The Day of Battle (116 page)

At ten
A.M.
on August 17: CM,
243; Garland, 416–17; Nathan William White,
From Fedala to Berchtesgaden,
40 (
swapping shots
); memo, William W. Eagles to OCMH, n.d., NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 250 (“
did not capture the city from us
”); Tregaskis, 86–88 (
bagpipes and a Scottish broadsword
); Hansen, “Research Draft,”
SSt,
CBH papers, MHI, box 1, 16-A, S-27 (“
I’ll be damned
”).

Patton had a fever of 103:
corr, GSP to Arvin H. Brown, Sept. 12, 1943, GSP, LOC MS Div, box 27; John H. Rousch, ed.,
World War II Reminiscences,
64–65 (“
‘DUCE’ was painted
”); Tregaskis, 89 (
towering white spouts
);
CM,
243 (“
What in hell
”).

“
They were tired and incredibly dirty
”: JPL, 122; corr, GSP to Beatrice, Aug. 18, 1943, GSP, LOC MS Div, box 11, folder 5 (
wounding a colonel
).

Sixty percent of the city:
“Reports of the First Phase of AMGOT Occupation, Sicily and Region II,” July–Aug. 1943, and “Reports of AMGOT Divisions,” part 3, document B, both in Frank J. McSherry papers, MHI; “Attain by Surprise,” ts, n.d., 30th Assault Unit history, LHC, 21 (
booby-trapped door handles
); Darby and Daumer, 109 (
scattered skeletons
); Don Whitehead,
“Beachhead Don,”
John B. Romeiser, ed., 24 (
Draftee
); Mayo, 169.

three-quarters of Messina’s 200,000:
“Reports of the First Phase of AMGOT Occupation” notes, William W. Eagles to OCMH, n.d., NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 250 (
mayor formally tendered
).

“
By 10
A.M.
this morning
”: Jackson, 226;
PP,
324–25 (“
I feel let down
”).

He soon would feel worse: Three Years,
390, 393; Quentin Reynolds,
By Quentin Reynolds,
296–97 (“
We’re Americans first
”); Garland, 429 (“
sake of the American effort
”).

“
he can gain greater fame
”: DDE diary, Aug. 1943, HCB papers, DDE Lib, A-678, 682.

“
I must so seriously question
”: corr, DDE to GSP, Aug. 17, 1943, Chandler, vol. 2, 1340.

“
intemperate language
”: JPL, 126–27; IG report, Sept. 18, 1943, NATOUSA, DDE Lib, PP-pres, box 91 (“
embarrassment to the War Department
”); Chandler, vol. 2, 1353.171 “
my chagrin and grief
”: corr, GSP to DDE, Aug. 29, 1943, Donald E. Currier papers, MHI;
PP,
333 (“
my method was wrong
”); letter, GSP to Walter P. Dillingham, Aug. 18, 1943, GSP, LOC MS Div, box 27 (“
would not make a single change
”); corr, GSP to Beatrice, Aug. 22, 1943, GSP, LOC MS Div, box 11.

“
suffering a little battle fatigue himself
”:
PP,
334, 336; Bob Hope,
The Last Christmas Show,
17 (“
I love my men
”); Codman, 114–15; “Frances Langford Dies,” July 12, 2005,
WP,
B-6.

“
I am sorry for this
”: memo, “Gen. Patton’s Address,” n.d., GSP, LOC MS Div, box 48, folder 20; Edwin H. Randle,
Ernie Pyle Comes Ashore and Other Stories,
134 (“
No, General, no!
”); OH, Theodore J. Conway, 1977, Robert F. Ensslin, SOOHP, MHI, III-2-4 (“
Georg-ie!
”).

“
hotter than the hinges of Hades
”: corr, John M. Brooks to author, Oct. 19, 2003, 7; memorandum, “Address by Lt. Gen. George S. Patton,” Aug. 25, 1943, HQ, 1st ID, in “History of the 26th Infantry,” 97 (“
Arms will not be carried
”); Gerald Astor,
Terrible Terry Allen,
235 (“
no booing
”).

“
the weirdest speech ever made
”: corr, Donald V. Helgeson to author, July 25, 2003; Finke, 172 (“
fucking
”); memoir, William E. Faust, ts, n.d., 1st ID Division Artillery, ASEQ, MHI, 79–80 (“
our rejection of his presence
”).

“
I shall be very glad
”: corr, GSP to Walter F. Dillingham, Aug. 18, 1943, GSP, LOC MS Div, box 27; corr, GSP to Beatrice, Aug. 23, 1943, GSP, LOC MS Div, box 11.

“
damn near perfect example
”:
PP,
328;
Battle
, 77–78; Gerhard L. Weinberg,
A World at Arms,
595, 603 (
offensive at Kursk
); Porch, 445.

American confidence:
Harry H. Semmes,
Portrait of Patton,
174; “Training Notes from the Sicilian Campaign,” n.d., AFHQ, NARA RG 331, micro box 21, R-320-A (
many lessons were learned
); Betty McLain Belvin,
Ray McLain and the National Guard,
72.

The butcher’s bill:
Andrew J. Birtle, “Sicily,” in
The U.S. Army Campaigns of World War II,
1993, CMH 72-16, 25. As usual with World War II casualty statistics, no two estimates agree. See also: Garland, 417; Hanson Baldwin,
Battles Lost and Won,
225; “Summary of Activities, MTO, 31 March 1945,” NARA RG 94, 95-USF2-0.3, box 246; “British Battle Casualties in Sicily,” Oct. 11, 1943, U.S. military attaché report, London, CMH, Geog Files, Sicily, 704.

Axis dead and wounded:
Birtle, “Sicily,” 25. See also: MEB, “Axis Tactical Operations in Sicily,” #R-145-146; Blumenson,
Sicily: Whose Victory?,
156; memo, HQ, SOS to CG, NA TOUSA, June 25, 1944, NARA RG 492, MTOUSA, pm, records relating to prisoners, box 2246; “Allied Commander-in-Chief’s Report on Sicilian Campaign 1943,” 98; Volkmar Kühn,
German Paratroops in World War II,
193.

“
a great success, but it was not complete
”: Ruge, “The Evacuation of Sicily,” 53;
Battle,
47; Baldwin, 235; Kesselring, “The Campaign for Sicily: Concluding Considerations of the Commander-in-Chief, South,” n.d., FMS, MS #T-3 P1, 28–29; Kesselring, “Stellungnahme des verantwortlichen Oberbefehlshabers Süd zu den Betractungen des Oberst von Bonin,” n.d., FMS, MS #T-3 P1, 3–4, both in NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 245.

HUSKY
also exposed:
Buckley, 147; “Proceedings of Board of Officers Considering Airborne Operations,” Aug. 1943, AFHQ, JPL, MHI, box 11 (
Allies lost 42 planes
); Dwight D. Eisenhower,
Crusade in Europe,
179 (“
interservice spirit
”); Porch, 449 (“
Sicily demonstrated
”).

“
You lack clear, calm judgment
”: memo, LKT Jr. to Charles R. Johnson, Aug. 23, 1943, LKT Jr., GCM Lib, box 11.

“
a superb leader but a mediocre manager
”: Geoffrey Perret,
There’s a War to Be Won,
185; Hamilton, 380 (“
feeble from beginning to end
”).

Half a million German soldiers: GS
V, 2; Steinhof, 256 (“
a turning point had come
”).

“
Have been in the dumps
”: corr, LKT Jr. to Sarah, Aug. 25, 1943, LKT, GCM Lib, box 1, folder 6.

“
a fugitive from the law of averages
”: Roger J. Spiller, “The Price of Valor,”
Military History Quarterly,
spring 1993, 100+; Graham,
No Name on the Bullet,
45; diary, Aug. 10, 1943, JMG, MHI, box 10 (“
many more battles
”); Breuer, 195 (“
wickedness
”).

“
Yesterday is tomorrow
”: Pyle, 58; Miller, 275–77 (“
couldn’t find the Four Freedoms
”); Tobin, 113 (
four hundred days overseas
).

“
gotten fat and lazy
”: JJT, VIII-27, IX-12 and 14.

“
Dago red
”: John P. Downing, “No Promotion,” ts, n.d., MRC FDM, 1994.41.1, 238; Donald E. Houston,
Hell on Wheels,
181 (“
Migrant women
”); Clay Blair,
Ridgway’s Paratroopers,
114 (
brothel in Trapani
); T. Michael Booth and Duncan Spencer,
Paratrooper: The Life of Gen. James M. Gavin,
123; Johnson, 121–22 (
overpriced hankies
); Francis A. Even, “The Tenth Engineers,” ts, 1996, author’s possession, 15 (
bedsheet screens
); Jerry Countess, “Letters from the Battlefield,” ts, n.d., author’s possession (“
haven’t seen a spigot
”); Robert H. Welker, “G.I. Jargon: Its Perils and Pitfalls,”
Saturday Review of Literature,
Oct. 1944, 7+ (“prego,
Dago
”).

On Sunday morning, August 29: Three Years,
401; Hamilton, 375; film, United News No. 68, 1943, NARA RG 208, UN68 (
littered the beach
); De Guingand, 315.

“
We in our hearts know
”: Bradley Biggs,
Gavin
; Moorehead,
Eclipse,
6, 12.

C
HAPTER
4: S
ALERNO

“Risks Must Be Calculated”

A gentle
breeze: Richard Lamb,
Montgomery in Europe, 1943–1945,
36; Albert F. Simpson, “Air Phase of the Italian Campaign to 1 January 1944,” June 1946, AAFRH-115, CMH, 92; Moorehead,
Montgomery,
170 (“
gnats on a pond
”); Andrew Browne Cunningham,
A Sailor’s Odyssey,
559 (
Regatta
); George Aris,
The Fifth British Division, 1939–1945,
138 (
five hundred guns
); Moorehead,
Eclipse,
20.

Just eight thousand Germans:
A. G. Steiger, “The Campaign in Southern Italy,” Nov. 1947, Historical Section, Canadian Army HQ, report No. 18, 9n; De Guingand, 323; G.A. Shepperd,
The Italian Campaign, 1943–45,
111; Ralph Bennett,
Ultra and the Mediterranean Strategy,
241 (
detected ample signs
); Molony V, 239 (
29,000 rounds
).

“
I think that’s all right
”: Frank Gervasi,
The Violent Decade,
491–93; Moorehead,
Montgomery,
170 (“
set out for a picnic
”).

lovebirds:
Quentin Reynolds,
By Quentin Reynolds,
303; Dick Malone,
Missing from the Record,
53; Richard McMillan,
Twenty Angels over Rome,
139; Gervasi, 491 (
roasted and garnished
); Moorehead,
Eclipse,
22 (“
Never his plan
”).

sulking in his trailer:
Vincent Orange,
Coningham,
171; Nigel Hamilton,
Master of the Battlefield,
406; Lamb, 32–33 (
Montgomery’s protests
); Nigel Nicolson,
Alex: The Life of Field Marshal Earl Alexander of Tunis,
216 (
coordinate Eighth Army with Fifth Army
); Charles Richardson,
Send for Freddie,
135 (“
daft
”); OH, Francis De Guingand, March 31, 1947, G. A. Harrison, OCMH WWII Europe interviews, MHI (
do what he could
); De Guingand, 305; Vincent Orange,
Tedder,
236 (
mostly inexperienced units
); OH, DDE, Feb. 16, 1949, Howard M. Smyth, SM, MHI (“
wanted everything
”); “Allied Commander-in-Chief’s Report, Italian Campaign,” MHI, 113.

Strategic guidance:
Garland, 439–40;
GS
IV, 561–67, 570–71.

Clambering back into the DUKW:
Moorehead,
Eclipse,
23; Gervasi, 491 (“
shouting, laughing
”);
StoC,
53; Lamb, 36–37; Stephen Brooks, ed.,
Montgomery and the Eighth Army,
278 (“
The only person
”).

The next days passed:
Brooks, ed., 277; Moorehead,
Eclipse,
31 (
passenger carriages
); H.V. Morton,
A Traveller in Southern Italy,
314, 327, 337, 342, 360, 370 (
scarlet petticoats
);
From Pachino to Ortona: The Canadian Army at War,
92.

“
no German troops have been met
”: Roger Parkinson,
A Day’s March Nearer Home,
179; David Scott Daniell,
The Royal Hampshire Regiment,
vol. 3, 130;
Three Assault Landings,
1st Bn, Dorsetshire Regiment, DTL, Ft. B, 36–39 (“
bag of mail
”); war diary, Sept. 10, 1943, “Salerno Invasion,” German naval command, Italy, NARA RG 334, NWC Lib, ANSCOL, ONI Z-28, box 649 (“
not crowding after us
”).

Monty berets:
Reynolds, 304–5.

On Sunday, September 5: Three Years,
407; John S. D. Eisenhower,
Allies,
363; diary, MWC, Aug. 28–29, 1943, MWC, Citadel, box 64 (
thirty Fifth Army staff officers
); corr, Don E. Carleton to Hal C. Pattison, Feb. 10, 1965, NARA RG 319, OCMH, 2-3.7 CC3 Salerno to Cassino, box 256 (“
a pursuit
”).

“
With Thee I am unafraid
”:
Calculated,
182; MWC to Renie Clark, June 7, 1943, MWC, personal corr, Citadel (
clovers
).

“
The best organizer
”: Chandler, vol. 2, 1354, 1358; Des Hickey and Gus Smith,
Operation Avalanche,
152 (“
a film star
”); George Biddle,
Artist at War,
225.

“
college of your choice
”: OH, MWC, 1972, Forest S. Rittgers, Jr., SOOHP, MHI, 2; Martin Blumenson,
Mark Clark,
11–16, 19–21, 28; obit,
Charleston Evening Post,
Oct. 5, 1966, in MWC, Citadel, Maureen Clark folder, box 70 (
petite, lighthearted
).

“
destined to do something unusual
”: OH, Robert J. Wood, 1973, William E. Narus, SOOHP, MHI, 3–30, 42–43; OH, MWC, Rittgers (“
Don’t be an ally
”).