An Army at Dawn (108 page)

Dawn on Longstop
: Marshall, ed.,
Proud Americans of World War II,
51–55 (
“They just appeared”
).

Along the hill crest
: Austin, 127, 131 (
“like a boy”
and
“leaping with light”
); Ellis,
On the Front Lines,
69; “18th Infantry, Draft Regimental Wartime History,” Stanhope Mason Collection, MRC FDM, 21 (
“mud would foul your rifle”
).

Pinned in a cactus
: Porter, SOOHP, 259; Linderman, 243 (
“white chrysanthemum”
); Marshall, ed.,
Proud Americans,
55.

The Coldstreams had just finished
: AAR, 1st Guards Bde, Jan. 9, 1943; PRO, WO 175/186; “Report of Longstop Hill Engagement, Tunisia,” 18th Inf, March 20, 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 5936; Ray, 29; Ellis, 98 (
“bored indifference”
), 71 (
“the release of fear”
); Moynihan, ed., 67 (
some already green
); Nicholson and Forbes, 269 (
even for mules
); Messenger, 29 (
bogged down 5,000 yards
); Hill, “The Coldstream at Longstop Hill,” 175.

A lull persisted
: Parris and Russell, 256 (
“guns flashed”
).

From that pinnacle
: AAR, V Corps, Dec. 24, 1942, PRO, WO 175/82 (
“in our possession”
); Hill, “The Coldstream at Longstop Hill,” 175;
NWAf,
342 (
“never been appreciated”
).

The rain slowed
: Marshall, ed.,
Proud Americans,
55 (
“Get this man out!”
and
handing out razor blades
); D’Arcy-Dawson, 52; Edward A. Raymond, “Long Toms in Action,”
Field Artillery Journal,
Nov. 1943, 803 (
“Muddy Christmas”
).

Eisenhower had yet
: Ambrose,
Eisenhower: Soldier, General of the Army, President-Elect, 1890–1952,
215; chronology, Chandler, vol. V, 102; United Press article, Feb. 27, 1943, James R. Webb Collection, DDE Lib; DDE to Ira C. Eaker, Dec. 6, 1942, Chandler, 808 (
wicked dagger
); Eisenhower,
Crusade in Europe,
124; McKeough and Lockridge, 85.

He suspected: Three Years,
210; CCS to DDE, Chandler, vol. II, 793n (
“Losses in”
); DDE to Churchill, Dec. 5, 1942, Chandler, 802 (
“this battle”
); DDE to T. T. Handy, Dec. 7, 1942, Chandler, 811 (
“every recognized”
); Butcher diary, DDE Lib, A-96 (
“Engage and wear”
); Foote,
The Civil War,
vol. 3, 739 (
Grant’s casualties
).

“Through all this”
: memo, DDE, Dec. 10, 1942, Chandler, 824.

Shortly after noon
: Baedeker, 301; Rame, 102 (
“cubes of frozen moonlight”
); Raff, 60; Powell,
In Barbary,
252.

Even as they neared: NWAf,
337; Butcher diary, A-99; DDE, “Commander-in-Chief’s Dispatch, North African Campaign,” 22 (
all rail loadings
); “History of Planning Division, ASF,” ts, 1946, CMH, 3-2.2; Kreidberg and Henry, 649 (
twice as many
);
Destruction,
385; Harry L. Coles and Albert K. Weinberg,
Civil Affairs: Soldiers Become Governors,
51 (
“Stop sending stockings”
); GCM to DDE, Dec. 23, 1942, NARA, AFHQ micro, R-49-M, Supreme Allied Commander’s Secretariat (
“Do
not
discuss”
).

Increasingly, the strain showed
: John S. D. Eisenhower,
Allies,
210;
Three Years,
218 (
“a caged tiger”
); GCM to Elmer Davis, Dec. 13, 1942, NARA RG 165, E 13, OCS correspondence, box 106 (
“I am very”
); GCM to John Dill, Dec. 5, 1942, Chandler, 793n (
Privately the chief
); William D. Hassett,
Off the Record with F.D.R.,
145 (
“Why are they so slow?”
).

The strain on Eisenhower: Three Years,
212 (
“Those are your troubles”
); Howze,
A Cavalryman’s Story,
52 (
“Tell everybody here”
); Butcher diary, Nov. 27, 1942, DDE Lib, A-99 (
“Damned if I’m not”
), A-106;

Following an overnight stop
: Robinett,
Armor Command,
113 (
“greatly depressed”
);
Three Years,
227–228 (
“ordered trials”
and
offered to resign
); Butcher diary, A-112; First Army log, Dec. 24, 1942, PRO, WO 175/50 (
“Decision was made”
and
“Due to continual rain”
).

“They Shot the Little Son of a Bitch”

Algiers on Christmas Eve
: Renée Gosset,
Conspiracy in Algiers,
130; Mario Faivre,
We Killed Darlan,
122; Tompkins, 185 (
Mousse d’Islam
); Parris and Russell, 193; Robert M. Marsh, ASEQ, 81st Reconn., 1st AD, 1989, MHI; A.A.C.W. Brown, “364 Days Overseas Service,” 1981, IWM, 81/33/1; R. Priestly, 2nd Bn, Para Regt, ts, IWM, 83/24/1; Paul K. Skogsberg, “The North African Campaigns,” ASEQ, ts, n.d., 1st Reconn. Troop, 1st ID, 25; Fussell,
Wartime,
186 (
“White Mistress”
).

Morale officers
: “History of Special Service Section,” II Corps, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427, box 3236 (
“extremely bad discipline”
and
“at high tension”
); Gale A. Mathers, “The Special Service Office in the European Theater,” Aug. 30, 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 3236 (
“I have seen cases”
); Crawford, 172.

The Little Fellow
: Howard and Sparrow, 109; MacVane,
On the Air in World War II,
143 (
“His small blue eyes”
); Clark,
Calculated Risk,
128; MWC, SOOHP, Forest S. Rittgers, Jr., 1972–73, MHI (
“You know, the Little Fellow”
); Murphy, 143 (
“There are four plots”
).

One would suffice
: Tompkins, 185–87; Gosset, 130; Faivre, 125–26; Murphy msg to State Dept., Dec. 24, 1942, NARA, AFHQ micro, R-226-B; Ambrose,
Ike’s Spies,
49–50; Anthony Verrier,
Assassination in Algiers,
226.

Half a mile away
: MWC, SOOHP, MHI (
“They shot”
).

A voluble mob
: Murphy, 143; Clark,
Calculated Risk,
128–30 (
“a troublesome boil”
); Boatner, 119; William H. Lee, memo, AFHQ, Dec. 24, 1942, OW, MHI; Marsh, ASEQ; MacVane,
Journey into War,
134; MacVane,
On the Air in World War II,
157 (
“never seen happier faces”
).

Eisenhower had insisted
: “Tactical Communications in World War II,” part 1,
Signal Communication in the North African Campaign,
1945, Historical Section, Office of the Chief Signal Officer, MHI, 92 (
he remained beyond reach
); First Army log, Dec. 24, 1942, PRO, WO 175/50 (
“most serious thing”
); Juin, OH, Dec. 5, 1948, SM, MHI; Anderson to Brooke, Dec. 25, 1942, PRO, WO 175/56; “Record of Events and Documents from the Date That Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark Entered into Negotiations with Admiral Jean Francois Darlan Until Darlan Was Assassinated,” Feb. 22, 1943, NARA RG 338, Fifth Army, box 1 (
“Have just returned”
); Davis,
Dwight D. Eisenhower: Soldier of Democracy,
401;
Three Years,
229 (
ended one problem
).

Badly reduced
: Rudolf Lang, “Battles of Kampfgruppe Lang in Tunisia,” 1947, FMS, #D-173, MHI.

More than a hundred
: AAR, 1st Guards Bde, Jan. 9, 1943, PRO, WO 175/186; “Report of Longstop Hill Engagement, Tunisia,” 18th Inf, March 20, 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 5936; Howard and Sparrow, 116; “18th Infantry, Draft Regimental Wartime History,” MRC FDM, 24; Marshall, ed.,
Proud Americans,
55 (
“We will fight to the last”
).

The right flank
: Linderman, 284 (
“sick kittens”
); Nicholson and Forbes, 269 (
“a few scraggy chickens”
).

Word soon circulated: NWAf,
343; Hill, “The Coldstream at Longstop Hill,” 175; Downing, 145.

Longstop belonged to the Germans
: Arnim, “Recollections of Tunisia,” FMS #C-098, MHI; Operations Bulletin No. 2, May 31, 1943, HQ, NW African Air Forces, NARA RG 334, NWC Lib, box 132 (
4,000-pound bomb
).

Of the Tommies and Yanks
: Intel. Summary No. 89, 1st Guards Bde, May 15, 1943, PRO, WO 175/186 (
oddly unmolested
); Nicholson and Forbes, 271 (
“a cheese-grater”
); William G. Chamberlin, ASEQ, 32nd FA Bn, 1st ID, n.d.; Johnson,
One More Hill,
27–28 (
“Objective lost”
).

“This Is the Hand of God”

For a man
: McKeough and Lockridge, 63; DDE to Berthe Darlan, Dec. 25, 1942, Chandler, 861 (
“You have”
); Morgan, 98, 101 (
“God rest ye merry”
).

The investigation
: MacVane,
On the Air in World War II,
158; Moorehead,
The End in Africa,
58; Faivre, 131 (
“I have brought to justice”
); Tompkins, 195–97 (
coffin
); Verrier, 249 (
“surprised to be shot”
).

As his assassin
: “Darlan funeral,” Signal Corps, 35mm, B&W, NARA, ADC 1002; Curt Riess, ed.,
They Were There,
530 (
“Not a tear”
); Butcher diary, DDE Lib, A-121; Tompkins, 191 (
bared halberds
).

As the funeral
: United Press account,
New York Times,
Dec. 27, 1942;
New York Times,
Dec. 28, 1942; “Funeral for Admiral Darlan—Record of Events,” Dec. 26, 1942, NARA, AFHQ micro, R-204-F (
“all sidearms”
).

The requiem mass
: Cunningham, OH, Feb. 12, 1947, Forrest C. Pogue, MHI (
“Go ahead”
).

It was over
: “Darlan funeral,” Signal Corps, 35mm, B&W, NARA, ADC 1002; “Funeral for Admiral Darlan—Record of Events,” Dec. 26, 1942, NARA, AFHQ micro, R-204-F (
“the following errors”
).

The procession wound
: Gosset, 130; De Gaulle,
Memoirs,
381 (
“the long disease”
); Macmillan,
The Blast of War,
167 (
“Once bought”
); Hunt, 153 (
“fell like a stone”
).

Finger-pointing
: Fergusson, 148 (
“a cup of tea”
);
Three Years,
239 (
“Is there anyone here”
); Jordan, 139 (
“Arab”
); D’Este,
Bitter Victory,
55 (
“You will find the Americans”
).

Yet a harsher
: Larrabee, 436 (
“our Italians”
); Alexander G. Clifford,
The Conquest of North Africa, 1940–1943,
405 (
“gifted amateurs”
); W.R.C. Penney, ts, n.d., LHC (
“crashing bores”
); Fergusson, 148 (
“The British cope”
).

“The plain facts”
: AAR, 1st Guards Bde, Jan. 9, 1943, PRO, WO 175/86.

To Major General Terry Allen
: Dixon, “Terry Allen,” 57 (
“Please always remember”
); GCM to TdA, July 30, 1942, GCM Lib, Pentagon correspondence, box 56, folder 17; Baumer, 68, 117 (
“all that stuff”
); Pyle,
Here Is Your War,
187 (
“like vermin”
).

Yet as the weeks
: Dixon, “Terry Allen,” 57; Steven Clay,
Blood and Sacrifice: The History of the 16th Infantry Regiment,
27 (read in mss); Curtis, 42; Liebling, “Find ’Em, Fix ’Em, and Fight ’Em,” 221 (
“like whiskey”
); Pyle,
Here Is Your War,
188 (
“Is this a private war”
); Robert W. Porter, SOOHP, John N. Sloan, 1981, MHI, 260; S.L.A. Marshall,
Men Against Fire,
161 (
“A man fights”
).

The last straw
: Porter, SOOHP, 259–60 (
“I can’t understand”
); “Terry Allen and the First Division,” MHI; D’Este,
Bitter Victory,
274.

good men dared
: Sherwood, xvii.

The bottom of the year
: DDE to CCS, Dec. 26, 1942, Chandler, 868 (
“severest disappointment”
); “directive for commander-in-chief, Allied Expeditionary Force,” Aug. 13, 1942, NARA RG 218, JCS records, box 325.

An enormous siege
: Bennett,
Ultra and Mediterranean Strategy,
196; Ellis,
On the Front Lines,
36; “Commander-in-Chief’s Dispatch, North African Campaign, 1942–1943,” 51. (Eisenhower came to believe that quick victory in Tunisia would have put Allied troops in the Po River Valley in northern Italy by winter 1943.)

For now, there were deficiencies
: Allerton Cushman, AGF Observer Report, March 29, 1943, NARA RG 165, E 418, Director of Plans and Ops, box 1228 (
“The German army”
); Stanley J. Grogan, “Memorandum for Mr. McCloy,” n.d., NARA RG 165, E 418, box 1228 (
“More than discipline”
); John P. Lucas, Observer Report, Apr. 28, 1943, NARA RG 165, E 13, OCS classified general correspondence, box 106 (
“not leading their men well”
).

They had seen things
: Marshall, “The Battle That Wasn’t,” ASEQ, 34th Inf Div, MHI (
“cracked porcelain surface”
); Michael D. Doubler,
Closing with the Enemy,
253, 293; Linderman, 212 (
“questers”
); John C. McManus,
The Deadly Brotherhood: The American Combat Soldier in World War II,
282 (
“Twins, we feel”
).