An Army at Dawn

by Rick Atkinson

  Then the loadmasters bellowed: AAR, U.S.S. Charles Carroll, n.d., U.S. Atlantic Fleet Amphibious Force, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 24490.

  At Fedala, the first wave: “Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet,” 1946, vol. I, USNAd, 430 (“indescribable confusion”); “CSI Battlebook 3-A: Operation TORCH,” CSI, 53; AAR, J. T. Hagglove, “Report of Operation at Fedala,” U.S.S. Leonard Wood, Nov. 28, 1942, NARA RG 407, E 427, Box 24490; “Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet,” 1946, vol. I, USNAd, 436; Kerwin, SOOHP, MHI, 123 (scavenging life jackets).

  Eighty miles north: Truscott, Command Decisions, 97; Mittelman, 48 (“like a yacht race”); AAR, Henry T. Allen, n.d., SEM, NHC, box 16; “Western Task Force: Attack on Mehdia and Port Lyautey Airdrome,” 1945, ts, 2–3.7 AEI, CMH.

  The third and final: Karl Baedeker, The Mediterranean, 109; Justin McGuinness, Footprint Morocco Handbook, 203; Oscar Koch, ts, n.d., MHI (picture postcards); lecture, Louis Ely, Feb. 5, 1943, SEM, NHC (Jew’s Cliff).

  To seize Safi port: AAR, 47th Infantry, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427, box 7514; Karig, 184 (“sawed-off”); SEM, NHC, box 4, folder 2; George Bastedo, “K Goes to Africa,” ts, n.d., in Chester H. Jordan file, 3rd Bn, 47th Inf, ASEQ, MHI; Randle, Safi Adventure, appendix A (“Violent, rapid”).

  The usual muddle: Harmon, 84 (stretched a huge net); “Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet,” 1946, vol. I, USNAd, 408.

  Machine-gun rounds: lecture, C. G. Richardson, “The Attack on Safi,” Aug. 20, 1943, NARA RG 334, NWC Lib, box 164.

  Unsettled, the troops: James Adams, “Observer’s Report on Landing Operations of Task Force BLACKSTONE,” Jan. 1943, NARA RG 337, E 15A, box 52 (They flopped); Bastedo, “K Goes to Africa” Wilhm et al., “Armor in the Invasion of North Africa.”

  Three more waves: Adams, “Observer’s Report” (“A soldier would snake”); Randle, Safi Adventure, 45, 58.

  By early afternoon: Mittelman, 65; Erbes, “Hell on Wheels Surgeon,” 15 (“with a welder’s torch”).

  It was all too much: “Official Report Submitted by Commander of the Safi Garrison,” Nov. 14, 1942, NARA RG 338, Fifth Army, box 1; NWAf, 109.

  Eisenhower had trusted: Three Years, 173–76; DDE to GCM, Nov. 8, 1942, Chandler, 673 (“Everything appears”).

  Besides that: DDE to John S. D. Eisenhower, Oct. 13, 1942, Chandler, vol. I, 617.

  “this business of warfare”: Three Years, 176–77; DDE to W. B. Smith, Nov. 9, 1942, Chandler, 678 (“That I do not believe”).

  “Worries of a Commander”: DDE memo, Nov. 8, 1942, Chandler, 675.

  CHAPTER 3: BEACHHEAD

  A Sword in Algiers

  This was war: Martha Gellhorn, quoted in Paul Fussell, Doing Battle: The Making of a Skeptic, 298 (“our condition”); Matthew Arnold, “Dover Beach.”

  East of the Algerian: Destruction, 144; The Landings in North Africa, 13; “5 Corps Lessons from TORCH,” extract from letter, Nov. 26, 1942, NARA RG 334, NWC Lib, box 472 (“all very friendly”).

  Lieutenant Colonel Edward J. Doyle: letter, John O’Daniel to OW, Jan. 1951, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 225; Berens, 36–37 (Ignoring orders and “at the beach”).

  Luftwaffe pilots: The Landings in North Africa, 104; Baltimore Sun, Dec. 17, 1942; Karig, 220; Morison, Operations in North African Waters, 213.

  Pleasing as such retaliatory: AAR, Jan. 3, 1945, NARA RG 226, E 99, OSS, box 40; Pendar, 112.

  In Juin’s limousine: Charles W. Ryder, OH, March 1949, SM, MHI (“I will go anywhere”); Murphy, 132.

  A bugler perched: AAR, July 17, 1945, and Jan. 3, 1945, NARA RG 226, E 99, OSS, box 40 (“I don’t like blood”); Pendar, 114; Hougen, The Story of the Famous 34th Infantry Division (hunting trophies); Ryder, OH, March 1949, SM, MHI (“Are you”); AAR, C.W. Ryder, Nov. 19, 1942, NARA RG 407, E 427, AG, box 244; Murphy, 133.

  At dawn on Monday: Roskill, 325; Fergusson, 213; S.W.C. Pack, Invasion North Africa 1942, 80 (“Everyone lie down!”).

  So, too, did General Giraud: Langer, 350 (“his presence”); DDE to GCM, Nov. 9, 1942, Chandler, 680 (“stupid Frogs”).

  The authorities in Vichy: Langer, 356 (“a rebel chief and a felon”); memo, J. J. McCloy to L. J. McNair, March 31, 1943, NARA RG 165, Plans and Ops, box 1230; Funk, 234; Tompkins, 116 (uniform had gone missing).

  Three hours later: Murphy, 135 (“messes things”); Darryl F. Zanuck, Tunis Expedition, 39, 48.

  The Hôtel St. Georges: Baedeker, 221; Middleton, 191 (spinsters touring).

  Clark found General Ryder: Berens, 38 (“shoot their butts off”); “Record of Events,” Feb. 22, 1943, NARA RG 338, Fifth Army, box 1, 1–13; Clark, Calculated Risk, 108.

  “We have work”: Clark, Calculated Risk, 108–13; “Record of Events” (“All my associates”); Langer, 352 (“Pétain is nothing”); log, Nov. 10, 1942, Jerauld Wright Papers, LOC, box 2 (“That is your decision”); Murphy, 138 (“Would you mind”).

  The Americans retreated: Murphy, 138 (Clark’s tacit threat); Funk, 243 (“in the name”); Tompkins, 121 (“J’accepte”); “Record of Events,” 13.

  He immediately: Alan Moorehead, The End in Africa, 61 (“He appeared”); Funk, 240 (“I issued”); Tompkins, 123 (“I am lost”); “Record of Events,” 13; Morison, Operations in North African Waters, 217; Dickson, “G-2 Journal: Algiers to the Elbe,” 29 (“Mon Admiral, by order”).

  At Gibraltar, Eisenhower thumbed: Chandler, 679 (“War brings”); Butcher diary, Nov. 8 (“good assassin”) and 13 (“in a neutral country”), DDE Lib, PP-pres, box 165.

  But it was Oran: DDE to GCM, Nov. 9, 1942, Chandler, 680 (“My biggest”).

  A Blue Flag over Oran

  American soldiers had converged: Field Order #1, Oct. 11, 1942, 26th Inf., MRC FDM (Brooklyn, Brockton).

  Terry Allen and a larger portion: Rame, 16 (“scrofulous”); author interview, Eston White; Downing, 92 (When the mule).

  A wounded soldier lay: Downing, 89 (“Don’t kick”); Fred W. Hall, Jr., “A Memoir of World War II,” ts, 1997, Eisenhower Center, University of New Orleans (“The fallen wire”).

  St. Cloud was a buff-tinted: NWAf, 220n; AAR, Leland L. Rounds, July 13, 1944, NARA RG 226, E 99, OSS, box 40; Field Order #1, intel. annex, Oct. 11, 1942, 26th Inf., MRC FDM (“second- or third-class”); Rame, 16.

  At 3:30 P.M., the battalion: Marshall, ed., Proud Americans, 31–40 (“Keep going, Mac”); Robert W. Baumer, Before Taps Sounded, 64.

  Now French artillerymen: Marshall, ed., 26 (“Please, please,”), 31 (“Stop!”), 35 (goats stampeded).

  Night slipped down: Russell F. Akers, OH, July 27, 1949, SM, MHI.

  By seven A.M. on November 9: Parris and Russell, 193; Rame, 28–31.

  “I’m going to put”: Rame, 29; Knickerbocker et al., 46.

  At that moment: Rogers, “A Study of Leadership in the First Infantry Division During World War II,” 14, 16; “Nothing Stopped the Timberwolves,” Saturday Evening Post, Aug. 17, 1946, 20; Frye, “‘Terrible Terry’ of the 1st Division Is Getting Tougher as He Goes Along.”

  Standing beneath a fig tree: John K. Waters, SOOHP, 1980, William C. Parnell III, MHI, 683; Mason, “Reminiscences and Anecdotes of World War II,” MRC FDM; “A Factual Situation and Operations Report on the Combat Operations of the 1st Infantry Division,” n.d., TdA, MHI (“There will not be”); “Terry Allen and the First Division in North Africa and Sicily,” n.d., TdA, MHI; Ramsey, 55 (“I just couldn’t do it”).

  The circumvention of St. Cloud: Rogers, 15; Knickerbocker et al., 50 (“You will not talk”); Rame, 40; Howe, The Battle History of the 1st Armored Division, 45 (flood the port). (George Marshall later sent FDR a copy of Allen’s field order no. 3 as a model of brevity.)

  Festive crowds: Joseph S. Frelinghuysen, Passages to Freedom, 26; letter, William B. Kern to PMR, Jan. 1950, NARA RG 319, OCMH.

  For more than five hours: “18th Infantry, Draft Regimental History,” n.d., Stanhope Mason Collection, MRC FDM; Lida Mayo, The Ordnance Department: On Beachhead and Battlefront, 117 (a large blue pennant).

  Beyond t
he killed: NWAf, 227, 228n; Observer Report, #41, March 5, 1943, NARA RG 337, Box 52 (Allen and Roosevelt also relieved); author interview, Juskalian, Feb. 25, 2000.

  The liberators immediately: McNamara, 22; Pyle, Here Is Your War, 83 (“to make them feel”); Waters, SOOHP, 171; Edward J. Josowitz, An Informal History of the 601st Tank Destroyer Battalion, 7 (threw a jolly party); Pearlman, 249; author interview, Juskalian.

  Almost 37,000 men now occupied: Howe, The Battle History of the 1st Armored Division, 47 (“Everything is rosy”); DDE to W. B. Smith, Nov. 10, 1942, Chandler, 686 (“rush and rush”).

  “An Orgy of Disorder”

  Casablanca provided: Landings in North Africa, 27–39; Auphan and Moral, 230–36; Morison, Operations in North African Waters, 93–114 (“fire-away Flannagan”).

  hardly a syllable: Three Years, 182.

  Hewitt considered: New York Sun, Jan. 30, 1943, HKH, LOC Ms. Div., box 9, folder 6; Clagett, “Admiral H. Kent Hewitt, U.S. Navy,” part 2, 83; U.S.S.

  Brooklyn war diary, Nov. 8, 1942, SEM, NHC, box 15 (“Have noticed”).

  Within ten minutes: Brooks, “Casablanca—The French Side of the Fence,” 909.

  The Jean Bart: AAR, Carl E. Bledsoe, Jan. 27, 1943, NARA RG 337, E 15A, box 51; Mason, 181; Godson, 51.

  The commander of the French: Auphan and Moral, 230; Tompkins, 162–65 (black cassock and wives and children).

  French shells: AAR, R. E. Ingersoll, “TORCH Operation, Comments and Recommendations,” March 1, 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427, “Special Files,” box 24486; AAR, USN, “Participation in Operation TORCH Action off Casablanca,” Nov. 19, 1942, NARA RG 407, E 427, “Special Files,” box 24488; Landings in North Africa, 35; “Signal Communication in the North African Campaign,” ts, 1945, Tactical Communication in World War II, Part I, Historical Section, Office of the Chief Signal Officer, MHI, 17.

  concussion: HKH, “Reminscences of a World War II Admiral,” ts, NHC, box 21; letter, Edward S. Johnston to SEM, Apr. 1947, SEM, NHC, box 16; Farago, 35–36 (“I hope you have”); Blumenson, The Patton Papers, 1940–1945, 103, 105 (“I was on”).

  Hewitt was too busy: Landings in North Africa, 37; Morison, Operations in North African Waters, 100–101 (“grasshopper with a rock”), 104; “Reminiscences of Rear Adm. Joshua W. Cooper,” OH, John T. Mason, 1975, USNI OHD (galley trash can); AAR, Daniel F. Seacord, U.S.S.

  Ludlow, n.d., NHC; Harley Cope, “Play Ball, Navy!” Proceedings, Oct. 1943, 1131.

  Four miles: AAR, “Aircraft Operations During the Execution of TORCH,” CINCLANT, March 30, 1943, NARA RG 38, OCNO, WWII Action, box 3; Wordell and Seiler, 133 (Scotch tape).

  Patched and vengeful: C. T. Booth and M. T. Wordell, OH Dec. 4, 1942, NARA RG 334, E 315, NWC Lib, box 476 (“The first pass”); Wordell and Seiler, 93.

  The air attacks and weight: “Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet,” ts, 1946, vol. I, USNAd, 449; Wordell and Seiler, 93 (“heeled over”); Auphan and Moral, 233; Landings in North Africa, 35–36; Morison, Operations in North African Waters, 107.

  The most operatic death: AAR, translated from French Naval Historical Service, n.d., in Ludlow file, NHC; Auphan and Moral, 233; Landings in North Africa, 36; Collier, 146 (Terrified pigs).

  Of the French ships: AAR, “Aircraft Operations During the Execution of TORCH,” CINCLANT, March 30, 1943, NARA RG 38, OCNO, WWII Action, box 3; Wordell and Seiler, 93 (sweeping, ceremonial turn); letter, C. V. August, Chicago News, Jan. 28, 1943, MCC, YU (bathed in champagne).

  Diehard French officers: Ellsberg, 271 (“We Come”); Tompkins, 165.

  Patton finally reached: letters, Edward S. Johnston to S. E. Morison, April–May 1947, SEM, NHC, box 16 (“I cannot stomach”); D’Este, Patton, 435.

  That would be: Blumenson, Patton: The Man Behind the Legend, 128 (“orgy of disorder”); Observer Report #37, Feb. 10, 1943, NARA RG 337, box 52 (“Had the landings”); “Western Task Force: The Attack on Fedala,” n.d., War Department, CMH, 2–3.7 WE; “Signal Communication in the North African Campaign,” ts, 1945, Tactical Communication in World War II, Part I, Historical Section, Office of the Chief Signal Officer, MHI, 59; Kenneth G. Crawford, Report on North Africa, 45; letter, Arthur R. Wilson to GCM, Dec. 12, 1942, NARA RG 165, E 13, OCS, box 106; Joseph A. Watters, “The Invasion of North Africa at Fedala and Casablanca,” ts, n.d., ASEQ, 3rd ID, MHI; Three Years, 148.

  While trapped: Hatch, George Patton: General in Spurs, 138 (“I wish”); Charles R. Codman, Drive, 22; Harry H. Semmes, “George S. Patton, Jr.’s Psychology of Leadership,” Army, Jan.–Feb. 1955, 1 (“words of fire”); Harmon, 94 (useful rumor).

  Five French infantry battalions: Wilhm et al., 71; “History of Regimental Landing Group 30,” March 30, 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 245 (“Rendezvous!”); “Western Task Force: The Attack on Fedala” decoration affidavits, Mackenzie E. Porter, Robert D. Henriques, NARA RG 338, 7th Army Awards, box 2; William Ellsworth, OH, n.d., SM, MHI (“For God’s sake stop”); Coffin, “Operation TORCH: A Perilous Preview,” 42; Donald G. Taggart, ed., History of the Third Infantry Division, 23.

  A white handkerchief: “History of Regimental Landing Group 30” (offered water).

  Patrols pushing: Morison, Operations in North African Waters, 65 (“the greatest setback”).

  Rommel was still: William Ellsworth, OH, n.d., SM, MHI; Franklin M. Reck, Beyond the Call of Duty, 27 (“Good day, my friends!”); Taggart, ed., 20; Morison, Operations in North African Waters, 86, 110; NWAf, 128; Farago, 39 (“determined to slug it out”).

  The fight would be: “Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet,” ts, 1946, vol. I, USNAd, 443; letter, Arthur R. Wilson to GCM, Dec. 12, 1942, NARA RG 165, E 13, OCS, box 106; Farago, 200 (“My theory”); Codman, 35 (Patton strolled); Blumenson, The Patton Papers, 1940–1945, 106 (“God was”).

  God withdrew: Wilson to GCM, Dec. 12, 1942 (“calmest day”); Beck et al., 77; Landings in North Africa, 76; Garrison H. Davidson, OH, John T. Greenwood, 1980, CEOH, 172 (“Let’s do it”).

  Shore parties lacked: Bykofsky and Larson, 160; “Amphibious Training Command,” ts, n.d., USNAd, VII-36, 58; “Signal Communication in the North African Campaigns,” in Tactical Communications in World War II, part 1, 1945, MHI, 24; Leo J. Meyer, “Strategy and Logistical History: Mediterranean Theater of Operations,” ts, n.d., CMH, 2.37 CC1, III-15; Earl Burton, “The Invasion of North Africa,” in Armed Forces Series, vol. 2, 1992.

  A company of 113: “Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet,” 1946, ts, vol. I, USNAd, 431 (“bring order”); History of 67th Armored Regiment, 67; Taggart, ed., 23; “CSI Battlebook 3-A: Operation TORCH,” CSI, ADA 151 625 (“full of metal”); decoration citation, Walter J. Burns, 204th MP Co., NARA RG 338, Fifth Army, A 47-A-3948, box 56.

  Two hours later: H. Essame, Patton: A Study in Command, 55 (“flay the idle”); Blumenson, The Patton Papers, 1940–1945, 108 (“nasty blue” and “beach was a mess”).

  One officer quoted Patton: Codman, 21.

  Scourging would not: Taggart, ed., 29; Watters, ASEQ, MHI; Forrest K. Kleinman, “The Bizarre Battle for Casablanca,” Army, Aug. 1997, 38; GSP to DDE, Nov. 14, 1942; “Western Task Force: The Attack on Fedala,” 60.

  “Today has been bad”: Blumenson, The Patton Papers, 1940–1945, 109; DDE to GSP, Nov. 10, 1942, Chandler, 684.

  Battle for the Kasbah

  Of the nine major: LKT Jr. to MWC, Sept. 12, 1942, LKT Jr. Papers, GCM Lib, box 9 (“should not be”); Farago, 29; GCM to DDE, Oct. 5, 1942, NARA RG 492, MTOUSA, box 1386 (“noon Dog Day”).

  “Beloved Wife”: LKT Jr. to Sarah, Oct. 22, 1942, LKT Jr. Papers, GCM Lib; Lucian K. Truscott, Jr., Twilight of the Cavalry, xiii–xv; John K. Waters, SOOHP, William C. Parnell III, 1980, MHI; Boatner, 574; Truscott, Command Missions, 71; Theodore J. Conway, SOOHP, Robert F. Ensslin, 1977, I-22; diary, Oct. 15, 1942, GSP, LOC, box 2, folder 13 (“I am just”).

  Truscott’s opening gambit: Author visit, April 2000; P. M. Hamilton, OH, Nov. 30, 1949, SM, MHI; P. M. Hamilton, OH, July 1945, “Western Task Force: Atta
ck on Mehdia and the Port Lyautey Airdrome,” ts, 1945, CMH, 2–3.7 AEI; Reck, 44.

  The failed diplomatic: “Western Task Force: Attack on Mehdia,” 27; “Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet,” 1946, ts, vol. I, USNAd, 416 (“with cold steel”); AAR, Carl E. Bledsoe, Jan. 27, 1943, NARA RG 337, E 15A, box 51 (“absolutely dumbfounded”).

  Nightfall made matters worse: Semmes, 121; “Western Task Force: Attack on Mehdia,” 63.

  On the broad: Truscott, Command Missions, 113–14.

  The troops ducked: LKT Jr. to GSP, Nov. 12, 1942, LKT Jr. Papers, GCM Lib, box 9 (“halfway to Bermuda”).

  Like Patton, Truscott concluded: Farago, 29–30 (“disaster against”); Peter Andrews, “A Place to Be Lousy In,” American Heritage, Dec. 1991, 100 (Truscott suspected); Truscott, Command Missions, 97–98 (“One of the first lessons”).

  Yet only luck: Semmes, 125; Semmes, reply to Armored School queries, Dec. 1949, SM, MHI; Truscott, Command Missions, 118 (“not a cheerful one”).

  At first light: AAR, Gordon Browne, n.d., OSS files, NARA RG 226, E 99, box 39 (“Tout va bien”); “Western Task Force: Attack on Mehdia,” 4; msg, GCM, Oct. 2, 1942, NARA RG 492, MTOUSA, Special Staff, box 1385 (“rivet attention”); Malvergne Silver Star documentation, NARA RG 338, Fifth Army, box 56; Roul Tunley, “A Frenchman Returns,” Sea Power, Jan. 1945, 13; AAR, Co C, 15th Engineer Combat Bn, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427, 9th ID, box 7455.

  Dallas yawed wildly: R. Brodie, Jr., OH, June 19, 1951, SM, MHI; NWAf, 165; Morison, Operations in North African Waters, 131.

  Two hours later: “Western Task Force: Attack on Mehdia,” 122; “Adventures by Men of the 60th Infantry Regiment in WWII,” ts, 1993, MHI, 9; Mittelman, 72; Truscott, Command Missions, 120 (“a beautiful sight”); Frederic A. Henney, “Combat Engineers in North Africa: The Capture of Port Lyautey,” Military Engineer, Jan. 1944, 1; Landings in North Africa, 53 (“Beau Geste”).