The Day of Battle (121 page)

A Portal Won

Hewitt bitterly opposed:
Mason, 327; chronology, Sept. 14, 1943, HKH, “Action Report,” CMH (“
Depth of beachhead narrowing
”); F. Jones, “The Campaign in Italy: The Landing at Salerno,” n.d., Cabinet Historical Studies, UK NA, CAB 44 132, 136–37; A.B. Cunningham, “Operations in Connection with the Landings in the Gulf of Salerno,” Apr. 28, 1950,
London Gazette,
CMH, UH 0-1, CUN.2, 2173 (“
I will try to help
”).

“
If we withdraw
”: Mason, 318, 327; OH, “Reminiscences of George C. Dyer” (“
settle lower in the water
”).

“
intense gloom
”:
StoC,
124; Roskill, 179; Pond, 192–93 (“
prove suicidal
”).

“
It just cannot be done
”: Pond, 192–93 (“
go and do it
”); Hickey and Smith, 249 (“
simply not on
”); Cunningham, 569 (“
stay and fight it out
”).

an enormous letter “T”:
MBR, “Description of Operation from Planning Phase to Execution,” n.d., CJB, MHI, Chrono File Italy, box 48; John C. Warren,
Airborne Missions in the Mediterranean, 1942–1945,
62; AAR, H.M.S.
Delhi,
Oct. 5, 1943, in “Operation
AVALANCH
—Report on Northern Assault,” Royal Navy, Oct. 16, 1943, CARL, N-6837 (“
monster snowflakes
”); Patrick D. Mulcahy, “Airborne Activities in the Avalanche Operation,” n.d., AFHQ, Arthur Nevins papers, MHI, box 2; James M. Gavin,
Airborne Warfare,
28–29;
StoC,
127; Pond, 190; Ross S. Carter,
Those Devils in Baggy Pants,
36 (“
open season
”).

Perhaps to compensate:
Clark was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his heroics on this day.

two dozen German tanks had been destroyed: StoC,
129; Lewis, 21 (“
puddle of fat
”).

South of the Sele:
FLW to MWC, Oct. 11, 1943, CARL, N-6818;
StoC,
129 (“
Nothing of interest
”); Mavrogordato, “The Battle of Salerno,” 27; “Translation of Taped Conversation with General Hermann Balck, 12 January 1979,” Battelle Columbus Laboratories, Ohio, USAWC Lib, 14 (
Frictions had accumulated
); Kurowski, 59–60 (
heat exhaustion
);
Salerno,
73 (
ten thousand shells
); Pond, 224 (
howitzers sniped
).

Berlin’s refusal to release the two tank divisions:
Kesselring believed the two extra divisions could have been decisive; some historians argue they would not have arrived in time to significantly influence the battle. Kesselring,
Memoirs,
183n;
Battle,
119; AAR, 36th ID, “Conclusions on Avalanche,” n.d., NARA RG 334, NWC Lib, ANSCOL, box 35; Friedrich Wentzell, “The Italian Campaign from August 1943 to February 1945,” Dec. 1945, CMH, Ital 370.2, 5 (
penny packets
); Hamilton, “Italy, Sept.–Dec. 1943,” n.d., Cabinet Historical Section, UK NA, CAB 101/124, 18 (
exposed the attackers
).

“
The heavy naval artillery
”: Kurowski, 125; Clagett, unpublished HKH bio, 478–79 (
Hewitt ordered
); Molony V, 327 (“
murderous queens
”); “Historical Tactical Study of Naval Gunfire at Salerno,” 43 (
U.S.S.
Boise); Beard, “Turning the Tide at Salerno,” 34+ (
fire axes
); Peek, 24 (“
count your children
”).

What naval shells missed: Salerno,
74; AAR, “Historical Record,” 10 (
B-17s battered
); “The Employment of Strategic Bombers in a Tactical Role, 1941–1951,” 1953, USAF Historical Div., no. 88, 53–54 (
more than a thousand “heavy” sorties
);
AAFinWWII,
530–31, 535 (
760 tons
); Pond, 224; Hardy D. Cannon,
Box Seat over Hell,
65–66 (
took occasional potshots
).

“
almost impossible
”: “Special Investigation and Interrogation Report: Operation Lightening,” 28; Mavrogordato, “The Battle of Salerno,” 27 (
a final effort
).

The somber if sketchy reports from Salerno:
Lord Ismay,
The Memoirs of General Lord Ismay,
320; D’Este,
Eisenhower,
319 (
sand castles
); Molony V, 319.

“Quelle race!”: W.G.F. Jackson,
Alexander of Tunis as Military Commander,
215, 282 (“
Nothing every went right
”); Nicolson,
Alex,
37, 199 (“
so serene
”), 238 (“
transformed it into a crusade
”); Gunther, 99 (
Irish flag
); Michael Howard, “Leadership in the British Army in the Second World War,” in G. D. Sheffield,
Leadership and Command,
109; OH, Michael Howard, May 2003, with author, Washington, D.C.; Binder, 107 (“
Good chaps get killed
”); Moran, 186 (“
redeemed what was brutal
”).

No sooner had Hewitt laid out:
Binder, 116; corr, HKH to SEM, Jan. 8, 1954, SEM, NHC, box 51; OH, HKH, 1961, John T. Mason, Col U OHRO, 344–45 (“
Never do
”); Nicolson,
Alex,
222 (“
cease immediately
”); Mason, 327 (“
no evacuation
”).

He and Hewitt found Clark:
Hewitt, “The Allied Navies at Salerno,” 958+; Hickey and Smith, 257 (
unlimbered at targets
); corr, HKH to SEM, Jan. 8, 1954 (
vanished for a private conversation
).

My dear Clarke:
B. L. Montgomery to MWC, Sept. 15, 1943, MWC, Citadel, corr, box 2.

Montgomery’s 64,000 troops:
Molony V, 252;
StoC,
138.

holding medals ceremonies:
Such a ceremony was held on September 13; a day later, an inspection ceremony was held of the entire 1st Canadian Division, which had no contact with the enemy from September 8 to 16.
From Pachino to Ortona:
The Canadian Army at War, CARL, N-14352, 96; Steiger, “The Campaign in Southern Italy,” 15.

In nearly two weeks only eighty-five:
Patrick Howarth,
My God, Soldiers,
137; Mavrogordato, “The Battle of Salerno,” 46 (
ten combat casualties a day
); “Narrative: Operations Against Italy,” Sept. 15, 1943, Arthur S. Nevins papers, MHI (
sixty-two British dead
); John Lardner, “The Mayor of Futani,” in
The New Yorker Book of War Pieces,
268; Christopher Buckley,
Road to Rome,
174–85;
StoC,
142 (
British patrol make contact
); diary, MWC, Sept. 15, 1943, MWC, Citadel, box 64 (
swelled to nearly seven thousand
); MWC to B. L. Montgomery, Sept. 16, 1943, MWC, Citadel, corr, box 2.

“
I would like you to go now
”: Morris, 283; Alan Williamson, “Dawley Was Shafted,” ts, n.d., Texas MFM, 8–10 (
no sleep at all
); Binder, 117 (
voice cracked
); OH, Lyman Lemnitzer, Jan. 16, 1948, SM, MHI (
gestured vaguely with a trembling hand
).

“
I do not want to interfere
”: diary, MWC, Sept. 20, 1943, MWC, Citadel, box 64.

“
I know it, Alex
”: OH, MWC, Rittgers, 60–63; Morris, photo, 175 (
checkered tablecloth
).

“
Although I am not entirely happy
”: Nicolson,
Alex,
220.

“
No doubt you people are worried
”: MWC to Renie, Sept. 15–16, 1943, MWC, Citadel, personal corr; diary, MWC, Sept. 16, 1943, MWC, Citadel, box 64.

Hardly had the shrieking hordes:
Douglas Graf Bernstorff, “Operations of the 26th Panzer Division in Italy,” 1948, FMS, #D-316, MHI, 7–8; J. Hamilton, “Italy, Sept.–Dec. 1943,” n.d., Cabinet Historical Section, UK NA, CAB 101/124, 18–19 (
never penetrated the curtain
); Franz Kurowski,
The History of the Fallschirmpanzerkorps Hermann Göring,
210 (“
put out of action
”).

This welcome news greeted Eisenhower:
memo, “Major Lee,” aide-de-camp, Eisenhower Diary, HCB, DDE Lib, A-783-786; msg, DDE to GCM, Sept. 13, 1943, NARA RG 165, E 422, OPD exec files, 390/38/2/4-5, box 13; Chandler, vol. 3, 1418 (“
If things go wrong
”).

“
would probably be out
”:
Three Years,
420; Butcher entries, Sept. 15–16, 1943, Eisenhower Diary, HCB, DDE Lib, A-756, A-773-74, A-779 (“
prefer to die fighting
”); Chandler, vol. 3, 1428 (“
unimpressed by Dawley
”); msg, MWC to DDE, Sept. 16, 1943, DDE Lib, PP-pres, box 23 (“
appears to go to pieces
”); OH, Lemnitzer, Jan. 16, 1948 (“
why in the hell
”).

If Salerno plagued him:
Harold Macmillan,
War Diaries,
195; Eisenhower,
Letters to Mamie,
148; Chandler, vol. 3, 1442–43, 1473 (“
deepest hole
”); D’Este,
Eisenhower,
443 (“
handsomest bald man
”).

“
For God’s sake, Mike
”: Williamson, “Dawley Was Shafted,” 8–10. A sanitized version quotes Eisenhower as saying, “How’d you ever get the troops into such a mess?”
Texas,
257.

“
I really think you better take him out
”: OH, MWC, Rittgers, 64; OH, FLW, May 15, 1953, John G. Westover, SM, MHI;
Texas,
258 (
Dawley and Clark quarreled
).

“
I want you to go down
”: OH, R. J. Wood, 1973, Narus, 22–28; Williamson, “Dawley Was Shafted,” 8–10 (“
I couldn’t work with Clark
”), 12 (“
for keeping his mouth shut
”); diary, EJD, Sept. 20, 1943, HIA, box 1 (“
Releived
”); aide’s diary; corr, DDE to E. J. Dawley, Sept. 23, 1943, EJD papers, HIA, box 1 (
$7 per diem
).

Of four American corps commanders:
Lloyd R. Fredendall and Dawley had been fired; Patton and Bradley were the other two. Geoffrey Keyes in Sicily had briefly commanded a temporary “provisional corps.”

“
It makes a commander supercautious
”: diary, Oct. 29 and 30, 1943, JMG, MHI, box 10; corr, ENH to MWC, Sept. 29, 1943, ENH, MHI, box 3.

“
complete success at Salerno
”: war diary, Sept. 16, 1943, “Salerno Invasion,” German naval command, box 649; Kesselring,
Memoirs,
186–87 (
authorized a retreat
).

plunder piled on trucks:
Pond, 259; Steiger, “The Campaign in Southern Italy,” 17 (“
destroyed most thoroughly
”); “Exploitation of Italy for the Further Conduct of the War,” Tenth Army, Sept. 22, 1943, in Steiger, appendix G (“
evacuation list
”).

The scorching and salting:
“Fifth Army Medical History,” ts, n.d., NARA RG 112, MTO surgeon general, 390/17/8/2-3, box 6, 138; AAR, “Historical Record,” 13; Macmillan,
War Diaries,
354 (
92 percent of all sheep
); Clifford W. Dorman, “Too Soon for Heroes,” ts, n.d., 19th Combat Engineers, author’s possession, 67 (“Rail rooters”).

“
The Tommies will have to chew
”: Farley Mowat,
And No Birds Sang,
155.

“
incapable of attacking
”: war diary, Sept. 18, 1943, “Salerno Invasion,” German naval command, box 649, 71; Mavrogordato, “The Battle of Salerno,” 36a (“
offensive spirit
”); Ronald Lewin,
Ultra Goes to War,
340 (“
No more invasions
”).

Allied casualties totaled: StoC,
144; Molony V, 325. As always, precise casualty figures are difficult to tease from the record; some accounts tally higher numbers, but usually draw from a greater time period. The U.S. Navy official history, for example, reports 13,614 Allied casualites, but includes Navy figures through the end of 1943.
SSA,
313.

Total German losses: StoC,
144; Molony V, 325, 382 (
126,000 casualties in Russia
); D’Este,
World War II in the Mediterranean,
110 (
630 were killed
).

“
a road upon which you may retire
”: lecture, R.W.D. Woods, USN, Sept. 14, 1943, NARA RG 334, E 315, NWC Lib, ANSCOL; corr, J.F.M. Whiteley to J. N. Kennedy, Sept. 22, 1943, NARA RG 319, OCMH, 2-3.7 CC2 Sicily, box 247 (“
turn the scales
”); OH, Andrew J. Goodpaster, Aug. 17, 2004, with author, Washington, D.C. (
absolute authority
); Nicolson,
Alex,
163; DDE, “Memorandum for Personal File,” June 11, 1943, Eisenhower diary, HCB, DDE Lib, A-472 (“
certain of his subordinates
”).

“
leadership, force, and vigor
”: Berlin, 15; Blumenson,
Mark Clark,
282 (
Marcus Aurelius Clarkus
); msg, DDE to GCM, Sept. 20, 1943, NARA RG 165, E 422, OPD exec files, 390/38/2/4-5, box 13.

“
Mark Clark really didn’t have
”: Blair, 157.

from two divisions on September 3:
chart, growth of Allied force in Italy, n.d., SM, box 2.

“
made our acquaintance with vino
”: Wagner, 58; Paschal E. Kerwin,
Big Men of the Little Navy,
58 (
Fascist party headquarters
); Harr, 47, 55 (“
Americans will pay
”); Biddle, 145.

“
I covered my mouth
”: O’Donnell, 168; Howard,
Captain Professor,
73.

So many civilian bodies:
Peckham and Snyder, eds., 66; Earl Mansee, 36th MP Co., n.d., Texas MFM website, 36th ID Assoc., www.kwanah.com/36Division/pstoc.htm (“
stinch was terrible
”); Whitlock, 90 (“
like an eggplant
”).