Casualties of War: The Advocate Trilgy

by Bill Mesce

  Harry nodded, as if he considered that a fair appraisal. “So, now we have you at the forward OP. You can now personally observe the hill. You can see that the assault detail is reaching that part of the top of the hill you call the saddle.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “Could you tell how many men had actually made it to the saddle?”

  “They were dug in, Sir. It wasn’t possible to get that kind of – ”

  “But you knew they hadn’t all made it?”

  “That was a reasonable assumption.”

  “Did you have an inkling that the assault detail might have suffered serious casualties?”

  “I had no information on which to make that sort of estimation.”

  “‘Sort of estimation.’”

  “Colonel Ryan!” Courie groused as he rose, “could you please instruct the defense to stop this repetition tic of his? It’s a thinly veiled attempt to demean the witness!”

  Harry looked surprised. “Oh, I’m sorry! I wasn’t even conscious I was doing it!” He turned to Joyce. “I’m sorry, Major. Have you felt demeaned in any way?”

  Joyce put on a face of brave rebuff. “Not by you, Colonel.”

  Harry turned back to Courie, as if to say, See? It’s all in your head! “I’ll try to watch myself, Captain, thank you for pointing that out to me.” Then, back to Joyce: “The enemy fire was heavy?”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “So, considering the casualties the battalion had suffered on the previous days, and the heaviness of the fire on that third day, it was a reasonable bet that the assault detail hadn’t made it to the top of the hill without losses.”

  “Yes, but how many – ”

  “I know; you had no way to know. But, when Lieutenant Sisto told you he was bringing the assault detail down, you thought how ever many of them were up there was enough to hold.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “Based on?”

  “As I say, I could see them. I observed them through my field glasses. It looked like they had an adequate defensive position. To be honest, I couldn’t be completely sure they’d be able to hold, but it appeared to be a chance worth taking. If Lieutenant Tully had been able to move out sooner – ”

  “You saw the assault detail dug in on the saddle.”

  “That’s what I said, yes, Sir.”

  “Then you must also have seen the Germans filling in the positions on the high ground on either side of the saddle?”

  “I could see some enemy movement but it was difficult to make out details.”

  “But you could make out enough details about Colonel Porter’s men to know they could hold?”

  “It was, I grant, just an estimation. It was quite some distance from where I was to the top of the hill, and there was still considerable fighting going on all along the slope.”

  “Hard to get a clear picture.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “You couldn’t get a clear picture. But you wouldn’t believe the men who were up there when they said they couldn’t hold?”

  “As I’ve said several times this morning, I couldn’t be sure that the men on the scene could completely appreciate their overall situation.”

  “How long did you study the situation on the hill? How long did you examine the position of the assault detail through your field glasses? And the German positions?”

  “I really don’t recall. It wasn’t that long before – ”

  “Before you were arguing with Lieutenant Tully, and then Dominick Sisto’s transmission came through on the radio. Maybe a glance or two?”

  “Certainly more than that, Sir.”

  “A few minutes?”

  “Possibly.”

  “So, on the one hand, you have the opinion of a man on the scene who has had front line combat experience of over a year, and who helped plan the hilltop assault, and he says they need to pull out; and then what? From the far side of the firebreak, a few minutes study through your binoculars if that – ”

  “Objection. Argumentative.”

  “Sustained.”

  Ricks waved Harry over. Their conference was extensive enough to bring a rebuke from Ryan, stirring them to get on with the cross–examination. With a last nod of concurrence to Ricks, Harry resumed his position in front of Joyce.

  “Major, the concept of ‘fire superiority.’ What is that?”

  “Sir?”

  “Fire superiority. That was part of your combat training, wasn’t it?”

  “Yes, Sir. Well, it means just what it says.”

  “That you outgun the enemy?”

  “It doesn’t necessarily mean you have more guns in action, but that at a given point you can lay down more fire than they can to either break up an enemy assault, or penetrate an enemy defense.”

  “On the day of that third and final assault against Hill 399, where and when did your battalion have fire superiority? There was no fire support from either Division or your own Weapons Company because of the ammunition situation, and your attack troops were also low on ammo. Where was your fire superiority?”

  “In training, we learned a lot of principals. But circumstances in the field don’t always allow their application.”

  Harry nodded. “I understand. I still haven’t found the opportunity to use the geometry they taught me in high school. Let me ask you about another, oh, I don’t know what you’d call it. Doctrine? Formula? Philosophy? Isn’t the rule of thumb that when attacking a fixed enemy line, the attack force is supposed to have a numerical superiority?”

  “They preach a minimum of three–to–one advantage to the attack force, preferably more.”

  “Because, obviously, the attack force is going to be exposed to fire and suffer losses on the assault.”

  “And one has to be sure of enough remaining troops to make the penetration and secure a lodgment.”

  “Did you have numerical superiority against the Germans on Hill 399 on that third assault? On any of the three assaults on their position?”

  “That’s impossible to determine, Sir. We had no intelligence on the enemy strength.”

  “Obviously Colonel Porter’s assault detail couldn’t have had a numerical advantage. Even if the detail made it to the top of the hill intact, that was less than two dozen men. From what you saw in your ‘study’ of the saddle, did the Germans only have eight men on the high ground around the major and his men?”

  “I said to you earlier, it wasn’t possible to determine – ”

  “Major, I’m sure even from your distant vantage point you could tell if there was something more than a squad firing down on Colonel Porter and his men?”

  “I was sure our men could hold,” Joyce sidestepped.

  “Major, were you aware that by the time the battalion undertook that third attack, the Germans had re–taken Schmidt and were threatening Kommerscheidt?”

  “I didn’t know about Kommerscheidt.”

  “But you did know that the 28th Division had been pushed out of Schmidt.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “And on Hill 399, according to the after–action reports of your rifle companies that had taken the trench line on the hill, on both the second day’s attack and on the third, the Germans regularly sent at least platoon–sized counterattacks around the sides of the hill in attempts to take back the trenches. True?”

  “The strengths of those counterattacks was only a rough estimate.”

  “Did you at any time over the course of those three days – and particularly on the day of the final assault – notice any weakening of the German fire on the hill?”

  “That’s a difficult judgement to make.”

  “Well, did the fire sound any lighter? Did there appear to be any fewer enemy positions firing on your men?”

  “The conditions on the hill, the smoke alone – ”

  “You couldn’t tell.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “Major, according to my notes here – if I don’t have it right, let out a yell
– on the second day, the first time all three rifle companies were committed on the hill, the assault consisted of about four hundred men backed by artillery and mortar fire. That sound right?”

  “It was a little under four hundred men.”

  “And you couldn’t break the German line. On the third and final day, less than three hundred men made the assault without fire support. Yet you felt the hill could still be – ”

  “Objection.” Courie presented as exasperated. “Defense is questioning Major Joyce’s judgment, but Major Joyce did not order the attack on the hill. For that matter, neither did Colonel Porter! Whether or not the battalion had the preferred tactical advantages or not, they were under orders to attack from higher echelons as Colonel Voss has so carefully seen to remind us. The battalion didn’t have a choice but to attack as ordered!”

  “That’s true,” Harry said. “Corps gave the attack order. But as Captain Courie so carefully reminds us, the order that’s the basis of this trial – the order to stand and hold – was given by Major Joyce.”

  After a brief mulling, from Ryan: “Overruled.”

  “Major,” Harry went on, “When Lieutenant Sisto contacted you and told you that Colonel Porter had ordered them off the hill, why didn’t you believe him?”

  “After three hard assaults we had finally gotten ourselves to a position where we had a clear opportunity to finally take the hill. I could not believe that Colonel Porter was willing to relinquish that advantage so quickly, particularly since it appeared the men had a defensible position.”

  Harry shook his head. “With all respect, Major, that doesn’t even qualify as a gut feeling. You had no concrete basis for that assumption, did you?”

  “I became more suspect when Lieutenant Sisto refused to put the colonel on the radio.”

  Harry referenced a particular note card. “Refused? Didn’t he say something like – yes, here, you said he said something like, ‘You can talk about it with him when he comes down.’”

  “Something approximating that.”

  “Couldn’t the lieutenant have been implying that the colonel simply couldn’t get to the radio?”

  “Objection. He could’ve been implying anything!”

  “That’s my point.”

  “I’m still going to sustain,” ruled Ryan.

  “In your experience under Colonel Porter’s command, were all his orders always issued personally?” Harry asked.

  “Of course not!”

  “Messengers, radio operators, subordinates routinely transmitted orders, just like with any other outfit. Even you carried orders from the colonel on occasion, right?”

  “Naturally.”

  “Then what was so odd about it this time? Don’t you think it’s possible that Colonel Porter just couldn’t come to the phone? It sounds like the guys up there did have their hands full.”

  “It seemed to be too convenient at that time. I couldn’t even be sure that the colonel was still alive.”

  “You mean that he might already have been dead or wounded, and the lieutenant was lying about having orders from the colonel to pull–out.”

  “I did entertain the suspicion, yes, Sir.”

  “And why would Lieutenant Sisto want you to believe the colonel was still alive?”

  It was Joyce’s turn to shake his head, puzzled that Harry couldn’t see the obvious. “To make me think that he was under the colonel’s orders.”

  “What difference would that make, Major?”

  “Obviously – ”

  “Hold the phone a second, Major, and hear me out. Let’s say – just for the moment – that Colonel Porter was dead. We’ll give your theory full bore for the moment – ”

  “It’s not exactly a theory. It was just a suspicion – ”

  “Please, Major, for the sake of discussion, ok? The colonel was dead and never gave the withdrawal order. Wouldn’t it have made more sense for Lieutenant Sisto to not contact you at all and just pull the men off the hill?”

  Meekly: “Um, yes, I see your point. As I said, it was only a – ”

  “Suspicion, yes.” Harry took a moment, then, “The Rapido River and Lieutenant Sisto’s spirited occupation of a wine cellar…excepting those occasions, prior to the events on Hill 399, had you ever known Dominick Sisto to disobey a direct order in a combat situation?”

  Almost reluctant to concede the point: “No, Sir.”

  “And, in fact, even though those two incidents of misconduct would technically be considered disobedience, they were not cases of his disobeying a direct order, correct?”

  “That’s a rather narrow definition of disobedience – ”

  “Then by that narrow definition?”

  “By that definition, no, in neither case was it an instance of disobeying a direct order.”

  “Hm. ‘In neither case.’” Joyce had pronounced it in the proper English way: “Ny–ther,” and this was how Harry repeated it – with arguably undue emphasis.

  “Colonel Ryan!” complained Courie. “He’s doing it again!”

  “My apologies…again,” Harry said. “Major, did you ever hear a rumor that Dominick Sisto might have disobeyed an order but had managed to conceal it somehow?”

  “Objection. Hearsay.”

  “Captain Courie,” Ryan said, “if you’ve decided to act on behalf of the defendant, I hope you’ll do so with a narrower focus than Colonel Voss.”

  “I’m not introducing any such story as evidence,” Harry rebutted. “Goes to state of mind if Major Joyce ever heard such stories and gave them any credence.”

  “Overruled. Please answer, Major Joyce.”

  Joyce sighed. “I’d heard stories about Lieutenant Sisto making disparaging remarks about – ”

  “Whatever the lieutenant’s commentary might have been, other than the incidents I mentioned, you never had any cause to believe or even suspect Dominick Sisto had disobeyed combat orders on any other occasion, correct?”

  “Yes, Sir, correct.”

  “In fact, considering his rising through the ranks – twice thanks to his court–martial – one might say that for all his grousing and his lapses of good conduct, he did a pretty good job of actually carrying out combat orders.”

  “How good a job would be a matter of opinion.”

  “But – ”

  “I have said several times that he was a good combat soldier.”

  “Let’s move on to when the assault detail had displaced to the trench line and the whole battalion – what was left of it – was withdrawn from the hill. Who organized that?”

  Wryly: “Why do you think I filed charges against Lieutenant Sisto in that regard?”

  “That’s what I’m trying to figure out, Major. Lieutenant Sisto didn’t contact you directly again once he’d returned to the trenches, did he?”

  “I had no direct contact with the lieutenant after his transmission from the hilltop; not until he presented himself to me at the forward OP.”

  “So, what you know of the withdrawal, and all that went into it…”

  “I could hear the transmissions between the rifle companies on the OP radio.”

  “And what? Did Lieutenant Sisto get on the horn and say, ‘Ok, guys, listen up! I’m taking over! I’m the new boss!”

  “No, nothing like that. He told them that they’d come down from the hilltop, and that Colonel Porter had ordered the battalion off the hill.”

  “But he made no statement that he’d assumed command of the battalion?”

  “Only in so much as he said he was under the colonel’s orders. That gave him an appearance of authority.”

  Harry turned to Ryan. “Objection. That’s a gross speculation.”

  “Sustained.”

  Harry returned to Joyce. “How did Lieutenant Sisto explain Colonel Porter’s absence to the other company COs?”

  “He never really addressed the issue. I heard one of the company COs ask where the colonel was, and Lieutenant Sisto responded that he wasn’t sure, that
he should’ve been close behind on the pull–out from the top of the hill. He said he was sending some men to look for him. But he also said he didn’t think they could afford to wait; that they needed to organize the withdrawal immediately.”

  “Did anybody question the withdrawal?”

  “No, Sir.”

  “Major…” A pause, fixing Joyce with a look over his glasses. “Did Lieutenant Sisto give orders to the acting King and Item company commanders to withdraw? Now I mean a clear, direct order: ‘Pull out.’”

  “Nothing so blatant. But his authority was predicated on his saying that he was under Colonel Porter’s orders.”

  “‘Blatant.’ Major, isn’t it a fact that the communications between the three company commanders indicated that they jointly worked out the process of withdrawing from the hill? Much as they’d jointly worked out the plan of assault for that day?”

  “I suppose the transmissions could be interpreted that way. There was a lot of chatter back and forth, and it was sometimes quite hard to tell exactly what was going on.”

  Harry allowed a skeptical grimace. “It could’t’ve been that hard, because you filed the charge and the Judge Advocate indicted on it.”

  “I said the transmissions could be interpreted that way. My interpretation was otherwise.”

  Harry nodded with a kind of melancholic air as if he’d expected nothing else. “When you heard the company COs organizing the withdrawal, did you attempt to raise any of them on the radio and attempt to discourage them?”

  A pause. “By then there didn’t seem to be any point.”

  “You mean that since they’d given up the top of the hill – ”

  “The fight was over.”

  “I see.” Harry flipped through his cards, seemed both surprised and relieved to see there was nothing left to address. He turned back to the defense table, moving with a weighty fatigue. He tossed that last deck of note cards on the table, dropped his glasses atop the splash of stationary, and rubbed his eyes and the bridge of his nose tiredly.

  “Is that all, Colonel Voss?” Ryan queried.

  After a moment’s thought, Harry’s head shook. “I can hear Captain Courie’s objection already, but I’ve got to go back to this.” He turned back to Joyce, but for the first time in his cross–examination, the unperturbed, blithe air was gone, replaced by a mix of anger, consternation, curiosity, frustration. “Major Joyce. The men on that hill had no fire support. German fire on the hill was heavy. The Germans had re–taken Schmidt, they continued to counterattack the men on the hill. Lieutenant Sisto, a soldier with over a year’s combat experience; who by your own admission was an able combat soldier and who never disobeyed an order in a combat situation…he tells you the hill can’t be held and you – after a few minutes looking through your binoculars – decide he’s wrong. He tells you Colonel Porter has ordered the battalion off the hill. This is a man that by anybody’s characterization is hardly a stand–or–die commander. But you don’t believe him.