operations, 3rd Bn., 60th Combat Team, 8–11 Nov. 1942,” NARA RG 407, E 427, box 7540; Ernest D. Whitehead, Sr., World War II: An Ex-Sergeant Remembers, 33 (impaled his thigh); Wallace, “Africa, We Took It and Liked It,” 20; Randle, Safi Adventure, 27 (“Don’t harass”).