The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944 (The Liberation Trilogy) by Rick Atkinson
The borrowed Cadillac roared: Pawle, 288; Cooper, 318; Thompson, 133 (V-for-victory); Moran, 167–70.
“Can’t I ever get any commanders”: OH, C.A.P. Portal, Feb. 7, 1949, FCP, MHI; OH, C. E. Lambe, Feb. 26, 1947, FCP, MHI (“negative as usual”); Gilbert, 650; Cooper, 319.
“Undue discretion”: Harold Macmillan, The Blast of War, 1939–1945, 370; Harold Macmillan, War Diaries, 347; Danchev, 510; Moran, 170.
Churchill’s “bright idea”: diary, Oct. 21, 1943, MWC, Citadel, box 64; OH, Lyman Lemnitzer, Jan. 16, 1948, SM, MHI; Martin Blumenson, “General Lucas at Anzio (1944),” Kent Roberts Greenfield, ed., Command Decisions, 245–50; diary, Dec. 18, 1943, MWC, Citadel, box 64; CM, 292 (“destroy the best damned division”); SSA, 324; GS V, 209.
“It would be folly”: “Record of conference held by the prime minister at Tunis,” Dec. 25, 1943, H. Alexander papers, UK NA, WO 214/13; H. M. Wilson, “Report by the Supreme Allied Commander Mediterranean,” n.d., NARA RG 319, OCMH, historical background files, American Forces in Action, Anzio, box 119, 7–8 (“regard our campaign”); SSA, 325 (“whoever holds Rome”); Calculated, 260 (“peter out”); StoC, 352 (“the decisive way”).
“a good idea to go around”: StoC, 352; Robert H. Adleman and George Walton, Rome Fell Today, 116 (“hasn’t been predictable”); Greenfield, ed., 250; “Record of conference held by the prime minister at Tunis” (“signified their agreement”); Three Years, 465 (“taken tactical command”).
“I have arrived in Italy”: Christopher Lee Lewis, “The Byzantine Invasion of North Africa, Sicily, and Italy,” Proceedings, Nov. 1943, 1435+; John Ellis, Brute Force, 321 (45,000 landing vessels); Alan Gropman, ed., The Big “L,” 349 (every major Allied campaign).
“Shipping [is] at the root”: Richard M. Leighton and Robert W. Coahley, Global Logistics and Strategy, 1940–1943, 697; H. M. Wilson, “Report by the Supreme Allied Commander Mediterranean,” 1946, part 1, 7 (sustain two divisions); GS V, 210; James Leasor, The Clock with Four Hands, 273 (“set after set”); msg, WSC to FDR, Dec. 28, 1943, Warren F. Kimball, ed., Churchill & Roosevelt: The Complete Correspondence, vol. 2, 638.
“Clark and I are confident”: msg, H. Alexander to Col. Warden, Jan. 4, 1944, NARA RG 331, AFHQ micro, R-369-F, box 216; OH, MWC, 1972, Forrest S. Rittgers, Jr., SOOHP, MHI, 86-88 (three-division landing); diary, MWC, Jan. 2 and 4, 1944, Citadel, box 65.
Regardless of Fifth Army’s request: Hill/O’Neill, 1; diary, MWC, Dec. 27, 1943, Citadel, box 64; msg, WSC to H. Alexander, Dec. 26, 1943, UK NA, WO 214/13; msg, H. Alexander to WSC and A. Brooke, Dec. 1943, UK NA, WO 214/13 (“the best American corps commander”). Some accounts assert that Clark was not invited to the conference. Lloyd Clark, Anzio, 73.
The conference convened at La Saadia: Pawle, 285; Hill/O’Neill, 1; StoC, 303, 353; Anzio Beachhead, 5; GS V, 218.
“the seamy side of the question”: Kenneth Strong, Intelligence at the Top, 171; OH, Kenneth W. D. Strong, Oct. 30, 1947, SM, MHI; Michael Carver, Harding of Peterton, Field-Marshal, 123 (“Of course there is risk”); Hill/O’Neill, 2.
The conclave broke for supper: Hill/O’Neill, 3; Macmillan, War Diaries 295 (“sum total of their fears”); H. Alexander, “The Allied Armies in Italy,” n.d., CMH, II-25.
Could the Germans quickly reinforce: Nigel Nicolson, Alex: The Life of Field Marshal Earl Alexander of Tunis, 228; memo, I. Jacob to Hollis, record of Christmas conference, n.d., NARA RG 331, AFHQ micro, R-369-F, box 216; Greenfield, ed., 250 (“unavoidable risk”); Calculated, 284 (“seal off the beachhead”).
“he is getting old”: Eisenhower Diary, Jan. 20, 1944, HCB, DDE Lib, A-995; “Hill/O’Neill,” 3 (“Not until Saturday morning”); Nicolson, 228–30 (“Keep a reserve”).
Bleary-eyed, they reassembled: Hill/O’Neill, 3; JPL, Jan. 10, 1943, 295 (“astonish the world”); Pawle, 285 (“I do hope, General”); Macmillan, The War Diaries, 304 (“more and more dogmatic”).
“It was a bluff”: OH, H. Alexander, Jan. 10–15, 1949, SM, CMH, Geog Files, II-5; F.H. Hinsley et al., British Intelligence in the Second World War, 185 (No flinty-eyed assessment).
Moreover, the SHINGLE force was sized: Molony V, 772; Frank James Price, Troy H. Middleton: A Biography, 169; corr, Troy H. Middleton to Hal C. Pattison, Sept. 8, 1964, NARA RG 319, OCMH, 2-3.7 CC3, Salerno to Cassino, box 255; Evelyn M. Cherpak, ed., The Memoirs of Admiral H. Kent Hewitt, 195.
“Where can the enemy land?”: memo, S. Westphal, Dec. 8, 1943, VI Corps, G-2 periodic report No. 140, Feb. 1944, JPL, MHI, box 1; David Fraser, Alanbrooke, 398 (Churchill continued to underestimate).
“imposed his will on the generals”: SSA, 328; W.G.F. Jackson, Alexander of Tunis as Military Commander, 258 (“out of loyalty”).
“Operation SHINGLE is on!”: diary, MWC, Jan. 8, 1943, Citadel, box 65.
“A unanimous agreement”: Kimball, ed., vol. 2, 657; Colville, 461 (“garden path”).
“Nothing Was Right Except the Courage”
On the chilly Sabbath morning: Chester G. Starr, ed., From Salerno to the Alps, 77 (sixteen thousand casualties); StoC, 315; author visit, May 4, 2004; Margaret Bourke-White, Purple Heart Valley, 154, 176 (“fell in gusts”).
Ahead lay a pastoral river plain: “Engineer History, Fifth Army, Mediterranean Theater,” n.d., MHI, 67, 70 (seventy thousand aerial photos); Molony V, 598; Martin Blumenson, Bloody River, 61.
German “flooding program”: “Special Investigation and Interrogation Report: Operation Lightening [sic],” March 15, 1947, Military Intelligence Service, Austria, CMH, Geog Files, 370.2, 39.
The highland glens above Cassino: CtoA, 16; Frank Gervasi, “Battle at Cassino,” Collier’s, March 18, 1944, 20+; CtoA, 17; Alex Bowlby, Countdown to Cassino, 82; Albert Kesselring, “The Construction of Positions in the Italian Theater,” Aug. 1948, FMS, #C-031, MHI, 4; Hans Bessell, “Construction of Strategic Field Fortifications in Italy,” March 1947, FMS, #D-013, MHI, 3, 7–10 (more concrete, mines, and barbed wire).
Clark now counted seven divisions: StoA, 83–84 (“momentum of our advance”).
In Operations Instructions No. 34: ibid.; corr, MWC to John Meade, Sept. 22, 1955, SM, MHI, box 2; StoC, 314.
Clark later denied paternity: P. A. Crowl, “Command Decision: The Rapido River Crossing,” lecture, Sept. 30, 1955, U.S. Army War College, SM, MHI, 1–2; StoC, 322; memo, “36th Division at the Rapido River, January 1944,” n.d., Robert P. Patterson, WD, to U.S. Senate Committee on Military Affairs, CMH, 370.2 (most direct route).
“As long as this condition existed”: corr, Don E. Carleton to Hal C. Pattison, Feb. 10, 1965, NARA RG 319, OCMH 2-3.7 CC3, Salerno to Cassino, box 256.
The prospect of being cut to pieces: StoC, 326; Texas, 295–96, 302 (“I do not see how”); diary, Jan. 16, 1944, FLW, HIA, box 1 (“a tough job”).
“amiable mastiff”: Des Hickey and Gus Smith, Operation Avalanche, 54; “Statement by Major General Fred L. Walker, G.S.C.,” Dec. 6, 1945, FLW, HIA, box 3 (mustard burns); OH, Martin Blumenson, Apr. 13, 2004, author, Washington, D.C. (excellent dancer); notebook, n.d., FLW, HIA, box 6 (jotted down unfamiliar words); Lee Carraway Smith, A River Swift and Deadly, 4 (“very good friends”); OH, MWC, Rittgers (give Walker command of the 36th).
Perhaps envious of his former protégé: Texas, 207, 288–90 (“Our wasteful policy”); OH, MWC, Rittgers, 69–70 [redacted pages opened at author’s request] (Walker resented not receiving command); Blumenson, Bloody River, 22 (soldiers grumbled).
At fifty-six: corr, FLW to Gov. Coke R. Stevenson, July 24, 1944, FLW, HIA, box 3; “Statement by Major General Fred L. Walker, G.S.C.,” Dec. 6, 1945, FLW, HIA, box 3 (Since the summer of 1942); diary, Jan. 20, 1944, FLW, HIA, box 1 (bad cold).
“I have mentioned the difficulties involved”: diary, Jan. 13, 16, 17, 1944, FLW, HIA, box 1; testimony, FLW, “The Rapido River Crossing,” Committee on Military Affairs, U.S. House of Representatives, Feb. 20, 1946, CMH, 370.2, 26–30 (proposed attacking upriver); Smith, 22 (“sounding so pessimistic”); Texas,
“sickly, whitish and weak”: Harold L. Bond, Return to Cassino, 27.
Walker reviewed his attack plan: StoC, 331; AAR, “Report of Operations, January 1944,” 36th ID, MHI, 05-36 (“fighting patrols”); corr, FLW to Eric Sevareid, Feb. 26, 1946, FLW, HIA, box 3.
Those were formidable: memo, William A. Walker, “Report of Interview with Maj. Gen. Fred L. Walker,” Feb. 4, 1946, MWC, Citadel, box 39, folder 9; testimony, R. J. Butchers, II Corps G-3, Jan. 24, 1944, IG investigation, CMH, 370.2 (“very well organized”); AAR, 141st Inf, Feb. 9, 1944, Aaron W. Wyatt, Jr., ASEQ, MHI (Of seven patrol boats); AAR, Thaddeu J. Session, “111th Engineer Combat Battalion, Operations in Italy, Jan. 1944,” MHI (four miles per hour); “Synopsis of 36th Inf. Div. Activity,” Jan. 24, 1944, II Corps, IG investigation, CMH, 370.2; Donato D’Epiro, S. Angelo in Theodice, 155 (demolitionists had blown the bridge); “Report on Reconnaissance of Rapido River, 16 Dec. 1943,” Dec. 20, 1943, in “History of 81st Armored Reconnaissance Battalion,” 1st AD, John F. Davis papers, USMA Arch, box 2 (river had been dredged); Smith, 24 (“shoe-mouth deep”), 25 (“traumatic amputations”); Clifford W. Dorman, “Too Soon for Heroes,” ts, n.d., 19th Combat Engineers, author’s possession, 73 (hands and knees); Alfred M. Beck et al., The Corps of Engineers: The War Against Germany, 191.
Keyes listened intently: OH, Robert W. Porter, Jr., June 30, 1950, NARA RG 319, OCMH, CA, box 005, 1 (“unsound”); OH, Robert W. Porter, Jr., 1981, John N. Sloan, SOOHP, MHI, 310 (“Big Cassino”), 324–31 (“fishbowl”), 323–24; OH, GK, Sept 22, 1955, Philip A. Crowl, SM, MHI, 1; OH, GK, Feb. 14, 1950, NARA RG 319, OCMH, CA, box 005: StoC, 326–27.
“If the enemy withdraws forces now”: memo, GK to MWC, “Impending Operations,” Dec. 28, 1943, II Corps IG, CMH, 370.2; memo, GK to MWC, Jan. 13, 1944, II Corps IG, CMH, 370.2 (“effort of the 46th Division”); Blumenson, Bloody River, 70 (“gradualism”).
Geoff Keyes knew his business: Perhaps stopping Thorpe was relative; the West Point yearbook found his running in 1912 “the most wonderful and spectacular ever seen on our field.” Army lost to the Carlisle Indian School, 27–6. Obit, Assembly, Sept. 1973, 121; Howitzer, 1913, 168.
Son of a cavalryman: Blumenson, Bloody River, 46–47; memo, A. C. Wedemeyer, Aug. 24, 1943, NARA RG 319, OCMH, 2-3.7 CC2, AFG file no. 319.1, box 247, appendix C (“calm, deliberate, circumspect”); Adleman and Walton, 89–90 (“everything but a sense of humor”); Chandler, vol. 3, 1465 (“intensely human”).
“God forbid”: GK, Jan. 16–18, 1943.
“too cavalry”: Blumenson, Bloody River, 46–49; memo, William A. Walker, “Report of Interview” (“visionary”).
both men remained mute: GK, “Statement Covering the Rapido River Operation, 20–22 Jan. 1944,” Sept. 10, 1946, WD, in “The Rapido River Crossing,” CMH, 370.2; testimony, R. J. Butchers, II Corps G-3, Jan. 24, 1944, IG investigation, CMH, 370.2.
“We have done everything”: diary, Jan. 20, 1944, FLW, HIA, box 1.
Sant’Angelo was a drab farm village: author visits, Sept. 1995, May 2004, Nov. 2006; D’Epiro, 135–38, 151–56 (“she-wolf”).
Three hundred impressed Italians: Don Whitehead, “Beachhead Don,” 78–80; “Investigation and Interrogation Report: Operation Lightening [sic],” 70 (“strongest point”); analysis, “Effect of Rapido Operation on German Plans and Dispositions,” n.d., MWC, Citadel, box 39 (“strongest single German division”); Tenth Army journal cited in memo, Thomas North, “Rapido Operation Action,” March 18, 1946, MWC, Citadel, box 39 (“enemy has crept up”).
“The waiting is the worst part”: Matthew Parker, Monte Cassino, 92 (“oil my tommy gun”); Molony V, 609–11; Ralph S. Mavrogordato, “XIV Panzer Corps Defensive Operations Along the Garigliano, Gari, and Rapido Rivers, 17–31 January, 1944,” Nov. 1955, NARA RG 319, E 145, R-78, 20; Robin Neillands, Eighth Army, 260–72 (“Moving off in trucks”); Field Marshal Lord Carver, The Imperial War Museum Book of the War in Italy, 1943–1945, 113 (“blood wagons”).
They gained the far bank: StoC, 320; John Ellis, Cassino: The Hollow Victory, 77 (“mine marsh”); Mavrogordato, “XIV Panzer Corps Defensive Operations,” 20 (storm the Liri Valley).
46th Division soldiers, drawn from Yorkshire: Gregory Blaxland, Alexander’s Generals, 33; David Scott Daniell, The Royal Hampshire Regiment, vol. 3, 153 (“bleak, disturbing place”).
“Then nothing went right”: Daniell, 155, 157; “Engineer History, Fifth Army,” 73; “Air Support of Fifth Army for Rapido River and Cassino Attacks,” Apr. 7, 1944, HQ, Fifth Army, air support control, Robert J. Woods papers, “Report on Cassino Operations,” MHI; Starr, ed., 88 (Boats bucked and spun); Blaxland, 38; StoC, 320.
A few hours later the burly British: Blaxland, 39; diary, FLW, Jan. 20, 1944, HIA, box 1.
“Always the same story”: diary, GK, Jan. 20, 1943; Calculated, 269 (“lack of strong aggressive leadership”); “Engineer History, Fifth Army,” 73; diary, MWC, Jan. 20, 1943, Citadel, box 65; Brian Harpur, The Impossible Victory, 121, 125 (“Man of Destiny”).
“It is essential that I make the attack”: diary, MWC, Jan. 20, 1943, Citadel, box 65.
Since the Salerno landings nineteen weeks earlier: testimony, Andrew F. Price, XO, 141st Inf, “The Rapido River Crossing,” U.S. House, 26–30 (60 percent); Smith, 44 (three-quarters of the officers); corr, John D. Goode to Robert L. Wagner, n.d., Texas MFM (“no longer a team”); Fred Walker, Jr., “Mission Impossible at Cassino,” ts, 1986, MHI, 3, 8 (units were understrength); notebook, Will Lang, n.d., USMA Arch (New bazooka teams); corr, John E. Phillips to chief of staff, U.S. Army, July 8, 1946, CMH, Geog Files, 370.2 (“physically, mentally, and morally”).
Several hundred replacements showed up: OH, Paul D. Adams, 1975, Irving Monclova and Marlin Lang, SOOHP, MHI; Ray Wells, “Battalion Commander,” Fighting 36th Historical Quarterly, spring 1992, part 2 (“some would die”); notebook, Will Lang, n.d., USMA Arch.
“The mission should never”: Texas, 305–6; StoC, 332 (extra bandoliers); Smith, 36 (“handed a cigar”).
At 7:30 P.M., sixteen artillery battalions: narrative of events, and testimony, Andrew F. Price, XO, 141st Inf, 26–30; John E. Krebs, To Rome and Beyond, 48–49; Hamilton H. Howze, A Cavalryman’s Story, 90–91; Brooks E. Kleber and Dale Birdsell, The Chemical Warfare Service: Chemicals in Combat, 443 (smoke spiraled vertically).
The attack was to fall across a three-mile front: corr, Phillips to chief of staff, July 8, 1946; Blumenson, Bloody River, 91.
Along the rail tracks south of Trocchio: AAR, Arthur J. Lazenby, 19th Engineer Regt, S-3, n.d., NARA RG 407, ENGR-19-03.0; Robert L. Wagner, The Texas Army, 103; Blumenson, Bloody River, 81; testimony, Leon F. Morand, II Corps asst. engineer, Jan. 24, 1944, IG investigation, CMH, 370.2 (twenty rubber boats); Herman M. Volheim, “The Operations of the 3rd Battalion, 143rd Infantry in the Attacks Across the Rapido River,” 1949, IS (Wooden catwalks); Howze, 89 (two hundred tanks waiting).
Hoisting the heavy boats: “Operations on Rapido River,” 141st Inf, Jan. 23, 1944, in AAR, “Report of Operations, January 1944,” 36th ID (rush of eastbound German shells); “History of the 26th Infantry in the Present Struggle,” ts, n.d., MRC FDM, 1991.25, box 445, 38; Flint Whitlock, The Rock of Anzio, 109 (“blood turn solid”); Franz Kurowski, Battleground Italy, 1943–1945, 78 (“Hitler’s bandsaw”); testimony, John C.L. Adams, in IG investigation, NATOUSA, March 1, 1944, NARA RG 492, 333.5, box 1055 (“Riflemen tossed away”); Paul W. Pritchard, “Smoke Generator Operations in the Mediterranean and European Theaters of Operation,” ts, 1985, U.S. Army Chemical School, 62 (thousand smoke pots); AAR, 68th Armored Field Artillery Bn, Feb. 1944, NARA RG 338, II Corps historical section, box 145 (“check all shells for mustard”).
Little else went right: “Operations on Rapido River,” 141st Inf, Jan. 23, 1944; Wagner, 105; StoC, 333; Smith, 37, 41; testimony, R. J. Butchers, II Corps G-3, Jan 25, 1944, IG investigation, CMH, 370.2 (Paddles, rifles, and human limbs)
“a streetcar coming down sideways”: Smith, 42; Warner Wisian, “Reminiscence,” ts, Nov. 1995, 141st Inf Regt, ASEQ, MHI (dragged the cumbersome rubber boats).
Soldiers fell without ever firing a shot: summary, IG investigation, NATOUSA, March 1, 1944, NARA RG 492, 333.5, box 1055; Smith, 38 (“Eight of us drowned”), 41–42 (“octopus in a crooked sack”); corr, Phillips to chief of staff, July 8, 1946 (“I could hear paddles slapping”).
helmets to scrape a few inches: Warner Wisian, “Reminiscence” “Report on Cassino Operations,” June 5, 1944, HQ, Fifth Army, Robert J. Wood papers, MHI (Thirty-one thousand artillery rounds); corr, Goode to Wagner, n.d., Texas MFM (“tuning fork”); testimony, Leon F. Morand, Jan 24, 1944, IG investigation, CMH, 370.2 (four MG-42s); AAR, 2nd Bn, 19th Engineer Regt.
“like a Judas goat”: corr, Goode to Wagner, n.d., Texas MFM; StoC, 335–36; AAR, “Operations on Rapido River,” 141st Inf (“So many litter carriers”); Texas, 315–16 (“there were plenty”).
Engineers stretched a net: testimony, Andrew F. Price, 26–30.
“I knew something was wrong”: Wagner, 92.
Two crossing sites had been selected: Volheim, “The Operations of the 3rd Battalion, 143rd Infantry” AAR, “143rd Infantry,” Jan. 1944, ASEQ, MHI; StoC, 337.
lashing the buttocks, backs, and legs: “Report on Cassino Operations,” June 5, 1944, HQ, Fifth Army, Robert J. Wood papers, MHI, 7; AAR, “143rd Infantry,” Jan. 1944, ASEQ, MHI (Facing annihilation).
Five hundred yards downstream: AAR, William H. Martin, “Narrative of Rapido Crossing,” Jan. 27, 1944, 143rd Inf Regt, 36th ID, MHI, 05-36; StoC, 338; Volheim, “The Operations of the 3rd Battalion, 143rd Infantry” (“flashes seemed to turn the fog”).