An Army at Dawn

by Rick Atkinson

  If choler infected: Pyle, Here Is Your War, 241–42.

  What Rommel called: Clifford, 390 (“clean, straight”); Ellis, On the Front Lines, 17 (slaughterhouse blood); L. J. McNair, “The Struggle Is for Survival,” radio address, Nov. 11, 1942, Vital Speeches of the Day, 111; training memorandum #22, AFHQ through II Corps G-3, “History of the 26th Infantry in the Present Struggle,” MRC FDM, box 301, 9/36; GSP Jr., “order of the day,” “History of the 26th Infantry in the Present Struggle,” MRC FDM, box 301, 9/35.

  nearly 6,000 casualties: “Report on Operation, 15 March–10 Apr. 1943,” II Corps, CARL, N-2652A; D’Este, Bitter Victory, 62 (“Perhaps these American”); G-2 summary #7, Apr. 19, 1943, II Corps, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 7334; Samuel D. Spivey, A Doughboy’s Narrative, 73 (“we really learned”); “History of the 26th Infantry in the Present Struggle,” MRC FDM, box 301, 10/24; Herschel H. Husinpiller, “Armored Infantry in Africa,” ts, n.d., Fort Benning Infantry School Library, 7 (“A soldier is not”); Parris and Russell, 308–310; Pyle, Here Is Your War, 106 (“They lost”).

  A very thin membrane: “Intelligence at HQ First Army, Nov. 1942–May 1943,” ts, May 23, 1943, National Archives of Canada, RG 24, vol. 01, intelligence 10719 (“serious menace”); William E. Faust, ASEQ, ts, 1990, 1st ID, Divarty HHQ, MHI, 39 (“We became ruthless”); letter, printed in Minneapolis Tribune, Apr. 11, 1943, MCC-YU (“Here Arabs live”); Thomas A. Kindre, OH, 1994, G. Kurt Piehler, ROHA; Tom Gendron, OH, 1977, 1st ID, Michael Corley, possession of Paul Gorman; Howard D. Ashcraft, As You Were, 10, 17 (“to watch them dance”).

  At a training camp: Schrijver, 118; “History of the 26th Infantry in the Present Struggle,” MRC FDM, box 301, 9/90; McManus, 67 (“We made them dig”); D’Arcy-Dawson, 107, 125, 133 (“It is not pleasant”).

  After Kasserine: author interviews, Edward Boehm, Nov. 26, 1999, and Jan. 4, 2000; Edward Boehm, “My Autobiography During World War II,” ts, 1997, possession of Roger Cirillo.

  Such atrocities: inspector general report, July 13, 1943, NARA RG 492, MTOUSA, records of the special staff, box 2011 (“three out of five”).

  But other crimes: “Historical Report of the Provost Marshal Section of the Atlantic Base Section,” Oct. 5, 1942, to May 31, 1943, NARA RG 492, provost marshal general, box 2228; Giraud letter in memo, Apr. 3, 1943, NARA RG 331, AFHQ micro, R-204-F; memo, J. C. Holmes, chief, AFHQ liaison section to G-1 (personnel), May 3, 1943, NARA RG 331, AFHQ micro, R-204-F; memo, NATO provost marshal to G-1, May 6, 1943, NARA RG 331, AFHQ micro, R-204-F.

  Some of the most appalling: “Report of the Battalion Chief of Leon Tenneroni,” Bône, Apr. 21, 1943, in “Inspections and Investigations by Inspectors General and Other Officers & Reports Of [sic],” vol. II, serial #8, HQ NATO, June 6, 1943, to CG, 8th AAF, “Report of Security Investigation,” NARA RG 492, MTO, Records of the Special Staff, box 1043; “History of the 98th Engineer (General Service) Regiment,” Aug. 17, 1941–May 1944, NARA RG 407, E 427, Engineers, box 19556; WWII U.S. Army executions, JAG, history branch office, U.S. force, ETO, 8-3.5 AA, v. 1; memo, “comparison of executions during WWI and WWII,” U.S. Army JAG to undersecretary of war, Apr. 22, 1946, author’s possession.

  “I Had a Plan…Now I Have None”

  “a soft feel”: TR to Eleanor, Apr. 6, 1943, TR, LOC, box 9; Destruction, 374–75 (“last man” and “Non è stata”).

  It was not especially good: Adrian Stewart, Eighth Army’s Greatest Victories, 189; Jackson, Alexander of Tunis as Military Commander, 189; Benson, “Some Tunisian Details,” 2 (“Attack and destroy”).

  They swung at air: Wellard, 80 (“abreast like a Spanish fleet”); AAR, “The El Guettar Operation, Intelligence Report,” Benson Force, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427, box 3126; Blumenson, The Patton Papers, 1940–1945, 213; NWAf, 577; “Report on Operation, 15 March–10 Apr. 1943,” II Corps, CARL, N-2652A; Hoffman, Stauffenberg, 177–80; Boatner, 534.

  Within an hour: Parkinson, 89 (“Hello, Limeys!”); Gordon, 169; Hill, Desert Conquest, 272 (“somebody besides a Nazi”), 300.

  Eisenhower was jubilant: DDE to John S. D. Eisenhower, Apr. 8, 1943, Chandler, 1083; DDE to E. E. Hazlett, Jr., Apr. 7, 1943, Chandler, 1081 (“It seems”).

  He was just: DDE to A. D. Surles, Apr. 6, 1943, Chandler, 1080; DDE to GSP, Apr. 5, 1943, Chandler, 1073 (“my policy”).

  Proximity to the British: Tedder, 406 (“The only way”); Lewin, Montgomery as Military Commander, 178; Brooks, ed., 157–72, 191; Butcher diary, DDE Lib, PP-pres, box 166, A-282; “Reminiscences of Hanson Weightman Baldwin,” 1976, John T. Mason, USNI OHD, 4–375 (“anybody except that son of a bitch”); Morgan, Past Forgetting, 115 (“a thorn in my side”).

  As if to compensate: DDE to GSP, Apr. 5, 1943, Chandler, 1073; Blumenson, The Patton Papers, 1940–1945, 220, 218.

  Yet in his ecumenical: B.A. Dickson, OH, Dec. 13, 1950, SM, MHI; Bradley and Blair, A General’s Life, 144–45 (“speechless”); Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, 59 (“This war’s”); DDE to Alexander, March 23, 1943, Chandler, 1056; DDE to GCM, March 29, 1943, Chandler, 1059; DDE to GSP, Apr. 5, 1943, Chandler, 1074 (“your corps”).

  One final chance: author visit, Apr. 2000; “G-2 Report on Tunisian Campaign,” June 12, 1943, 34th ID, Iowa GSM; Vaerst, “Operations of the Fifth Panzer Army in Tunisia,” MHI, 18; Arnim, “Recollections of Tunisia,” MHI, 91; Forty, The Armies of Rommel, 177; Carell, 340; Blaxland, 219 (powers of German sergeants).

  This was a mistake: Ryder, OH, Feb. 21, 1950, G. F. Howe, SM, MHI (“go out in that area”); “The Tunisian Campaign, 34th ID,” Dec. 13, 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427, 334-0.3; msg “to all officers of the 34th Div., 11 March 1943,” 201 file, Charles W. Ryder papers, DDE Lib, box 2 (“creeping paralysis”); Clem Miller, Some Things You Never Forget, 109; Davies, 103–107; Hougen, The Story of the Famous 34th Infantry Division; AAR, 109th Medical Bn, n.d., in “109th Med Publications,” Iowa GSM.

  Belatedly, Alexander realized: Nehring, FMS, MS #T-3, vol. 3a, MHI; Macksey, Crucible of Power, 229, 257.

  At eleven a.m. : Macksey, The Tank Pioneers, 186–91 (“watch your step”); Hansen, 3–66; Blaxland, 211; Liddell Hart, “Notes for History, Talk with Crocker,” July 9, 1943, LHC, 11/1943/46; AAR, IX Corps, n.d., PRO, WO 175/97.

  It was regrettable: “The Tunisian Campaign, 34th ID,” Dec. 13, 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427, 334-0.3; Ryder, OH, SM, MHI; Caffey, OH, Feb. 1950 SM, MHI (“I had a plan”); NWAf, 583–85; Destruction, 377–80; Harold G. Bull, OH, Sept. 21, 1950, SM, MHI.

  Now another officer: Louis-Marie Koeltz, “Memo on meeting held April 6, 1943, at the command post of General Ryder,” 1950, trans. for author by Claudia Brown, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 225; Robinett, Armor Command, 126; Alexander, OH, SM, MHI; letter, J. T. Crocker, Sept. 8, 1950, and memo, Gordon H. A. MacMillan, n.d., both in memo, H. B. Latham, Cabinet Office Historical Section, to G. F. Howe, Sept. 25, 1950, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 229.

  It went badly: JAG, 34th ID, “Historical Report on Activities,” June 30, 1943, Iowa GSM; “Chaplain’s Report on the Tunisian Campaign,” 34th ID, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427, box 9417; Alexander to DDE, Apr. 7, 1943, Alexander files, DDE Lib, box 3, folder 8 (“reasonably confident”); D’Este, Bitter Victory, 62 (“soft, green”); Robert Ward, OH, Nov. 30, 1950, G. F. Howe, SM, MHI (“no one was saying”); Hansen, 3/60-6 (“brittle and axiomatic”); Ryder, OH, Feb, 21, 1950, SM, MHI (“wished to win”).

  Perhaps, Ryder mused: “The Tunisian Campaign, 34th ID,” Dec. 13, 1943, NARA RG 407, 334-0.3; Virgil Craven, “The Operation of Company I, 133rd Infantry, in the Attack at Fondouk Gap,” 1950, Fort Benning Infantry School, 6, 9–19; Bailey, Through Hell and High Water, 90; Ankrum, 250, 243; Austin, 114; D.G.A., “With Tanks to Tunis,” 399; Green and Gauthier, ed., 154; letter, Ray C. Fountain, Des Moines Tribune, Aug. 5, 1943, Iowa GSM.

  There would be no bombing: “Proposed Mission Against Fondouk Gap, Tunisia, On 7 April 1943,” Feb. 7, 1951, Air University Lib, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 228; Davis, Carl A. Spaatz and the Air War in Europe, 207; log, Co C, 1s
t Bn, 133rd Infantry Regt, Iowa GSM (“A wave of flying dust”); Miller, Some Things You Never Forget, 111 (“a pea on a plate”); Roland Anderson, “The Operations of the 135th Infantry Regiment in the Vicinity of Fondouk el Okbi,” 1948, Fort Benning Infantry School; Bailey, Through Hell and High Water, 90 (“We continued”); letter, Robert P. Miller to G. F. Howe, Jan. 14, 1951, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 229; Craven, “The Operations of Company I,” 10–19 (“did little more”); Robert Ward, OH, Nov. 30, 1950, G. F. Howe, SM, MHI; author interview, Paul Calder, Nov. 8, 1999; Ankrum, 238 (“the mere raising”).

  General Crocker was fixated: AAR, letter, 1st Guards Bde, Apr. 21, 1943, PRO, WO 175/186; Ellis, Welsh Guards at War, 114–21; NWAf, 588 (even abandoned); Blaxland, 221 (boulder-to-boulder).

  A hard night: Craven, “The Operations of Company I,” 19, 22 (“hill looked bigger than ever” and asked to be arrested); “Narrative History, North African–Tunisian Campaign, 133rd Inf Regt.,” June 7, 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 9549; letter, Donald C. Landon to G. F. Howe, Jan. 17, 1951, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 228; Richard F. Wilkinson, ts, n.d., in AAR, Co C, 1st Bn, 133rd Inf Regt, Iowa GSM (“brew tea”).

  They went—but: Alexander, “The African Campaign from El Alamein to Tunis,” 877–79; ffrench Blake, A History of the 17th/21st Lancers, 1922–1959, 133 (“We shall all”); Moorehead, 145; C. N. Barclay, History of the 16th/5th The Queen’s Royal Lancers, 1925 to 1961, 88–91 (set fire to blankets and “The tank rocked”); “Combat Report,” 3rd Co (German) 334th Mobile Bn, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 225; Anderson, “The Operations of the 135th Infantry Regiment” AAR, 16th/5th Lancers, Apr. 9–10, 1943, PRO, WO 175/291; Bailey, Through Hell and High Water, 96 (“as smooth and white”).

  The retreating Italians: Kriegstagebuch V, Fifth Panzer Army, Apr. 9, 1943, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 226; NWAf, 588–90; Destruction, 382; Jordan, 226; Rolf, 215 (“usual wog town”); author visit, Apr. 2000; D’Arcy-Dawson, 199–201; Austin, 117; Hansen, 41/116; diary, G. P. Druitt, Apr. 1943, IWM, 96/38/1.

  American losses: “The Tunisian Campaign, 34th ID,” Dec. 13, 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427, 334-0.3; Bolstad, 135 (“It is only”); Ankrum, 253, 256; AAR, Co C, 109th Medical Bn, n.d., Iowa GSM (“You couldn’t make”); Green and Gauthier, ed., 154; letter, Robert R. Moore to Dorothy, Nancy Jo, May 12, 1943, possession of Robert R. Moore, Jr.

  A great opportunity: NWAf, 591–92; letter, J. T. Crocker, Sept 8, 1950, and memo, Gordon H. A. MacMillan, n.d. (“all commanders”), both in memo, H. B. Latham, Cabinet Office Historical Section, to G. F. Howe, Sept. 25, 1950, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 229; Bull, OH, Sept. 21, 1950, SM, MHI (“severe and caustic”); Time, Apr. 19, 1943, 28.

  Ryder declined: Richard Wilson, “The Gallant Fight of the 34th Division,” 1943, Des Moines Register and Tribune; Charles Werterbaker, account of Fondouk, Time, May 24, 1943; Bailey, Through Hell and High Water, 100; E. N. Harmon to H. G. Bull, Apr. 1943, Harmon papers, MHI (“I do not believe”); diary, G. P. Druitt, Apr. 1943, IWM, 96/38/1; Macksey, Crucible of Power, 261; Schrijvers, The Crash of Ruin (“Our cousins regret”).

  Eisenhower was both: Butcher diary, DDE Lib, PP-pres, box 166, A 306, 307, 308, 313 (“whale tracks” and advocated sacking); Hughes diary, May 1, 1943, MHI, R-5 (“Ike says”); DDE to GCM, Apr. 5, 1943, Chandler, 1073; DDE to MWC, March 29, 1943, Chandler, 1062; Mina Curtiss, ed., Letters Home, 61 (“We have found”).

  chapter 12: the inner keep

  Hell’s Corner

  One hundred thousand: “Operations of II Corps, Northern Tunisia, 23 Apr.–9 May,” NARA RG 407, E 427, box 3113; Pyle, Here Is Your War, 247 (“dead weary”); Vining, ed., 71; letter, Raymond Dreyer, May 18, 1943, in Fenton (Iowa) Reporter, July 1, 1943, MCC, YU (“five months”); Moorehead, 153 (“hilarious, shouting bands”); H. Marshall, Over to Tunis, 46 (convolvulus resembled wood smoke).

  Not even a Tunisian spring: Meyer, “Strategy and Logistical History: Mediterranean Theater of Operations,” n.d., vol. I, CMH, X-16; NWAf, 604–605; CBH, Apr. 1943, MHI.

  To Béja: To Bizerte with the II Corps, 4–9; NWAf, 599–601; Destruction, 398; Alexander memo, Apr. 21, 1943, NARA, AFHQ micro, R-6-C (“We have got”).

  Getting the Allied divisions: C. S. Sugden, XVIII Army Group, to AFHQ G-3, Apr. 7, 1943, NARA RG 331, AFHQ micro, R-6-C (“present low state”); Morton Yarmon, “The Administrative and Logistical History of the ETO: IV, TORCH and the ETO,” March 1946, Historical Division, U.S. Army Forces, ETO, CMH, 8.31 AA v. 4, 97 (467,000 troops); GSP to Alexander, Apr. 11 and 12, 1943, GSP, LOC, box 32; Bradley and Blair, 150 (“Take them”); Mayo, 142; Harmon, Combat Commander, 130 (“just a childish fancy”); Blumenson, The Patton Papers, 1940–1945, 218 (“I would rather”); Pogue, George C. Marshall: Organizer of Victory, 1943–1945, 189 (“marked fall”), 191 (battlefield equals).

  On April 18: Patton, War As I Knew It, introduction by Rick Atkinson, xi (“fighting general”); letter, Akers to C. B. Hansen, Jan. 12, 1951, Hansen papers, MHI (“we doubled figures”); Dickson, “G-2 Journal,” MHI, 59 (“Your estimates”); Hansen, 4/121 (Patton disputed); “Report on Operation Conducted by II Corps, U.S. Army, Tunisia,” Apr. 10, 1943, Arthur S. Nevins Papers, MHI; AAR, II Corps, “Report on Operation,” etc., “Statistical Data Corrected to Include 2 May 1943,” CARL, N-2652 A.

  As he left: Blumenson, The Patton Papers, 1940–1945, 221.

  On Thursday morning: Bradley and Blair, 25, 35, 50, 58, 159; Liebling, 89 (“least dressed-up”); Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, 29; Fletcher Pratt, Eleven Generals: Studies in American Command, 300, 314; B. A. Dickson, OH, SM, MHI; Davis, Dwight D. Eisenhower: Soldier of Democracy, 413 (“too damned sound”).

  With map unfurled: Liebling, 89; DDE to Bradley, Apr. 16, 1943, Chandler, 1093; Bradley and Blair, 155; Martin, The G.I. War, 1941–1945, 57 (“hunting wild goats”); Hansen, 5/60A (“djebel hopping”), 5/27 (“This chap Bradley”); “Operations of II Corps, Northern Tunisia, 23 Apr.–9 May,” NARA RG 407, E 427, box 3113.

  Although the endgame: Donald Davison, “Aviation Engineers in the Battle of Tunisia,” June 1943, AAF School of Applied Tactics, Orlando, MHI, 13, 28; “Statement by Brig. Gen. Laurence S. Kuter,” May 22, 1943, Pentagon, NARA RG 319, background To Bizerte with II Corps, 2-3.7 BA, box 103 (“We attacked Bizerte”); Operations Bulletin No. 2, May 31, 1943, HQ, NW African AF, NARA RG 334, NWC Lib, box 132 (killed 752 civilians); “Interview on Four Aspects of the Air Campaign in Africa,” July 5, 1943, Office of Assistant Chief of Air Staff, Intel., NARA RG 334, NWC Lib, box 14; Destruction, 412; Carell, 351.

  Allied minelayers: Bragadin, 242–43; “Reports Received by U.S. War Department on Use of Ultra in the European Theater, WWII,” NARA RG 457, NSA files, SRH-037, 12; The AAF in Northwest Africa, Wings at War, No. 6, Center for Air Force History, 59–60 (twenty-eight tons of bombs); letter, R. Bruce Graham, Feb. 28, 1943, MCC, YU (“It’s Better to Give”); Destruction, 416–17.

  Kesselring turned to air transport: “Operations Bulletin No. 1,” Apr. 30, 1943, HQ NW AAF, NARA RG 334, NWC Lib, box 132; Ulrich Buchholz, “Supply by Air of the Enlarged Bridgehead of Tunis,” 1947, FMS, #D-071, MHI; Destruction, 415–16.

  Worse was to come: Richard Thruelsen and Elliott Arnold, Mediterranean Sweep: Air Stories from El Alamein to Rome, 86–93; Destruction, 601; Buchholz, “Supply by Air,” FMS, #D-071; MacCloskey, 166; DDE, “Commander-in-Chief’s Dispatch,” 44; Davis, Carl A. Spaatz and the Air War in Europe, 196; Roderic Owen, 205; Tedder, 205 (“If Kesselring goes on”); Destruction, 416.

  Although a quarter-million: Hinsley, British Intelligence in the Second World War, vol. 2, 611; Rinteln, “The Italian Command and Armed Forces in the First Half of 1943” (“was in agony”); Lucas, Panzer Army Africa, 176; “P.W.B. Combat Propaganda,” Sept. 2, 1943, AFHQ, Wallace Carroll Papers, LOC MS Div, box 3; “Psychological Warfare in the Mediterranean Theater,” Aug. 1945 report to War Dept., Naples, MHI; Wallace Carroll, Persuade or Perish, 158.

  Axis reserves: Destruction, 603, 604n, 542; Hinsley, British Intelligence in the Second
World War, vol. II, 612; First Italian Army to OKH, Apr. 14, 1943, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 225 (“the repulse”); Ellis, Brute Force, 255 (“armored division without petrol”); Macksey, Crucible of Power, 271 (“squinting for ships”); Hinsley, British Intelligence in the Second World War, abridged ed., 5; Destruction, 360, 403. the German high command: Warlimont, 307–308, 313 (mangiatori); Kesselring, Memoirs, 155; CCS to Joint Staff Mission and DDE, Apr. 7, 1943, DDE Lib, PP-pres, box 91; Destruction, 384 (daily ration).

  If his virtual abandonment: NWAf, 601–602; Destruction, 409, 393–94.

  Il Duce’s backbone: Arnim, “Recollections of Tunisia,” 71, 66 (“the greatest desire”).

  Hammering Home the Cork

  As the Allied armies: Lindsay, 85–87; The Tiger Kills, 179–80; C.R.B. Knight, Historical Record of the Buffs, 176.

  Montgomery had known: Destruction, 397–402 (“bald rock faces”); Hamilton, 233–36 (“if Anderson”); Lewin, Montgomery as Military Commander, 177–82; Macksey, Crucible of Power, 241, 271; The Tiger Kills, 184–90; Lindsay, 89; Stevens, Fourth Indian Division, 233; Tuker, 338, 346 (fortifications were lightly held); Prasad, ed., 511.

  Even the second-highest: author visit, Apr. 2000; Lewin, Montgomery as Military Commander, 180 (“rotting stalagmite”); John Laffin, “The Battle of Takrouna,” After the Battle 12, 1976, 48; I. McL. Wards, Takrouna, 3–27 (“One of those grim moments”); Kippenberger, 305–11 (“never a moment”); Horrocks, 163; Hill, Desert Conquest, 291.

  But that was it: Prasad, ed., 511–12; The Tiger Kills, 184 (“My hands”); Hill, Desert Conquest, 265; Montgomery to Brooke, Apr. 12, 1943, quoted in Brooks, ed., 206; Macksey, Crucible of Power, 272 (“In the darkness”).

  For the first time: Kippenberger, 313–14 (“wait for the enemy”); Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, 90 (“Let’s radio”).