Grunts (79 page)

6
393rd Infantry Regiment, AAR, December 1944, RG 407, Entry 427, Box 14190, Folder 2, National Archives; 1st Battalion, 393rd Infantry Regiment, Combat Interview with Captain William Fox, January 27, 1945; 2nd Platoon, B Company, 393rd Infantry, Combat Interview with Captain William Fox, January 27, 1945, both in CI-209; Sergeant Ben Nawrocki, “Battle of the Bulge, 1944,” unpublished memoir, pp. 1-5, World War II Questionnaire #7895, 393rd Infantry Material, Box 2; Alvin Boeger, World War II Questionnaire #1637; Roy House, World War II Questionnaire #1499, both in 393rd Infantry Material, Box 1; Bernie Macay to Will Cavanagh, no date, Box 4, Folder 3, Charles B. MacDonald Papers, all at USAMHI; Lionel Adda,
The Bulge Bugle
, November 1990, pp. 16-17; Cole,
The Ardennes
, pp. 95-98; Dave Grossman and Loren Christensen,
On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace
(Portland, OR: PPCT Research Publications, 2007), pp. 30-46.

7
393rd Infantry Regiment, AAR, December 1944, National Archives; 3rd Battalion, 393rd Infantry Regiment, Combat Interview with Captain William Fox, January 27, 1945, CI-209; Earl Wiseman to family, no date, World War II Questionnaire #7305; “History of Company M,” World War II Questionnaire #2485, both in 393rd Infantry Material, Box 3, USAMHI; Robert Dettor, diary, December 16, 1944,
The Bulge Bugle
, November 1994, p. 19; Cole,
The Ardennes
, pp. 96-97.

8
393rd Infantry Regiment, Unit History, RG 407, Entry 427, Box 14189, Folder 2; AAR, December 1944, both at National Archives; Major Elmer Schmierer, S3, 393rd Infantry, Combat Interview with Captain William Fox; 2nd Platoon, B Company, 393rd, Combat Interview; 1st Battalion, 393rd Infantry, Combat Interview; 3rd Battalion, 393rd Infantry, Combat Interview, all at CI-209; “History of Company M,” USAMHI; James Langford, unpublished memoir, pp. 2-4, James Langford Collection, #7983, LOC; Allyn Vannoy and Jay Karamales,
Against the Panzers: United States Infantry Versus German Tanks, 1944-1945
(Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company Publishers, 1996), pp. 238-39; Cavanagh,
Battle East of Elsenborn
, pp. 88-89; Cole,
The Ardennes
, pp. 99-100. The 1st Battalion of the 393rd withdrew later on December 17.

9
23rd Infantry Regiment, Unit History, December 1944, RG 407, Entry 427, Box 5366, Folder 1; 393rd Infantry Regiment, Unit History, AAR, December 1944, all at National Archives; all 393rd Infantry Combat Interviews, CI-209; Major General Walter Robertson, Combat Interview with Captain Francis Phelps, March 19, 1945; 3rd Battalion, 23rd Infantry, Combat Interview; Major Vernon Joseph, XO, 3rd Battalion, 23rd Infantry, Combat Interview with Captain Francis Phelps, March 3, 1945, all at CI-20-21; Long Goffigan, Interview with Charles MacDonald, March 11, 1982, Charles B. MacDonald Papers, Box 2, Folder 3; Ewell Lee Smith to Charles MacDonald, June 23, 1975, Ewell Smith Papers, Box 1, Folder 2; Ewell Lee Smith to Colonel Cecil Roberts, September 10, 1985, Ewell Smith Papers, Box 1, Folder 3, all at USAMHI; Edward Bartkiewicz, oral history, Edward Bartkiewicz Collection, #18257, LOC; Charles MacDonald,
Company Commander
(New York: Bantam, 1947), pp. 119-22; MacDonald,
A Time for Trumpets
, pp. 376-77.

10
23rd Infantry Regiment, Unit Journal, December 17, 1944, RG 407, Entry 427, Box 5368, Folder 1; 23rd Infantry Regiment, Unit History, December 1944; 741st Tank Battalion, AAR, December 1944; Unit Journal, December 17, 1944, RG 407, Entry 427, Box 16703, Folder 8, all at National Archives; 3rd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Combat Interview, CI-20-21; Ewell Lee Smith, unpublished memoir, pp. 16-2 through 16-4, Ewell Smith Papers, Box 1, Folder 2; Smith to MacDonald, Smith to Roberts, Smith Papers; Ewell Smith to Charles MacDonald, March 26, 1982, Box 2, Folder 3; Hugh Burger to Charles MacDonald, Box 2, Folder 3; Goffigan interview, all in Charles B. MacDonald Papers, USAMHI; Bartkiewicz, oral history, LOC; Patrick Hargreaves, “With the Company Commander,”
After the Battle
, Number 73, pp. 4-10; Cavanagh,
Battle East of Elsenborn
, pp. 91-98; Vannoy and Karamales,
Against the Panzers
, pp. 240-42; MacDonald,
A Time for Trumpets
, pp. 378-80; MacDonald,
Company Commander
, pp. 122-37. Most of the records list Smith as the commander of K Company during the battle, confirming his recollection that his CO was gone. However, MacDonald, in
Company Commander
, a book he published in 1947 while the battle was fresh in his mind, wrote about interacting with K Company’s original commander throughout the battle. Yet, forty years later, in
A Time for Trumpets
, MacDonald listed Smith as the CO. Because of these conflicting accounts, I have elected not to list the original K Company commander’s name.

11
38th Infantry Regiment, Unit Histories, RG 407, Entry 427, Box 5375, Folder 7, and Box 5376, Folder 3, both at National Archives; “The German Breakthrough, V Corps Sector,” 2nd Infantry Division Combat Interview; 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry, Combat Interview; Major William Hancock, Executive Officer, and Staff Sergeant Norman Bernstein, Operations Sergeant, Combat Interview with Captain Francis Phelps, March 17, 1945; Robertson interview, all at CI-20-21; Major General Walter Robertson, Record of Events, Box 2, Folder 3; Ralph Steele to Charles MacDonald, June 27, 1983, Box 2, Folder 3; Ralph Steele to Joe Doherty, April 8, 1982, Box 2, Folder 4, all in Charles B. MacDonald Papers, USAMHI; Cavanagh,
Battle East of Elsenborn
, pp. 107-11; MacDonald,
A Time for Trumpets
, pp. 380-81.

12
Statement by First Lieutenant Roy Allen concerning “B” Company, 9th Inf engagement east of Rocherath, Belgium, on 17 and 18 December, 1944; 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Combat Interview; Hancock, Bernstein, Combat Interview, all at CI-20-21; Herbert Hunt, unpublished memoir, pp. 4-13; Herbert Hunt to Charles MacDonald, December 5, 1981, both in Box 2, Folder 5, Charles B. MacDonald Papers, USAMHI; Frank Royer, unpublished memoir, pp. 4-5, Frank Royer Collection, #3858, LOC; Cole,
The Ardennes
, pp. 109-11; Cavanagh,
Battle East of Elsenborn
, pp. 110-16; MacDonald,
A Time for Trumpets
, pp. 380-83; Vannoy and Karamales,
Against the Panzers
, pp. 244-48. The accounts differ as to what kind of tanks attacked on the evening of December 17. Some claim they were Jagdpanzers; others refer to “Tigers”; still others claim that the Germans attacked with Mark V Panthers. Because of this confusion, I have elected to refrain from describing what sort of tanks attacked. Also, I would be remiss if I did not mention that large elements of the 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, under Lieutenant Colonel Frank Mildren were in the twin villages that evening and helped stave off the enemy attack. For the sake of clarity and brevity, I have chosen to focus exclusively on McKinley’s 1st Battalion of the 9th Infantry.

13
Allen statement; 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry, Combat Interview; Hancock, Bernstein, Combat Interview, all in CI-20-21; “AGF Report No. 559—Comments on Anti-tank Weapons,” p. 4, Donovan Library, Fort Benning, Columbus, Georgia; Lieutenant Colonel Charles McMillan, “Manchus at the Crossroads: Defending the Northern Shoulder of the Bulge,” Army War College Paper; Brigadier General John Hinds, Commander, 2nd Infantry Division artillery to Will Cavanagh, September 30, 1982, Box 2, Folder 3; Steele to MacDonald, Box 2, Folder 3; Hunt, unpublished memoir, pp. 13-15, Box 2, Folder 5; First Sergeant Henry Albin to Scotty, September 14, 1981, Box 2, Folder 5, all in Charles B. MacDonald Papers, USAMHI; Royer, unpublished memoir, p. 5, LOC; Edward Murphy,
Heroes of World War II
(New York: Ballantine Books, 1990), pp. 249-51; Cole,
The Ardennes
, pp. 110-16; Cavanagh,
Battle East of Elsenborn
, pp. 137-40; MacDonald,
A Time for Trumpets
, pp. 395-98; Vannoy and Karamales,
Against the Panzers
, pp. 248-52. McKinley reported that mines destroyed four of the German tanks; bazookas killed eleven; fire wrecked the other two.

14
23rd Infantry Regiment, Unit History; 38th Infantry Regiment, Unit Histories; 1944 History, RG 407, Entry 427, Box 5377, Folder 1, all at National Archives; 38th Infantry Regiment, AAR; Lieutenant Colonel Tom Morris, Executive Officer, 38th Infantry, interview with Captain Francis Phelps, February 23, 1945; 3rd Battalion, 38th Infantry, Combat Interview with Captain Francis Phelps, March 15, 1945, all at CI-20-21; Kenneth Myers, unpublished memoir, pp. 1-2, Box 13, Folder 7, Battle of the Bulge Historical Foundation; Byron Reburn, World War II Questionnaire #3075, 394th Infantry material, Box 3; Daniel Franklin to Charles MacDonald, Box 2, Folder 3, Charles B. MacDonald Papers, all at USAMHI; Cavanagh,
Battle East of Elsenborn
, pp. 154-60; Cole,
The Ardennes
, pp. 113-16.

15
23rd Infantry Regiment, Unit History; 38th Infantry Regiment, Unit Histories, National Archives; 3rd Battalion, 23rd Infantry, Combat Interview; 38th Infantry, AAR; Captain Ralph Stallworth, Headquarters Company, 38th Infantry, Combat Interview with Captain Francis Phelps, February 24, 1945; 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry, Combat Interview with Captain Francis Phelps, February 25, 1945; Lieutenant George Adams, Combat Interview with Captain Francis Phelps, February 25, 1945, all at CI-20-21; John Savard, unpublished memoir, pp. 33-35, World War II Questionnaire #7702, 2nd Infantry Division Material, Box 1; Burger to MacDonald, both at USAMHI; John Savard,
The Bulge Bugle
, February 1992, pp. 15-16; Merrill Huntzinger, Interview with Lesley Reser, Merrill Huntzinger Collection, #6793, LOC; MacDonald,
A Time for Trumpets
, pp. 399-400; Cavanagh,
Battle East of Elsenborn
, pp. 156-64.

16
Colonel Richard Schulze to Hubert Meyer, Box 9, Folder 10; C Company, 12th SS Panzer Regiment, 12th SS Panzer Division, unpublished memoirs, Box 9, Folder 10; I SS Panzer Corps, AAR, Box 8, Folder 4, all in Charles B. MacDonald Papers; “Operations of the Sixth Panzer Army,” Foreign Military Studies, Box 5, #A-924, all at USAMHI.

17
703rd Tank Destroyer Battalion, Summary of Operations, December 1944, RG 407, Entry 427, Box 23715, Folder 3; 741st Tank Battalion, AAR, December 1944; 23rd Infantry Regiment, Unit History; 38th Infantry Regiment, Unit Histories, S3 Artillery Reports, RG 407, Entry 427, Box 5383, Folder 5, all at National Archives; Adams Combat Interview, CI-20-21; Captain Halland Hankel, “Operations of Company M, 38th Infantry (2nd ID) in the Vicinity of Krinkelt, Belgium, 17-20 December 1944, Personal Experiences of a Company Commander,” Advanced Infantry Officer’s Course, 1948-1949, found at Box 2, Folder 3, Charles B. MacDonald Papers; Hunt to MacDonald, both at USAMHI; Howard Daniels, Jr., “Tanks Versus the Infantry—No Quarrel,” letter to the editor in
Infantry Journal
, June 1950, p. 32; Major Robert Bateman, “An Infantryman’s Thoughts on Armor,”
Armor
, January- February 2001, pp. 11-12; Joseph Kiss,
The Bulge Bugle
, February 1993, pp. 16-17; Vannoy and Karamales,
Against the Panzers
, pp. 255-62.

18
99th Infantry Division, AAR; 741st Tank Battalion, AAR; 38th Infantry Regiment, Unit Histories, all at National Archives; 99th Infantry Division Combat Interview, CI-209; 2nd Infantry Division Combat Interview; 38th Infantry, AAR; 23rd Infantry Regiment list of casualties, all at CI-20-21; I SS Panzer Corps, AAR; Robertson, Record of Events, both in MacDonald Papers, USAMHI; Harold Etter to Mother, Collection Number 68, World War II Letters, Western Historical Manuscript Collection, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO; Lauer,
Battle Babies
, pp. 68-72; MacDonald,
A Time for Trumpets
, pp. 400-402; Vannoy and Karamales,
Against the Panzers
, pp. 264-72; Cole,
The Ardennes
, pp. 120-28.

Chapter 5

1
Plans and Policy Division, Office of the Chief of Information, “Analysis of Public Statements on Ten Selected Issues of General William C. Westmoreland,” Record Group (RG) 319, Records of the Office of the Chief of Military History, William C. Westmoreland Papers, Box 42, Folder 1, National Archives, College Park, MD; Gerard DeGroot,
A Noble Cause? America and the Vietnam War
(Essex, England: Longman, 2000), pp. 134-42; Stanley Karnow,
Vietnam: A History
(New York: Viking, 1983), p. 361; William Westmoreland,
A Soldier Reports
(Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1976), pp. 145-50; Brian Linn,
The Echo of Battle: The Army’s Way of War
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007). In my opinion, Westmoreland is an example of a “Manager,” one of the intellectual groups Linn describes as influential in the Army since the early nineteenth century.

2
Lieutenant Colonel John “Skip” Fesmire, oral history, Vietnam Company Command Oral Histories, Box 12, Folder 3; Lieutenant General Harry Kinnard, oral history, Harry Kinnard Papers, Box 1, Folder 1, both at United States Army Military History Institute (USAMHI), Carlisle, PA; Lieutenant General John Tolson,
Vietnam Studies: Airmobility, 1961-1971
(Washington, D.C.: Department of the Army, 1989), pp. 51-92; John Carland, “How We Got There: Air Assault and the Emergence of the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), 1950-1965” (Arlington, VA: Association of the United States Army, 2003), pp. 10-15.

3
3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, AAR, Masher/White Wing, March 10, 1966, RG 472, MAC-V J3 Evaluation and Analysis Division, Box 3, Folder 2; 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, Organizational History, RG 472, Box 194, Folder 2, both at National Archives; Kinnard, oral history, USAMHI; John Prados, “Operation Masher: The Boundaries of Force,”
VVA Veteran Magazine
, February/March 2002; Lieutenant General Hal Moore, interview with the author, April 25, 2005; John Carland,
The United States Army in Vietnam: Stemming the Tide, May 1965 to October 1966
(Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, 2000), pp. 201-03; Terrence Maitland and Peter McInerney,
The Vietnam Experience: A Contagion of War
(Boston: Boston Publishing Company, 1983), pp. 34-35; Harold Moore and Joseph Galloway,
We Are Soldiers Still: A Journey to the Battlefields of Vietnam
(New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2008), pp. 157-70. Moore is a legend in the history of the modern U.S. Army. For more on the Battle of Ia Drang, see the classic book he authored with Galloway entitled
We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young
(New York: HarperCollins, 1992). The book was, of course, the subject of the 2002 feature film
We Were Soldiers
. Mel Gibson starred as Moore.