The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944 (The Liberation Trilogy) by Rick Atkinson
“the Shermans pitching like destroyers”: Kay, 46; Robin Neillands, Eighth Army, 293; Carver, 317; Butler, ed., “Human Interest,” 4–5 (eighteen hours to travel thirteen miles); Mark Zuehlke, The Liri Valley, 232 (“nose to arse”).
If the Hitler Line lacked natural impediments: Erich Rothe, “Tactical Mission, Trace and Organization of the ‘Senger-Riegel,’” May 1947, FMS, #D-170, MHI, 3–6; Molony VI, 183; Mayo, 215; Short, 10, 18, 30–31, 50; John E. Krebs, To Rome and Beyond, 66 (“only trace of the crew”).
“Head wounds are many”: Huebner, 77.
Sergeants doled out rum rations: Cederberg, 121; Carver, 194 (“I couldn’t run a race”); Butler, ed., “Human Interest,” 3–5 (“melancholy sight”); Krebs, 77 (shot through the heart).
On average a thousand German prisoners: memo, “Advances Made by Fifth Army Corps [sic],” n.d., MWC papers, Citadel, box 3; “Interrogation Reports,” May 1944, Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Center, NARA RG 407, E 47, AFHQ, 95-AL1-2.13, box 164 (“weird and wonderful collection”); Huebner, 76.
As the second week of the Allied offensive: CtoA, 94–97; author visits, May 6, 2004, Nov. 29, 2006; Blaxland, 119 (eight hundred artillery shells); Calculated, 323 (bulldozers were needed); Matthews, “The French Drive on Rome,” 135 (“bleeding to death”); “Draft Report on FEC” Butler, “The French Expeditionary Corps,” 25–26.
From west to east the Hitler Line: CtoA, 156; weekly intel summary, “No. 91, week ending 22 May 1944,” AFHQ G-2, NARA RG 407, E 427, 95-AL1-2.6 (“The enemy has denuded”).
A Fifth Army Show
Mark Clark shifted his command post: Calculated, 357; diary, MWC, May 22, 1944, Citadel, box 65; Sevareid, 393 (“Sit down, gentlemen”).
For half an hour, unhurried and precise: Robert H. Adleman and George Walton, Rome Fell Today, 188; Alexander, “The Allied Armies in Italy,” III-16; Winston S. Churchill, Closing the Ring, 603; CM, 372.
Under Operation BUFFALO: diary, MWC, May 22, 1944, Citadel, box 65; Sevareid, 394; Adleman and Walton, 188.
As the correspondents shuffled: Sevareid, 394 (“in personal command”); msg, MWC to A. Gruenther, May 23, 1944, MWC papers, Citadel, box 63 (“no restriction”).
If Clark had disclosed much: Calculated, 350–51.
A face-to-face meeting at Caserta: msg, J. Harding to MWC, May 19, 1944, MWC papers, Citadel, box 63; Calculated, 351–53; diary, MWC, May 20, 1944, Citadel, box 65.
Clark suspected double-dealing: Texas, 370; diary, MWC, May 20 and 22, 1944, Citadel, box 65.
“Hell, we shouldn’t even be thinking”: Adleman and Walton, 206–7; Calculated, 252–53 (“more than deserved”); msg, MWC to LKT Jr., May 21, 1944, 1705 hrs, LKT Jr. papers, GCM Lib, box 12, folder 11.
“Regrouping would take place”: diary, MWC, May 18, 1944, Citadel, box 65; Adleman and Walton, 206–7 (“the great prize”).
“I’m just a dog-face soldier”: Donald G. Taggart, ed., History of the Third Infantry Division in World War II, 149.
Light rain had fallen: CM, 371; Joseph A. Springer, Black Devil Brigade, 211 (parachute cord); John Shirley, I Remember: Stories of a Combat Infantryman in World War II, 4 (after receiving no mail from home); Sevareid, 395–96 (“nothing ever new”).
Clark had snatched a few hours’ rest: MWC to Renie, May 26, 1944, MWC pers corr, Citadel; msg, MWC to A. Gruenther, May 23, 1944, MWC papers, Citadel, box 63; aide’s diaries, May 23, 1944, LKT Jr., GCM Lib, box 18, folder 3; OH, Robert T. Frederick, Jan. 7, 1949, SM, MHI; CM, 371; Calculated, 357; Adleman and Walton, 188 (Neither man said much).
“They can hear this in Rome”: Sevareid, 395; diary, Robert M. Marsh, May 23, 1944, 81st Armored Reconnaissance Bn, 1st AD, MHI, ASEQ (like heat from a blacktop road); CtoA, 120.
Then, at 6:30, the riflemen spilled: Frank M. Izenhour, “Breakout Anzio Beachhead,” ts, 1946, CARL, N-2253.10; George F. Howe, The Battle History of the 1st Armored Division, 318; CtoA, 128; Shirley, 9 (“I rolled him over”).
Farther east, Company K: G-3 journal, 3rd ID, May 23, 1944, 0800 hrs, 1935 hrs, NARA RG 319, OCMH, CA, box 6 (“It is going too slow”); CtoA, 130, 133 (“We have no such words”).
Just past noon, five more Sherman tanks: msg, MWC to GCM, May 17, 1944, NARA RG 165, OPD, WD, top secret general corr, 312.4-319.1, box 16; Mayo, 210; OH, John A. Heintges, 1974, Jack A. Pellicci, SOOHP, MHI, 241; Shirley, 2–7.
Yard by bloody yard: Initial 3rd Division casualties for the day exceeded 1,600, but many of those were lost soldiers temporarily listed as missing. CtoA, 137; Taggart, ed., 164.
Damaged boys outnumbered the litter bearers: Nathan William White, From Fedala to Berchtesgaden, 113; Trevelyan, 284 (“Must I be knocked off”).
Truscott’s flanks found hard fighting: CtoA, 120, 138; OH, Frederick, Jan. 7, 1949; William G. Sheldon, “Anzio to Rome, Battle, 1944, “ts, n.d., in Robert H. Adleman papers, HIA, box 7, 5–6; Robert D. Burhans, The First Special Service Force, 216–17; G-3 journal, VI Corps, May 23–24, NARA RG 319, OCMH, CA, box 6 (“All hell has broken”); Flint Whitlock, The Rock of Anzio, 288, 300 (sidestepping skeletons).
By nightfall the 45th reported 458 casualties: CtoA, 138; Van T. Barfoot, “The Operation of the 3rd Platoon, Company L, 157th Infantry, in the Battle of Anzio During the Push to Rome,” 1948, IS. Sergeant Barfoot earned the Medal of Honor for his heroism on May 23.
“The fellow in the bed next to me”: F. Eugene Liggett, “No, Not Yet: Military Memoirs,” ts, n.d., 158th FA, 157th Inf, 45th ID, ASEQ, MHI, 7–8; Whitlock, 297 (“always getting cold”).
“Whether or not we can get our tanks through”: corr, E. N. Harmon to David G. Barr, May 15, 1944, NARA RG 319, CA, box 6; OH, T. J. Conway, Fifth Army planner, June 27, 1950, NARA RG 319, OCMH, CA, box 5 (hundred tanks in the first half hour); OH, James S. Simmerman, CO, 2nd Bn, 13th Armored Regt, Apr. 24, 1950, SM, NARA RG 319, OCMH, CA, box 5 (poorly marked American minefield); “History of Ordnance Service in the Mediterranean Theater,” n.d., CMH, 8-4 JA, 83; Howe, 324.
On the left, however, Combat Command A: CtoA, 121–23; AAR, “10th Engineer Combat Battalion, Cisterna-Rome Operation,” ts, n.d., CMH, Geog Italy, 314.7; OH, Robert Linville, CO, 3rd Bn, 6th Armored Inf Regt, May 9, 1950, SM, NARA RG 319, OCMH, CA, box 5 (tin cans filled with rocks); Howe, 324.
By one P.M. U.S. tanks had crossed: AAR, “Salerno to Florence,” Fifth Army Antiaircraft Artillery, 1945, MHI, 21–22.
fear that a premature detonation: OH, Linville, May 9, 1950; OH, ENH, Dec. 14, 1948; OH, Ben Crosby, XO, CCB, March 9, 1950, all in SM, NARA RG 319, OCMH, CA, box 5.
The day had cost Harmon eighty-six tanks: Anzio Beachhead, 119; OH, Lawrence R. Dewey, 1st AD chief of staff, July 20, 1948, SM, NARA RG 319, OCMH, CA, box 5; StoA, 267n.
Yet across the front fifteen hundred enemy: CM, 372–74; journal, Fourteenth Army, May 23, 1944, 107; CtoA, 140; Steiger, “The Italian Campaign,” 74.
“All attacks jumped off”: VI Corps G-3 journal file, May 23–24, 1944, NARA RG 319, OCMH, CA, box 6.
Harmon’s tanks looped behind Cisterna: Howe, 325; Carmene J. DeFelice, “Carmene’s Wartime Chronicle,” ts, n.d., 12th AR, 1st AD, ASEQ, MHI; Audie Murphy, To Hell and Back, 154 (“shooting skeets”); CtoA, 142–44; ADC journal, VI Corps, May 24, 1944, 1515 hrs, NARA RG 319, CA, box 6 (“I could get into Valmontone”).
Thursday morning was better yet: Howe, 328; Wiley H. O’Mohundro, “From Mules to Missiles,” ts, n.d., MHI, 57; “Lessons Learned in the Battle from the Garigliano to North of Rome,” July 15, 1944, Fifth Army, training memo, #12, DTL, Ft. B, 10; Paul A. Cundiff, 45th Infantry CP, 181 (most destroyed town); CtoA, 147, 155.
Clark watched with pleasure: Alfred M. Beck et al., The Corps of Engineers: The War Against Germany, 211; Sevareid, 400; CtoA, 220 (filled the craters).
“The joining up of my two Fifth Army forces”: msg, MWC to A. Gruenther, May 25, 1944, MWC papers, Citadel, box 63.
“you make damn sure that their communique”: diary, MWC, May 24, 1944, Citadel, box 65; Se
“Where in hell do you think you’re going?”: “Beachhead Offensive,” Newsweek, June 5, 1944, 23; Sevareid, 398.
Three hours later Clark roared up: diary, MWC, May 25, 1944, Citadel, box 65; Wynford Vaughan-Thomas, Anzio, 230; Calculated, 357; film, “Liberation of Rome,” 1944, combat report no. 1, NARA RG 111, CR001 (much backslapping); msg, MWC, May 25, 1944, MWC papers, Citadel, box 63 (“junction took place”).
“It may have sounded dramatic”: MWC to Renie, May 26, 1944, personal corr, Citadel.
Truscott drove toward his Conca command post: CM, 375; CtoA, 153–54.
The 1st Armored Division continued to bull: Howe, 329; msg, MWC to A. Gruenther, May 26, 1944, MWC papers, Citadel, box 63 (fratricidal air attacks); diary, Robert M. Marsh, May 25, 26, 30, 1944.
At the point of the VI Corps spear: Bogardus S. Cairns, “The Breakout at Anzio,” MR, Jan. 1949, 23+; CtoA, 168; OH, Hamilton H. Howze, June 16, 1949, SM, NARA RG 319, OCMH, CA, box 5 (within a half mile); Hamilton H. Howze, “The Rome Operation,” ts, June 6, 1944, CMH, Geog files, Italy, 370.2, 3–7; OH, Hamilton H. Howze, Apr. 1973, Robert T. Reed, MHI, SOOHP, 38–40; corr, Don E. Carleton, former VI Corps chief of staff, to U.S. Army chief of military history, Jan. 12, 1960, NARA RG 319, OCMH, CA, box 4; CM, 375 (“astride the German line”).
That agreeable vision dissolved: corr, LKT to U.S. Army chief of military history, Nov. 5, 1961, with witness statements from Don E. Carleton et al, NARA RG 319, OCMH, CA, box 4; CM, 375 (“The boss wants you”).
Truscott was dumbfounded: Kent Roberts Greenfield, ed., Command Decisions, 276–78.
“I discussed this with General Clark”: OH, James M. Wilson, Jr., LKT Jr. aide, Apr. 23, 2004, with author, Washington, D.C.
“He’s not at the beachhead”: corr, Carleton to chief of military history, Jan. 12, 1960, Don E. Carleton papers, HIA, box 1; CM, 375–76 (“more complicated plan”).
Then he fell silent: CtoA, 165; corr, LKT to chief of military history, Nov. 5, 1961 (“poor leadership”); OH, LKT Jr., Apr. 3, 1958, SM, MHI; msg, GCM to J. Devers, May 26, 1944, NARA RG 492, MTOUSA, SGS, “eyes only, General Devers, incoming,” box 135; corr, FLW to Harold L. Bond, Sept. 30, 1965, NARA RG 319, OCMH, CA, box 4; Sidney T. Matthews, “Drive to Rome,” ts, 1954, MHI, 314 (“we should do this thing”).
Privately, however, the corps commander could not shake: OH, Wilson, Apr. 23, 2004; aide’s journal, VI Corps, May 25, 1944, NARA RG 319, OCMH, CA, box 6; OH, LKT Jr., Apr. 3, 1958; aide’s diaries, May 25, 1944, LKT Jr., papers, GCM Lib, box 18, folder 3; Greenfield, ed., 281 (“shooting the works”).
Glum yet resigned: A broken radio apprently prevented Mackensen’s order from reaching Cisterna. Matthews, “Drive to Rome,” 174, 188; Franz Kurowski, Battleground Italy 1943–1945, 226.
After hours of street brawling around the Castle: Vaughan-Thomas, Anzo, 225; OH, Jack M. Duncan and Ralph M. Flynn, 7th Inf Regt, Apr. 27, 1950, NARA RG 319, OCMH, CA, box 5; White, 117 (3rd Battalion of the 7th Infantry). The Cisterna rubble “had the stillness of ancient ruins, but without their dignity.” Sevareid, 402.
“The fact that the enemy is withdrawing”: minutes, “Division Commanders’ Meeting, 25 May 1944,” VI Corps, NARA RG 319, OCMH, CA, box 8.
None of his battle captains shared: corr, Carleton to chief of military history, Jan. 12, 1960; OH, Wilson, Apr. 23, 2004; CtoA, 166; OH, LKT Jr., March 1, 1962, NARA RG 319, OCMH, CA, box 5 (“I realize perfectly”).
“I propose to begin this”: minutes, “Division Commanders’ Meeting, 25 May 1944” diary, MWC, May 26, 1944, Citadel, box 65 (“the most direct route”); OH, Wilson, Apr. 23, 2004 (“These are the orders”).
“This is ridiculous, for many roads”: diary, MWC, May 27, 1944, MWC papers, Citadel, box 65; OH, MWC, 1972–73, Forest S. Rittgers, Jr., MHI, 93–94.
Senger subsequently confirmed: Senger, Neither Fear nor Hope, 252. Tenth Army maps depcited four withdrawal routes besides Highway 6. Molony VI, 238; OH, LKT Jr., Apr. 3, 1958; Battle, 241.
Clark also feared that German artillery: Nigel Nicolson, Alex: The Life of Field Marshal Earl Alexander of Tunis, 252; OH, MWC, Rittgers, 93–94; Matthews, “Drive to Rome,” 308–13 (only the Göring reconnaissance battalion); CtoA, 152, 157; R.J. O’Rourke, Anzio Annie, 177; Böhmler, 281.
Two final points must be conceded: OH, Robert W. Porter, Jr., 1981, John N. Sloan, SOOHP, MHI, 338.
“scheming to get into Rome”: GK, May 28, 1944; Molony VI, 234 (“thirst for glory”).
“Not only did we intend”: Calculated, 352.
The fixation…marred: Matthews, “Drive to Rome,” 312, 338, 200 (“admirably situated to outflank”); CtoA, 157 (partial withdrawal of both armies); Greenfield, ed., 276–79; Blaxland, 117; AAR, Wilhelm Schmalz, ts, n.d., NARA RG 319, OCMH, CA, box 9.
“a terrible congestion of itineraries”: Calculated, 359; diary, MWC, May 27, 1944, Citadel, box 65 (“no attack left in them”); Battle, 231 (“never appears to have accepted Alexander”); Greenfield, ed., 280.
“fire on the Eighth Army”: U.S. Army historian Sidney T. Matthews’s detailed notes from interviews with Clark in May 1948 include this passage: “When Alexander told Clark he wanted the Eighth Army to take part in [Rome’s] capture, he got pretty sore. He told Alex if he gave him such an order he would refuse to obey it and if Eighth Army tried to advance on Rome, Clark said he would have his troops fire on Eighth Army. Alex did not press the point to its conclusion.” In interviews conducted by Matthews seven months later, Alexander denied ever telling Clark that he wanted Eighth Army to participate in the capture of Rome, and added that Clark “never told Alexander that if Alexander gave such an order he (Clark) would refuse to obey it.” OH, MWC, May 10–21, 1948, SM, MHI, 60; OH, Harold Alexander, Jan. 10–15, 1949, SM, CMH, Geog files, III-13; Trevelyan, 303.
Alexander had remained in the dark: diary, MWC, May 26, 1944, Citadel, box 65; Matthews, “Drive to Rome,” 319; msg, A. Gruenther to MWC, May 26, 1944, MWC papers, Citadel, box 63 (“Gen. Alexander agreed”).
Gruenther assured him: Nicolson, Alex, 252 (“pretty upset”); L. James Binder, Lemnitzer: A Soldier for His Time, 122 (“terribly disappointed”); Jackson, Alexander of Tunis as Military Commander, 289 (“should not ‘urge’”); Battle, 231 (“prima donna”).
The contretemps remained hidden: Sevareid, 401; msg, GCM to J. Devers, May 26, 1944, NARA RG 492, MTOUSA, SGS, “eyes only, General Devers, incoming,” box 135 (“this hurts Clark”); diary, MWC, May 27, 1944, MWC papers, Citadel, box 65 (“I do not feel that his exploits”).
“I never violated his orders”: Nicolson, Alex, 252; OH, Alexander, Jan. 10–15, 1949, III-7 (Clark had assured him).
“power to command and readiness to obey”: Livy, The War with Hannibal, 26; Churchill, Closing the Ring, 607 (“Glory of this battle”).
“He is terrified”: Ryder, 171–72; Carver, 207.
Beneath brilliant vernal sunshine on May 26: Hamilton H. Howze, A Cavalryman’s Story, 109; Howze, “The Rome Operation,” 10; CtoA, 169–70; OH, Howze, Reed, 43.
The day soon darkened: White, 118; CtoA, 168; Maurice R. P. Bechard, “This Is an Account of What Was to Be,” ts, n.d., 16th Armored Eng Bn, 1st AD, MHI, ASEQ, 5; Howze, A Cavalryman’s Story, 102; Howe, 331 (“ruinous effect”); OH, Bogardus S. Cairns, CO, 3rd Bn, 13th AR, Apr. 24, 1950, NARA RG 319, OCMH, CA, box 5; Howze, “The Rome Operation,” 11.
“All daytime movement”: AAR, Schmalz; Franz Kurowski, The History of the Fallschirmpanzerkorps Hermann Göring, 244–45; Sallagar, “Operation STRANGLE,” 72–74.
Counterattacks against Howze’s left flank: OH, Howze, June 16, 1949; Howze, A Cavalryman’s Story, 111 (trucks heaped), 129 (“something to cling to”); ADC journal, VI Corps, May 28, 1944, 1502 hrs.
Reluctantly, Clark agreed to halt: CtoA, 171; OH, MWC, May 10–21, 1948, 62; Matthews, “Drive to Rome,” 370 (traffic swept up and down); Vaughan-Thomas, 226 (“take your war”).
It was much too late: Carver, 203 (“Unbek. S
The I Parachute Corps improvised: OH, ENH, Dec. 14, 1948, SM, and OH, Edwin A. Russell, G-3 of 1st AD, n.d., SM, both in NARA RG 319, OCMH, CA, box 5; Starr, ed., 247–49; Homer R. Ankrum, Dogfaces Who Smiled Through Tears, 501 (“blood could be seen”).
Before dawn on Monday, May 29: CtoA, 176; Starr, ed., 249; Lloyd Clark, Anzio, 306 (“An 88-mm round blew up the Sherman”); Howe, 333 (sixty tanks); Sheehan, 202.
“The day’s attack”: Howze, A Cavalryman’s Story, 111; Carver, 204 (“grisly bric-a-brac”); msg, J. Devers to GCM, May 31, 1944, and biographical sketch, Katherine Tupper Marshall papers, GCM Lib; msg, ENH to MWC, May 29, 1944, MWC, corr, Citadel, box 3; Eric Larrabee, Commander in Chief, 113.
“halted at every point”: CtoA, 180; intel summary, AFHQ G-2, May 29, 1945, no. 92, NARA RG 407, E 427, 95-AL1-2.6; Warlimont, “OKW Activities,” 31–32.
A reproachful Clark phoned Truscott: Matthews, “Drive to Rome,” 387; diary, MWC, May 30 and 31, 1944, Citadel, box 65; MWC to Renie, May 31, 1944, personal corr, Citadel.
“The offensive has bogged”: diary, Peter Tompkins, NARA RG 226, OSS history office, E 99, box 47, 260.
The Cuckoo’s Song
It had bogged in the south, too: G.W.L. Nicholson, The Canadians in Italy, 1943–1945, vol. 2, 425; Michael Person Cessford, “Hard in the Attack,” Ph.D. diss, Carleton University, Ottawa, 357; Daniel G. Dancocks, The D-Day Dodgers, 253 (“I just don’t know”); Zuehlke, 221 (“Alouette”), 322, 293.
Eighth Army had long “lacked”: Blaxland, 121; Molony VI, 290–91.
“After months of static warfare”: Molony VI, 241, 247, 285; Blaxland, 124; Cessford, “Hard in the Attack,” 405–13.
“Traffic criminals of every kind”: Molony VI, 257, 291; Alex Bowlby, The Recollections of Rifleman Bowlby, 42 (“I don’t toil”).
The Sacco River valley beyond the Liri: Neil Orpen, Victory in Italy, 44–47; Robson, 108 (“You are welcome”); Strome Galloway, A Regiment at War, 142–43 (“rose and an egg”).
Canadian troops would enter Frosinone: Molony VI, 276.