An Army at Dawn (101 page)

Bookmakers in the 1st Division
: Quentin Reynolds,
The Curtain Rises,
214; GCM to TdA, June 5, 1942, GCM Papers, Pentagon corr, GCM Lib, box 56, folder 17; Downing, 34 (
“Goddam it”
).

Handsome he was not
: Maxwell Hamilton, “Junior in Name Only,”
Retired Officer,
June 1981, 28 (
“the most disreputable-looking”
); GCM to TdA, June 5, 1942, GCM Papers, Pentagon corr, GCM Lib, box 56, folder 17 (
“rare courage”
); Michael Pearlman,
To Make Democracy Safe for America,
249.

His father, the twenty-sixth
: Hamilton, 29, 31 (
“never amount”
); Pearlman, 250–51; Edward J. Renehan, Jr.,
The Lion’s Pride,
210, 226; Linda Donn,
The Roosevelt Cousins,
99.

Now Roosevelt was ashore
: Pearlman, 251; TR to Eleanor, Oct. 20, Oct. 30, Nov. 11, 1942, Jan. 16, 1943, TR, LOC (
“little, scarcely seen shapes”
).

The French counterattacked
:
Tank Destroyer Forces World War II,
20; Karig, 213; Robinett,
Armor Command,
56.

“Soldier, what”
: William M. Lee, ASEQ, n.d., 26th Inf, MHI (
“Come on, follow me”
); Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.,
Day Before Yesterday,
440; Renehan, 66.

VILLAIN

One final element
: “Parachutist’s combat equipment,” 2nd Bn/503rd Para Inf, “Air Campaign in N Af,” DDE Lib, box 6; “Partial Planning File, First United States’ Use of Parachute Operations in Connection with TORCH,” 1942, MHI Lib (
Slips of rice paper
).

The objective of Operation VILLAIN
: “Operation TORCH: The Dispatch of Aircraft from the United Kingdom by Eighth Air Force,” Sept. 14, 1944, Historical Section, U.S. Strategic Air Forces in Europe, NARA RG 407, E 427, Pre-Invasion Planning, box 24351; Lowell Rooks, II Corps chief of staff, cited in MWC, “Memorandum to General Eisenhower,” Oct. 7, 1942, DDE Lib, PP-pres, box 153 (
“no material difference”
); MWC, OH, SOOHP, F. S. Rittgers, Jr., 1972, MHI (
“The British just want”
).

The 2nd Battalion
: William Pelham Yarborough,
Bail Out over North Africa,
31; John C. Warren,
Airborne Missions in the Mediterranean, 1942–1945,
8–9; “Administrative History, 60th Troop Carrier Group,” AFHRA, NARA micro, R-B 0155-0157 (
“distracted conversation”
).

Clark had approved
: Eighth Air Force msg, AFHRA, NARA micro, R-A 5857; Lloyd G. Wilson, “The Operations of the 509th Parachute Battalion in North Africa” William Breuer,
Geronimo: American Paratroopers in World War II,
34 (
“Dear God”
).

After takeoff
: Warren, 7; AAR, Gordon H. Browne, NARA RG 226, OSS, E 99, boxes 39–40.

The sun rose
: AAR, Carleton S. Coon, NARA RG 226, E 99, OSS, box 39, folder 8 (
banging their fists
); Maurice Tugwell,
Airborne to Battle: A History of Airborne Warfare, 1918–1971,
141.

Airborne once again
: Gerard M. Devlin,
Paratrooper!,
138; Wilson, “The Operations of the 509th Parachute Battalion in North Africa,” 1947, 10; AAR, William P. Yarborough, Nov. 13, 1942, NARA RG 407, E 427, AG, WWII Operations Reports, box 234; “Administrative History, 60th Troop Carrier Group,” AFHRA, NARA micro, R-B 0155–0157.

Most of Raff ’s
: Breuer, 41; “USAF Airborne Operations, World War II and Korea,” 1962, USAF Historical Division, MHI, 5; Warren, 13.

To the Last Man

Viewed from the great
: Powell, 280 (
“resounded to the groans”
); R.H.W.S. Hastings,
The Rifle Brigade in the Second World War, 1939–1945,
209 (
“white-walled city”
); Tompkins, 11 (“
reclining woman
”).

So it was
: Murphy, 120–28 (
“I am convinced”
); Anthony Clayton,
Three Marshals of France,
70; Tompkins, 70 (“
chloroform the city
”), 90 (“
painful search
”).

“I am happy to say”
: Langer, 346; Murphy, 127–30; Kingsbury Smith, “Unrevealed Facts About Robert Murphy,”
American Mercury,
Nov. 1944, 528 (
“We are coming by invitation”
).

Murphy described
: François Kersaudy,
Churchill and De Gaulle,
222; Leahy, 48 (
Popeye
); Murphy, 127–30; Lamb, 211 (
“a bad man”
).

By a coincidence
: Russell Brooks, “The Unknown Darlan,”
U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings,
Aug. 1955, 879; Boatner, 117; Tompkins, 65; Eisenhower,
Crusade in Europe,
105 (
“If I could meet”
); Murphy, 118, 129 (
“I have known”
).

For fifteen minutes
: Pendar, AAR, Jan. 3, 1945, NARA RG 226, E 99, OSS, box 40 (
“The necessary”
); Murphy, 131 (
“Giraud is not”
).

The insurrection
: Funk, 212 (
“This isn’t just”
), 218–20; Pendar,
Adventure
, 108-109 (Pirates of Penzance); AAR, “Narrative of Captain Frederick Brown,” July 17, 1945, NARA RG 26, E 99, OSS, box 40; msg, Nov. 8, 1942, NARA RG 38, OCNO, Office of Naval Intel., box 1 (
“France and her honor”
).

Regrettably, the Allies
: Bolstad, 31, 63; Leslie W. Bailey, “The Operations of the 3rd Battalion, 135th Infantry at Algiers,” 1948, 11;
NWAf,
243.

The lights of Algiers
: AAR, A. B. Russell, RN, “Operation Terminal,” Nov. 11, 1942, SM, MHI; Leslie W. Bailey,
Through Hell and High Water,
52.

Then, on his fourth
: AAR, A.F.C. Layard, in Bolstad, 225.

Badly shaken
: Richard Collier,
The War in the Desert,
14 (
“light out like stripey-assed baboons”
); Tute, 177; Auphan and Moral, 222; Layard, 225; Bailey,
Through Hell and High Water,
46.

Fancourt sounded the recall
: John MacVane,
Journey into War,
59; H. L. St. J. Fancourt, “Report of Commanding Officer, Force TERMINAL,” Nov. 11, 1942, SM, MHI (
“The morale effect of a destroyer”
).

Even with the ship gone
: Bailey,
Through Hell and High Water,
49; “A Partial History, 135th Infantry Regiment,” n.d., Iowa GSM; “Regimental History, 135th Infantry,” NARA RG 407.

Then the unmistakable creak
: Hougen,
The Story of the Famous 34th Infantry Division
; Kenneth Maitland Davies,
To the Last Man,
97;
NWAf,
244; Bolstad, 95.

Thirty-three thousand
: Richard F. Kinden, “The Road to Fort McGregor and the Long Way Home,” ts, IWM, 84/50/1 (
“I should have thought”
); Pack, 64 (
“testing for salt”
).

Finding the right beach
: Jack Marshall, “Tales of a Timid Commando,” ts, n.d., ASEQ, 34th ID, MHI; AAR, “Company B, 168th Inf,” Nov. 1942, Iowa GSM; Ankrum, 122 (
“I’m sorry to tell you”
); AAR, RN, Inshore Squadron, H.M.S.

Bulolo,
Dec. 8, 1942, NARA AFHQ micro, RN Ops., R-17-A; Morison,
Operations in North African Waters,
206; AAR, “5 Corps Lessons From TORCH,” Nov. 26, 1942, NARA RG 334, NWC Lib, box 472.

Outnumbered five to one
: Marshall, “Tales of a Timid Commando” (
“Why don’t you”
); Macksey,
Crucible of Power: The Fight for Tunisia, 1942–1943,
71 (
“French families
); Benjamin Caffey, OH, Feb. 1950, SM, MHI; Middleton,
Our Share of Night,
175 (
enterprising wine merchant
).

On the far western fringe
: David Scott Daniell,
History of the East Surrey Regiment,
vol. IV, 151; Middleton, 175 (
“You gentlemen”
).

The 168th Infantry: NWAf,
236; Robert R. Moore, AAR, “Record of Events from 14 Oct. 1942 to Armistice, Nov. 1942,” Iowa GSM; “The Tunisian Campaign,” 34th Div., Dec. 13, 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427, 334–0.3 (
“not prepared”
); letter, Moore to family, Dec. 2, 1942 (
“I got my helmet creased”
);
Red Oak Express,
Feb. 22, 1943;
Des Moines Sunday Register,
July 18, 1943 (
“I thought the fight”
); Bill Roth, “The Longest Days of a G.I.,” ts, n.d., Iowa GSM; 168th Inf Regt, pamphlet, Iowa GSM.

“Glory Enough for Us All”

The stars had once again
: U.S.S.
Brooklyn
war diary, Nov. 7, 1942, SEM, NHC, box 15.

More than 100: The Landings in North Africa,
16 (
“reeling drunk”
); Morison attributes the “Chinese laundry” line to Robert C. Giffen,
Operations in North African Waters,
48; Kreidberg and Henry, 678; Astor, 252.

A gale born south of Iceland
: Erbes, “Hell on Wheels Surgeon,” ts, USMA Arch, 11; Robert E. Coffin, “Operation TORCH: A Perilous Preview,”
Army,
Nov. 1992, 42 (
“I can’t believe a ship”
); Philip G. Cochran, OH, 1975, USAF HRC, 418; Fitzhugh L. Palmer, Jr., “The Old Indispensables,”
Proceedings,
Aug. 1976, 61.

For Hewitt, the storm
: Alfred M. Gruenther to GSP, Oct. 13, 1942, NARA RG 218, CCS 381, section 1–1a, box 325; Dickson, “G-2 Journal: Algiers to the Elbe,” ts, MHI, 21; AFHQ msg, Nov. 7, 1942, NARA RG 492, MTOUSA, box 1388 (
“Very poor”
).

“I hope to God”
: Mountbatten, OH, n.d., HKH, NHC, box 6.

The choice
: diary, Oct. 28, 30, 1942, GSP, LOC Ms Div, box 2, folder 13.

“We are to be congratulated”
: Blumenson,
Patton: The Man Behind the Legend,
168; Farago, 9, 13 (
“Some goddam fool”
).

Despite their early antipathy
: Blumenson,
Patton: The Man Behind the Legend,
112, 121 (
“War is the only place”
); DDE to GSP, Jr., Oct. 13, 1942, Chandler, 618;
NWAf,
44–45; “Reminiscences of Rear Adm. Elliott B. Strauss,” 1989, USNI OHD (
“when things get overturned”
).

In the smallest hours
: weather reports, HKH, correspondence, NHC, box 1; Tuleja, “Admiral H. Kent Hewitt,” in Howarth, ed., 319–20.

Hewitt studied
: Clagett, “Admiral H. Kent Hewitt, U.S. Navy,” 76 (
“velvet”
).

A solitary banana boat
: AAR, “Trip of Honduran SS
Contessa,”
March 22, 1943, in Wheeler, ed., 76.

With new urgency
: Harmon,
Combat Commander,
81; Franklyn E. Dailey, Jr.,
Joining the War at Sea, 1939–1945,
137 (
“resembled a fraternity house”
); memo, HQ Task Force A, Oct. 10, 1942, NARA micro, Western Task Force, AFHQ G-3, R-24-C (
first-day battle casualities
); Harry McK. Roper, “Report on Observations Made as Observer with Task Force Brushwood,” n.d., NARA RG 337, Observer Reports, box 52; AAR, Hewitt, March 1943, NARA RG 218, JCS, CCS 381, section 1–1a, box 325 (
wetted down
); Morison,
Operations in North African Waters,
71 (
“pretend they’re Japs”
).

Commanders with an impulse
: F.E.M. Whiting, correspondence, 1972, USNI OHD (“Ense petit”); Morison,
Operations in North African Waters,
92 (
“glory enough”
); Emily Morison Beck, ed.,
Sailor Historian: The Best of Samuel Eliot Morison,
205 (
“gangway for a fighting ship”
).

Patton napped
: Patton directive, Oct. 14, 1942, NARA RG 165, Office of the Director of Plans and Operations, General Records, corr, box 1229 (
“Get off that damned beach”
); GCM to DDE, n.d., NARA RG 492, MTOUSA, box 1387 (
“avoid firing”
);
NWAf,
45, 70 (
“superiority complex”
).

On the darkened bridge
: msg, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 229 (
“We come, among”
); AFHQ msg, NARA RG 218, JCS, box 325 (“Vive”); Farago, 17 (“Mes amis”).

“God’s most favorite”
: Hatch,
George Patton: General in Spurs,
138.

Only rebels
: Brooks, “Casablanca—The French Side of the Fence,”
Proceedings,
Sept. 1951, 909; “Memorandum for Colonel Donovan,” OSS AAR, Jan. 1943, NARA RG 226, E 99, box 40 (
scheme by Moroccan Jews
); “TORCH Report,” Sept. 6, 1944, NARA RG 226, E 99, OSS, box 40 (
Leroy the Badger
); AAR, Émile Béthouart, NARA RG 226, E 99, OSS, box 40 (
“a juvenile enthusiasm”
); letter, Auguste Paul Noguès to G. F. Howe, n.d., NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 225.

After that, nothing
: Macmillan,
The Blast of War,
197 (
“No-Yes”
); AAR, Michel Despax, July 15, 1944, NARA RG 226, E 99, OSS, box 40 (
his mistress’s bed
); AAR, Béthouart; letter, Noguès to Howe; Philip H. Bagby, “D-Day in Casablanca,”
American Foreign Service Journal,
March 1945, 16 (
Senegalese soldiers
);
NWAf,
95.

“The sky is dark”
: letter, Dave Murdock,
Arizona Republic,
Dec. 6, 1942, MCC, YU. Soldier letters collected by Mina Curtiss frequently indicate the date and newspaper or magazine in which the correspondence was published.