The Day of Battle (115 page)

“
Troina’s going to be tougher
”:
SSt
, 149; H.R. Knickerbocker,
Danger Forward,
135.

Hills were won and lost:
“History of the 26th Infantry,” 95; Clay, 177 (
16th Infantry was pinned down
); Garland, 339; John W. Baumgartner et al.,
The 16th Infantry, 1798–1946,
58–59; Knickerbocker, 132–35 (chocolate).

Progress was no better in the north:
“K Company History,” 3/26th Inf, MRC FDM; “Company History,” Co. I, 26th Inf, ts, n.d., MRC FDM (
Not until full dark
); Knickerbocker, 136–38 (“
Something is burning
”), 142–43; “History of the 26th Infantry,” 99, 106, 109 (
wheat straw
); Romeiser, ed. (“
laundry mark
”), 189; Blythe Foote Finke,
No Mission Too Difficult!,
150.

At dusk on Thursday:
Garland, 344; James E. Kelly, ed.,
The Wartime Letters of John and Vicki Kelly,
54–56, 59, 70–71 (“
my luck won’t hold up
”); Pyle, 55; Lee G. Miller,
The Story of Ernie Pyle,
201, 273 (“
collapsible style
”); “History of the 26th Infantry,” 106 (“
damned sick of it all
”).

Terry Allen was damned sick: SSt,
151; Rodt, “Studie über den Feldzug in Sizilien,” 22, 27; MEB, Troina, “Axis Tactical Operations in Sicily,” ts, n.d., OCMH, #R-144, MHI; Biddle, 86 (
hobnailed bootprints
); Martin Blumenson,
Sicily: Whose Victory?,
124.

“
Town clear of enemy
”: Baumgartner, 64; Clift Andrus, “Troina Addenda,”
FAJ,
March 1944, 163+ (“
greatly destroyed
”); Collier, 147 (“
a town of horror
”); Finke, 163 (“
a carpet of maggots
”); corr, Donald V. Helgeson to author, Oct. 8, 2003; Peter Schrijvers,
The Crash of Ruin,
85 (“Gott mit Uns”).

“
naked on shutters or stretchers
”: Biddle, 89–90; Romeiser, ed., 190 (“
We’ve been miserable
”).

“
Troina was the toughest
”: “Lessons from the Sicilian Campaign,” Nov. 20, 1943, AFHQ, NARA RG 407, E 427, 95-AL1-0.4, 18; G-1 report, “Total Reported Battle Casualties for Period 1 August–20 August 1943, Inclusive, 1st Infantry Division,” MRC FDM; JJT, VIII-22.

Two more casualties:
Bryce F. Denno, “Allen and Huebner: Contrast in Command,”
Army,
June 1984, 62+; Clift Andrus, notes on
A Soldier’s Story
. For other accounts, see OH, Robert W. Porter, Feb. 8, 1961, Albert N. Garland, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 250; OH, Robert W. Porter, 1981, John N. Sloan, SOOHP, MHI, 301–2.

Ever the ardent hunter:
OH, James D. Ford, former USMA chief chaplain, March 21, 2000, to author, Washington, D.C. (“
hardest thing in war
”);
SSt,
154–55 (“
temperamental
”); corr, ONB to DDE, July 25, 1943, DDE Lib, PP-pres, box 3; JPL, 90; diary, E. Hughes, July 28, 1943, micro 97276/5, David Irving collection, MHI; diary, GSP, July 29, 1943, GSP, LOC MS Div, box 2, folder 15.

Neither Bradley nor Patton ever offered:
corr, TdA to E. C. Heid, Dec. 13, 1943, S.L.A. Marshall Military History Collection, UTEP; corr, TR to Eleanor, Aug. 17, 1943, TR, LOC MS Div, box 10; Bradley and Blair, 195 (“
flubbed badly
”); Albert H. Smith, Jr., “Allen and Huebner,” ts, 1999, MRC FDM, 1999.124, box 392 (“
well-planned, executed
”); Bradley Commentaries, CBH, MHI, 14-B, S-27; Astor, 221, 228.

As the orders became public:
memoir, William E. Faust, ts, n.d., 1st ID artillery, ASEQ, MHI, 76; OH, Porter, 1981, Sloan, 301–2; Johnson, 112 (“
sergeants weep
”); “Allen and His Men,”
Time,
Aug. 9, 1943, 30+ (
By cruel coincidence
); corr, TdA to GCM, Aug. 13, 1943, and Sept. 15, 1943, GCM Lib, box 56; corr, TdA to DDE, Oct. 17, 1943, DDE Lib, PP-pres, box 4; corr, TdA to Mary Fran, Aug. 10, 1943, and TdA to Sonny, Aug. 7, 1943, both in TdA, MHI, box 2; corr, TdA to E. C. Heid, Dec. 13, 1943, Marshall Collection, UTEP; Astor, 226; e-mail, Consuelo Allen (granddaughter of Terry de la Mesa Allen) to author, Dec. 5, 2002 (
welcome-home party
); Biddle, 92.

“
mentally in a black cloud
”: speech, Stanhope B. Mason, Apr. 24, 1976, 57th annual dinner, Officers of the First Division, New York City, in Smith, 196; TR, msg to 1st Div, Aug. 6, 1943, TR, LOC MS Div, box 10 (“
a great grief
”); “History of the 26th Infantry,” 97 (“
broke down and wept
”);
SSt,
156; corr, TR to Eleanor, Aug. 17 and 24, 1943, TR, LOC MS Div, box 10; corr, Eleanor to GCM, Feb. 7, 1944, and GCM to Eleanor, Feb. 10, 1944, GCM Lib, corr, TR, box 83.

Sharing a ride to Palermo:
Capa, 84; John Bunyan,
The Pilgrim’s Progress,
in Molony V, 855; Eleanor Butler Roosevelt,
Day Before Yesterday,
449 (“
the quality of fortitude
”).

“In a Place Like This”

Ridge by ridge, road by road:
Tregaskis, 75–76; “Allied Commander-in-Chief’s Report on Sicilian Campaign, 1943,” 97 (
retreated past Mount Etna
); Carver,
Harding of Petherton,
119 (“
I am enjoying
”); Lord Tedder,
With Prejudice,
458.

But although they were moving:
“History of the 50th (Northumberland) Division During the Campaign in Sicily,” ts, n.d., UK NA, CAB 106/473, 67–69; Cyril Ray,
Algiers to Austria,
67 (
snipers with telescopic sights
); Tregaskis, 65 (
mayor of Catania
); “Report on the First Phase of AMGOT Occupation, Sicily and Region II,” July–Aug. 1943, Frank J. McSherry Papers, MHI, 24 (
only one in five
); Buckley, 111 (“
all life was evil
”) 123 (
Bank of Sicily
).

Often enough, the Allied air force:
Geoffrey Perret,
Winged Victory,
211; “Report on the First Phase of AMGOT Occupation,” 24 (“
rubble at Adrano
”); Harry L. Coles, Jr., “Participation of the Ninth and Twelfth Air Forces in the Sicilian Campaign,” 1945, AAF Historical Studies, No. 37, 148 (“
needed thirty-six hours
”); Shapiro, 51 (“
Troops will refrain from shooting
”), 101, 105 (“
God Save the King
”); Ray, 68–69; R. C. Taylor, “A Pocketfull [
sic
] of Time,” ts, n.d., 52, and corr, to author, Aug. 11, 2003 (“
Lord Nelson!
”); Nicolson, 205; Buckley, 79; Tregaskis, 81–82 (
dead men’s helmets
).

Above them all loomed Etna:
Biddle, 110; Bertarell, 481 (
tinted with sulfates
); Kenneth S. Davis,
Soldier of Democracy,
435–36 (“
bloody Patton
”).

“
decided to burn the bodies in gasoline
”: “Report on the First Phase of AMGOT Occupation,” 13, 27; “Report of William Russell Criss,” corr to family, July 29, 1943, 45th ID Mus (“
I feel like crying
”).

To exploit the flanking opportunities:
James L. Packman, “The Operations of the 2nd Battalion, 30th Infantry, in the Amphibious Attack on Brolo,” 1949, IS, 2–7; Garland, 390–91.

Truscott, who was to provide a battalion:
Hansen, “Research Draft,”
SSt,
CBH, MHI, 10/24–25.

“
that’s ridiculous and insulting
”:
CM,
234–35;
PP
, 319 (“L’audace”).

It went badly:
Garland, 393–97; Jack Belden,
Still Time to Die,
274 (
orange quarter moon
); Romeiser, ed., 196–200 (“
Night and Day
”); Betsy Wade, ed.,
Forward Positions: The War Correspondence of Homer Bigart,
24–25 (
captured in their sleep
); Max Ulrich, “29th Panzer Grenadier Division, Sicily,” FMS, #D-112, MHI, 5.

Daybreak brought death: The Sicilian Campaign,
145.

“
Situation still critical
”: Romeiser, ed., 200–206; Garland, 403; diary, Hobart Gay, Aug. 10–11, 1943, USMA Arch; Charles R. Schrader, “Amicicide: The Problem of Friendly Fire in Modern War,” Dec. 1982, CSI, 34 (
errant bombs
); DSC citation, Martin Moritz, medical attachment, 2/30th Inf, Oct. 19, 1943, NARA RG 338, 7th Army awards (
tried to amputate
); Carlo D’Este,
World War II in the Mediterranean,
73 (“
Do something
”).

At five
P.M.
Philadelphia
again: The Sicilian Campaign,
146; Romeiser, ed., 205 (“
last stand circle
”); Donald V. Bennett,
Honor Untarnished
[galley], 145 (
swimming westward
); Belden, 284, 288.

At dawn on Thursday, August 12:
Pyle, 45; Belden, 288; Romeiser, ed., 205 (“
troops moving on the road
”); Scott, 60 (
cordite and sweat
).

An open command car:
Romeiser, ed., 206.

Field Marshal Kesselring had long realized:
Garland, 368; Bogislaw von Bonin, “Considerations of the Italian Campaign, 1943–1944,” Feb. 1947, SEM, NHC, box 57, file 108, 8 (“
valuable human material
”); MEB, “Axis Tactical Operations in Sicily,” #R-145–46, MHI (
message was hand carried
); Walter Warlimont,
Inside Hitler’s Headquarters, 1939–1945,
374 (
Hitler feared
).

A devotee of Aristotle:
Frido von Senger und Etterlin,
Neither Fear nor Hope,
208–9; Corelli Barnett, ed.,
Hitler’s Generals,
381; Alex Bowlby,
Countdown to Cassino,
4n; Errnst-Günther Baade, “War Diary of Fortress Commandant, Messina Strait,” July–Aug. 1943, SEM, NHC, box 52; Garland, 375–76 (
five hundred guns
); “The Choice of Sites for Ferry Points,” appendix, “War Diary of Naval Officer-in-Charge, Sea Transport, Messina Strait,” SEM, NHC, box 52; Friedrich von Ruge, “The Evacuation of Sicily,” March 1948, SEM, NHC, box 50, 15 (
Siebel ferries
); Molony V, 166 (
cached food
).

Twelve thousand German supernumeraries:
Molony, V, 166; Fries, “Der Kampf um Sizilien,” 29–31 (
five successive defensive lines
); “Directions for the Systematic Destruction of Motor Vehicles,” Feb. 1942, Supply Section, Reichminister of Aviation, Berlin, NARA RG 407, E, 47, AFHQ, 95-AL1-2.9, box 162; Steinhof, 242–43 (“
yelling as they hurled
”); Helmut Bergengruen, “Der Kamp der Panzerdivision ‘Herman Goering’ auf Sizilien,” Nov. 25, 1947, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 245.

Italian commanders quickly got wind:
S. W. Roskill,
The War at Sea, 1939–1945,
144; Kurowski, 178, 192, 201 (“
shivering malaria patients
”); Rodt, “Studie über den Feldzug in Sizilien,” 31; “War Diary of Naval Officer-in-Charge” (
screens shielded the glare
);
SSA,
210.

The B-17s never came:
Garland, 379.

“
no adequate indications
”: Hinsley et al., 96–98; George F. Howe, “American Signal Intelligence in Northwest Africa and Western Europe,” U.S. Cryptologic History, Series IV, vol. 1, NSA, NARA RG 57, SRH-391, 53; Ralph Bennett,
Ultra and the Mediterranean Strategy,
234–35 (“
there is
no
plan
”); T. Milne, “The Sicilian Campaign,” 1955, Air Ministry Historical Branch, UK NA, CAB 106/849, 80 (“
You have no doubt
”), 91 (“
no evidence
”).

Allied pilots had reason to fear:
Garland, 376; Eduard Mark,
Aerial Interdiction in Three Wars,
60, 72–73, 77; Edward B. Westermann,
Flak,
293; Roskill, 147–49;
Battle,
75;
AAFinWWII,
472–73 (
swarms of smaller Wellingtons
); Vincent Orange,
Coningham,
167 (
only a quarter hit targets
); Davis,
Carl A. Spaatz and the Air War in Europe,
252 (
bombing Rome’s rail yards
).

“
octopus-like arms
”: Dudley Pope,
Flag 4,
126; Cunningham, 556 (“
no effective way of stopping them
”); Garland, 379;
SSA,
214; Roskill, 149–50; J.F.C. Fuller,
The Second World War, 1939–45,
265.

Not once did the senior Allied commanders:
Pack, 166.

doctors ordered him to bed:
Eisenhower’s blood pressure of 142 over 90 on Aug. 15, 1943, indicated mild hypertension; his resting pulse of 80, weight of 172 pounds, and 33-inch waist indicated a reasonably fit 52-year-old man. Chandler, vol. 2, 1329n; Thomas W. Mattingly and Olive F. G. Marsh, “A Compilation of the General Health Status of Dwight D. Eisenhower,” Mattingly collection, DDE Lib, box 1;
Three Years,
386–87 (“
nervous temperament
”).

“
It is astonishing
”: “War Diary of Naval Officer-in-Charge”
SSA,
214–15 (“
Anglo-Saxon habits
”); MEB, “Axis Tactical Operations in Sicily,” #R-145-146 (
time bombs
); Blumenson,
Sicily: Whose Victory?,
146 (
Two hundred grenadiers
); Molony V, 182 (
cooled a wine bottle
).

“
The Boche have carried out
”: J. K. Windeatt, “Very Ordinary Soldier,” ts, 1989, IWM, 90/20/1, 68.

“
completely fit for battle
”: “War Diary of Naval Officer-in-Charge” (“
employ our strength elsewhere
”).