An Army at Dawn (107 page)

Two German infantry groups
: 10th Panzer Div., “Combat Report of the Tébourba Engagement, 1–4 December 1942” (
“Not the slightest interest”
);
NWAf,
315–16 (
the Americans retreated
); R. N. Tyson to Clift Andrus, Dec. 3, 1942, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 5879.

They came running
: Moorehead, 90 (
“Keep clear”
); Nicholson and Forbes, 263 (
“Thank God”
).

The CCB commander
: “Register of Graduates,” class of 1913, USMA, 1989 ed.; Robinett,
Armor Command,
87; Rame, 153.

Robinett was delighted
: “Comments on
Kasserine Pass,”
PMR, MHI, 4 (
“Always do whatever”
), 12; Martin M. Philipsborn, Jr., Papers, MHI; Abbott, 51; Robinett,
Armor Command,
77–80; Robinett biographical sketch, 1945, CMH; McCurtain Scott, OH, March 1976, Russell Gugeler, OW, MHI (
“fussy”
); “Personal Diary of Lt. Gen. C. W. Allfrey, the Tunisian Campaign,” Feb. 15, 1943, LHC (
“all talk and grouse”
).

Robinett arrived:
corr, Philip G. Walker to PMR, Aug. 9, 1950, PMR, LOC, box 4 (
bitter objections
and
“appeared to be watching”
);
NWAf,
317; 10th Panzer Div., “Combat Report of the Tébourba Engagement, 1–4 December 1942” Abbott, 51 (
“demoralizers”
); Jordan, 96 (
“The most intrepid chaps”
); Oliver, “In the Mud and Blood of Tunisia,” 11 (
“The boys stuck”
).

Now the noose
: Howe,
Battle History of the 1st Armored Division,
78; Robinett,
Armor Command,
80–82; Nehring, “The First Phase of the Battle in Tunisia,” 1947, FMS #D-147, MHI, 37; Rame, 169; Linderman, 254 (
“hammers of the devil”
).

Robinett had seen
: PMR, “The Axis Offensive in Central Tunisia, Feb. 1943,” n.d., PMR, LOC; Robinett,
Armor Command,
77.

General Fischer himself
: 10th Panzer Div., “Combat Report of the Tébourba Engagement, 1–4 December 1942.”

Fischer also deployed
: Nehring, FMS #D-147, 27 (
“decisive”
), 37; Egon Kleine and Volkmar Kühn,
Tiger: The History of a Legendary Weapon, 1942–1945,
8; Kühn,
Rommel in the Desert,
178.

From a range
: AAR, 2nd Hampshires, Dec. 31, 1942, 78th Div. appendix, PRO, WO 175/168; Daniell,
The Royal Hampshire Regiment,
vol. III, 91–98; Bryan Perrett,
Against All Odds,
153 (
“The situation”
).

If Wednesday
: M. J. Barton, “The Hampshire Regiment at Tébourba, 1942,”
Army Quarterly and Defence Journal,
Apr. 1944, 57–63; 10th Panzer Div, “Combat Report of the Tébourba Engagement, 1–4 December 1942” (
“Indications are”
); Blaxland, 126 (
“It was Dunkirk”
).

“Commander is dissatisfied”
: First Army, command post files, n.d., PRO, WO 175/56.

Too late
: situation report to K.A.N. Anderson, Dec. 4, 1942, First Army, PRO, WO 175/50; K.A.N. Anderson, “Operations in North West Africa,”
London Gazette,
1946; Jordan, 75 (
“Bollocks!”
); Messenger, 24 (
“Looking back”
).

At noon
: 10th Panzer, “Combat Report,” Dec. 4, 1942; AAR, Philip G. Walker to PMR, Aug. 9, 1950, PMR, LOC, box 4 (
“But for occasional curses”
); Daniell,
The Royal Hampshire Regiment,
98; Jordan, 76 (
“One night in Glasgow”
).

At a field hospital
: ffrench Blake, 102; Gardiner, ts, USMA Arch, 95 (
“illuminated by candlelight”
).

Several miles to the east
: Moynihan, ed., 67 (
“with delicate respect”
).

The East Surreys had departed
: Daniell,
History of the East Surrey Regiment,
157; Daniell,
The Royal Hampshire Regiment,
91;
NWAf,
320n; Nehring, 37; 10th Panzer, “Combat Report,” Dec. 4, 1942; Jordan, 69 (
“There is an air”
).

“The coordination of tank attacks”
: PMR to GCM, Dec. 8, 1942, NARA RG 165, E 13, box 106; Robinett,
Armor Command,
85 (
“had not foreseen”
).

“My dear C-in-C”
: Anderson to DDE, Dec. 5, 1942, DDE Lib, PP-pres, box 5.

“There was abroad”:
ibid; Anderson, “Operations in North West Africa” Anderson to DDE, n.d., PRO, WO 175/50 (
“enemy has already”
); Anderson to DDE, Dec. 6, 1942, PRO, WO 175/50 (
“wheezy French lorries”
).

Fischer and his 10th Panzer Division
: CCB Operations Report, Dec. 6, 1942, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 229; corr, W. B. Kern to PMR, “Account of the Battle Between U.S. and German Forces near El Bathan,” Apr. 25, 1950, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 229 (
a single man
); Robinett,
Armor Command,
88–91 (
terrified .50-caliber gunner
).

As the battalion commander
: 27th Armored FA Bn, “Battalion History,” n.d., PMR Papers, GCM Lib, box 12 (
“For Christ’s sake”
); Howe,
Battle History of the 1st Armored Division,
85;
NWAf,
328.

Help had been ordered
: Erbes, “Hell on Wheels Surgeon,” 31 (
“charge up the valley”
); AAR, Philip G. Walker, n.d., PMR, LOC, box 4 (
“Shells were cutting”
); CCB Operations Report, Dec. 6, 1942; Howe,
Battle History of the 1st Armored Division,
87; Robinett,
Armor Command,
93.

Rain began
: Martin Philipsborn, “Intelligence Report for Period 1 Dec. to 11 Dec. 1942,” CCB, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 229 (
“total effect was in fact terrifying”
).

Latrine rumors
: Lowell Bennett, 205 (
poison gas
), 132 (
“Beware”
); Daniell,
History of the East Surrey Regiment,
vol. IV, 157; E.W.C. Flavell, “Operations of 1st Bn., Parachute Regiment,” Dec. 7 and 10, 1942, C. W. Allfrey Collection, LHC, 3/4; Butcher diary, DDE Lib, A-100 (
burned an entire Arab village
); Rame, 146 (
“like an escaping murderer”
); T. J. Camp, ed., “Tankers in Tunisia,” 34; AAR, 2nd Bn, 13th AR, n.d., PMR, LOC, box 6; letter, Thomas Riggs to parents, June 25, 1943, PMR, LOC, box 4 (
like repelled like
); Fussell,
The Great War and Modern Memory,
124 (
a potential reliquary
).

“In an attack”
: Fuller quoted in S.L.A. Marshall,
Men Against Fire,
71; asst. G-3 inspection report to AFHQ, n.d., NARA AFHQ micro, R 5-C; First Army to AFHQ, Dec. 8–9, 1942, AFHQ micro, R 5-C (
“Reason is”
).

Even before Eisenhower’s reply
: Juin, OH, Dec. 5, 1948, SM, MHI (
Juin stalked off
); Louis Koeltz,
Une Campagne Que Nous Avons Gagnée Tunisie,
83–84.

Omens and auguries
: “Operations Report,” CCB, Dec. 10, 1942, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 229; Howe,
Battle History of the 1st Armored Division,
91.

At eight
A.M.
:
Nicholson and Forbes,
265 (
“Tank Boche!”); Robinett,
Armor Command,
96–100.

Holding a poor map
: W. H. Hatcher to PMR, Oct. 13, 1949, PMR, LOC, box 4 (
futile effort to blind
); AAR, 10th Panzer, “The Tank Battle of Cactus Hill in the Area to the Southwest of Tébourba,” PMR, LOC, box 4; Robinett,
Armor Command,
100–104 (
“ground was alive”
and
“You have ruined me!”
).

He had indeed
: AAR, G. E. Lynch, March 5, 1943, NARA RG 337, Observer Reports, box 52, #21; “From Beer Beach to Kasserine Pass: The Story of the 175th Field Artillery Battalion,” NARA RG 407, E 427, box 9542; AAR, J. Wedderburn Maxwell, 78th (U.K.) Div, in 175th FA Bn, War Diary, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 9542;
NWAf,
332; Robinett,
Armor Command,
104 (
“new terrors into the minds”
); Howe,
Battle History of the 1st Armored Division,
92 (
reasoned pleas
); Rame, 197–98 (
“Turn the column”
and
stuffed bedrolls
).

At 1:30
A.M.
: Oliver, “In the Mud and Blood of Tunisia,” 11 (
“I never felt so bad”
); James Scott Stapel, ts, 1988, ASEQ, 1st AD (
thermite grenades
); Butcher diary, DDE Lib, A-85, A-93 (
Eisenhower also considered
); Gugeler, ts, OW, MHI, x-39; Mayo, 121;
NWAf,
332; Anderson, “Operations in North West Africa” (
“crippling loss”
); Robinett,
Armor Command,
109; AAR, “Operations of Company C, 701st TD Battalion, 3 Oct. 1942 to 24 Jan. 1943,” NARA RG 407, E 427, box 23699; DDE to K.A.N. Anderson, Dec. 14, 1942, Chandler, 841 (
no longer combat worthy
).

“The faults were clear”
: Rame, 202.

Other deficiencies
: Robinett,
Armor Command,
109; GSP to GCM, Dec. 21, 1942, NARA RG 165, E 13, chief of staff classified correspondence, box 106 (
live goats
); Howe,
Battle History of the 1st Armored Division
, 95 (
training ammunition
);
NWAf,
332n.

“We are having our troubles”
: Robert H. Ferrell, ed.,
The Eisenhower Diaries,
83.

CHAPTER 6: A COUNTRY OF DEFILES

Longstop

For eleven days
: Johnson,
One More Hill,
25; Jack Belden,
Still Time to Die,
219 (
“standing on a window ledge”
); Nicholson and Forbes, 266, 271 (“Fabriqué à Paris!” and
“family of Arabs living”
); Parris and Russell, 249 (
“one bloody great mine”
).

By December, 180,000 American troops
: Matloff, 52; DDE memo, Dec. 15, 1942, Chandler, 842; Zanuck, 102, 117 (
pulverized dates
); L. Bennett, 237; letter, Harold Gottlieb, 32nd Bombardment Sq., in Annette Tapert,
Lines of Battle: Letters from American Servicemen, 1941–1945
(
“No shave, no bath”
); “Memorial Booklet, 2nd Lt. Robert Maurice Mullen, Co. A, 18th Inf., 1st Div.,” MRC FDM, 1988.32, box 206 (
“Thanks for giving me”
); Robinett,
Armor Command,
113 (
bathrobes
).

“There are none”
: quoted in Tobin, 80.

The lull allowed
: Downing,
At War with the British,
111, 135, 140 (
“old-fashioned workingmen”
); Donald McB. Curtis,
The Song of the Fighting First,
MRC FDM, 67 (
“We’ve eaten British compo”
).

Across the killing fields
: Boog et al., 806; Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr., “Arnim,” in Correlli Barnett, ed.,
Hitler’s Generals,
335–41;
Destruction,
187.

Defense meant fortifications
: “French Policy Toward Arabs, Jews and Italians in Tunisia,” OSS, Research and Analysis Branch, Dec. 1943, NARA RG 334, E 315, NWC Lib, box 895 (
“Equipped with tools”
); war crimes testimony, Heinz Schweiger, June 1945, NARA RG 153, JAG, file 3-32, box 2 (
Others were press-ganged
); war diary, V Corps, Dec. 27, 1942, and intel summary, early December, PRO, WO 175/82; “Information Gathered from the 20th to the 23rd December 1942,” II Corps Miscellaneous Papers, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427, box 3163; “18th Infantry, Draft Regimental Wartime History,” Stanhope Mason Collection, MRC FDM, 22; Dorothy Stannard,
Tunisia,
259.

“This means a most un-Christian Christmas”
: Anderson to DDE, Dec. 16, 1942, First Army files, PRO, WO 175/50; also, NARA, AFHQ micro, R-188-D; Anderson to DDE, Dec. 15, 1942, Chandler, 841n; Anderson dispatch, “Operations in North West Africa.”

Longstop offered
: author visit, Apr. 2000; John Horsfall,
The Wild Geese Are Flighting,
26 (
“so foul, broken, blasted”
); Ray, 35 (
“a country of defiles”
).

Had the British spent
: AAR, 1st Guards Bde, Jan. 9, 1943, PRO, WO 175/86;
Destruction,
188; Howard and Sparrow, 113; E. R. Hill, “The Coldstream at Longstop Hill,”
Army Quarterly and Defence Journal,
July 1944, 175 (
“We failed to realize”
).

As required by the unwritten rules
: Hill, “The Coldstream at Longstop Hill” AAR, 1st Guards Bde, Jan. 9, 1943, PRO, WO 175/86; Middleton, 232 (
Muzzle flashes reddened
);
NWAf,
339–41; Perrett,
At All Costs,
156; Messenger, 28–29; Horsfall, 153; AAR, 2nd Coldstream Guards, Dec. 23–25, 1942, PRO, WO 175/487.

An hour passed
: S-1 journal, 1/18th Inf., Dec. 22–25, 1942 (
“Brooklyn”
), and 1st Guards Bde, Operations Order No. 1, Dec. 22, 1942, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 5351; Saunders, 111 (
“Blackpool beach”
); “Report of Longstop Hill Engagement, Tunisia,” 18th Inf, March 20, 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 5936.

The relief in combat: NWAf,
341–43; AAR, 1st Guards Bde, Jan. 9, 1943, PRO, WO 175/186; Howard and Sparrow, 113 (
hiked in squelching boots
); Hill, “The Coldstream at Longstop Hill,” 175; Rame, 207 (
“Good King Wenceslas”
).