The Day of Battle (109 page)

white cloth knotted on the left:
Robert M. Piper, “The Operation of the 505th Parachute Infantry in the Airborne Landings on Sicily,” 1948, IS, 13; Sayer, “The Operations of Company A, 505th Parachute Infantry,” IS, 6 (
baggy trousers
), 8 (
Benzedrine
); Blair, 86–87 (
honeypots
).

As the first planes:
Warren, 29, 33; James M. Gavin,
On to Berlin,
19, 22 (
prisoner-of-war tags
).

The slivered moon:
Garland, 117.

Nearly all found Sicily:
Blair, 87; Breuer, 71 (
fifteen hundred feet
); Piper, “The Operation of the 505th Parachute Infantry,” 20 (
before they hit the ground
); OH, George Mertz, Oct. 2000, Lewis E. Johnston, “The Troop Carrier D-Day Flights,” CD-ROM, author’s possession, 146–57.

“
Stand up
”: Breuer, 57; Ruggero, 133–37 (“
George!
”); James M. Gavin,
Airborne Warfare,
2.

“No one knew”
: Charles E. Smith, “The American Campaign in Sicily,” ts, n.d., CMH, Geog Sicily 314.7, 10; Ryder, “Report on American Airborne Phase,” 40; Warren, 33–36 (“
prodigious overestimate
”); Gavin,
On to Berlin,
22 (
passwords
); Ridgway, 70; “Proceedings of Board of Officers Considering Airborne Operations,” Aug. 1943, AFHQ, JPL, MHI, box 11; “Airborne Operations Conference,” July 24, 1943, Algiers, MHI, D763.S5 A5 (
Eight planes
); David G. Fivecoat, “Against All Odds,” thesis, May 6, 1993, USMA, 19–23 (
three-day casualty tally
).

Certainly they wreaked havoc:
Sayer, “The Operations of Company A, 505th Parachute Infantry,” 10–12; Jonathan M. Soffer,
General Matthew B. Ridgway: From Progressivism to Reaganism, 1895–1993,
45 (
SAFU
).

“
At war’s end
”: corr, MBR to C. B. Hansen, April 5, 1949, CJB, box 48.

As paratroopers blundered:
Garland, 99; Black, 87; James J. Altieri,
Darby’s Rangers: An Illustrated Portrayal of the Original Rangers,
50; Allen N. Towne,
Doctor Danger Forward,
67.

The first Americans:
Garland, 137; Harris, ed., 24–30 (“
I’ve had it, Harry
”).

Italian gunners:
“History of the 26th Infantry in the Present Struggle,” ts, n.d., MRC FDM, 1991.25, box 445, 6; “Personal Diary of Langan W. Swent,” July 10–11, 1943, HIA, box 1, copyright Stanford University; Jack Belden, “Battle of Sicily,” 27+ (“
so much blood
”); John W. Baumgartner et al.,
The 16th Infantry, 1798–1946,
38 (“
Somebody left his pack
”).

a 16th Infantry rifleman:
William T. Dillon, “Pearl Harbor to Normandy and Beyond,” ts, n.d., 1/16th Inf, ASEQ, MHI, 5.

Shouts and curses:
Stambler, “Campaign in Sicily,” 2-3.7 AA.L; Belden, “Battle of Sicily,” 27+ (“
screaming and sobbing
”).

Dawn sluiced the eastern sky:
Neil McCallum,
Journey with a Pistol,
150;
Building the Navy’s Bases in World War II,
vol. II, 87; “Action Report, Commander Task Unit 86.222,” July 31, 1943, NARA (
breaking ramp chains
); AAR, 3/16th Inf, Aug. 16, 1943, NARA RG 319, OCMH, 2-3.7 CC2, box 247; E. S. Van Deusen, “Trucks That Go Down to the Sea,”
Army Ordnance,
vol. 25, Nov.–Dec. 1943, 555+; James Phinney Baxter III,
Scientists Against Time,
243–50 (
DUKW
); Geoffrey Perret,
There’s a War to Be Won,
110–12; Linda Mayo,
The Ordnance Department: On Beachhead and Battlefront,
163; Garland, 104; Henry F. Pringle, “Weapons Win Wars,” ts, n.d., CMH, 2-3.7 AB.B, 150–52 (
Coast Guard crew
).

Mines proved more galling:
OH, Samuel A. D. Hunter, naval intelligence, Advance Bases Group, March 7, 1944, NHC; AAR, HKH, “The Sicilian Campaign,” 55–56; Alfred M. Beck et al.,
The Corps of Engineers: The War Against Germany,
130; R.L. Carmichael, Jr., “Report on Italian Campaign,” June 15, 1944,#113, Observer Reports, NARA RG 337, AGF G-2, box 55, 8 (“
Everything on them goes bad
”); “Personal Diary of Langan W. Swent,” July 12, 1943, HIA, box 1;
The Sicilian Campaign,
83.

“
The beach was a scene
”: JPL, 43; “Action Report, Commander Task Unit 86.222,” July 31, 1943, NARA (
Beachmasters bellowed
); Sidney L. Jackson, “Signal Communication in the Sicilian Campaign,” July 1945, CARL, N-9425.4, 78; H. H. Dunham, “U.S. Army Transportation and the Conquest of Sicily,” March 1945, Monograph No. 13, ASF, Historical Program Files, NARA RG 336, box 141, 68 (
athletic equipment
).

Dawn also brought:
memo, D.L. Madeira, Aug. 7, 1943, Destroyer Squadron 17, in action report, U.S.S.
Maddox,
RG 38, OCNO, WWII Actions and Operational Reports, box 1219.

“
A great blob
”: John Mason Brown, 131.

Past the charred DUKWs
: John P. Downing, “No Promotion,” ts, n.d., MRC FDM, 1994.41.1, 218; author visit, Sept. 1996;
SSA,
60–61; McCallum, 151–52 (“
red-and-yellow lamps
”).

Force X:
David W. Hogan,
Raiders or Elite Infantry?,
45; Jerome J. Haggerty, “A History of the Ranger Battalion in World War II,” Ph.D. diss, 1982, Fordham University, MHI, 139–40 (“
no record of trial
”); Michael J. King,
William Orlando Darby,
74; “The Rangers,”
Life,
July 2, 1944, 59+; Thomas M. Johnson, “The Army’s Fightingest Outfit Comes Home,” St. Louis
Post-Dispatch,
Nov. 5, 1944, in
Reader’s Digest,
Dec. 1944, 51+; James Altieri,
The Spearheaders,
293, 247 (
“Fightin’ Rangers”
).

“
tearing roofs off
”: “History of the 26th Infantry Regiment in the Present Struggle,” ts, n.d., version provided author by Gen. Paul Gorman, 9; Altieri,
The Spearheaders,
268–70; Black, 87; William O. Darby and William H. Baumer,
Darby’s Rangers: We Led the Way,
87–89 (
thunderous salvos
); AAR, 1st Ranger Bn, July 10–14, 1943, “Combat Reports,” USMA micro., MP63-8, roll 1 (
fifty-two Italians
);
SSA,
104.

On Highway 117:
Garland, 152–53; diary, July 19, 1943, GSP, LOC MS Div, box 2, folder 15 (
thermite grenade
); John B. Romeiser, ed.,
Combat Reporter,
164 (“
metal was red hot
”); Altieri,
Darby’s Rangers
(“
fled in disorder
”);
SSA,
104.

By late morning:
Robert Daumer, “Darby’s Ranger,” Darby interview with Jack Belden, www.grunts.net.; W. S. Allgood, “Once Upon a War,” in “2004 Reunion Program Book,” Fort Wayne, Indiana, Aug. 25–30, 2004, author’s possession, 101; Ralph G. Martin,
The G.I. War, 1941–1945,
71 (
Thomas Paine
); Romeiser, ed., 163; “Report on the First Phase of Amgot Occupation, Sicily and Region II,” July–Aug. 1943, Frank J. McSherry papers, MHI, 18 (
170 corpses
).

Fifteen miles west:
Max Corvo,
The O.S.S. in Italy, 1942–1945,
69–75; Stambler, “Campaign in Sicily,” 23; Pyle, 15.

No one was more relieved:
George Biddle,
Artist at War,
225; OH, James M. Wilson, Jr., former aide, with author, Apr. 23, 2004, Washington, D.C.; Will Lang, “Lucian King Truscott, Jr.,”
Life,
Oct. 2, 1944, 97+ (
polo handicap
); corr, LKT Jr. to Sarah R. Truscott, Nov. 25, 1943, and Jan. 15, 1944, LKT Jr., GCM Lib, box 1, folder 6 (
silver nitrate
); Roger J. Spiller, ed.,
Dictionary of American Military Biography,
1110 (
finest combat commander
).

Truscott for six years had taught:
Lang, “Lucian King Truscott, Jr.,” Robert H. Berlin,
U.S. Army World War II Corps Commanders
; Hugh A. Scott,
The Blue and White Devils,
66 (“
passive voice
”); aide’s diaries, Sept. 12, 1943, LKT Jr., GCM Lib, box 18, folder 3 (“
What is sin?
”); OH, Robert T. Frederick, Jan. 7, 1949, SM, MHI (
drank too much
);
CM,
206 (
fifty-year sentences
); OH, Wilson, with author (
turpentine
); memo, LKT Jr., to L. J. McNair, Dec. 27, 1943, Don E. Carleton papers, HIA, box 1 (“
Truscott trot
”).

“
Do you remember
”: corr, LKT Jr. to Sarah, July 7, 1943, LKT Jr., GCM Lib, box 1, folder 6.

Booby traps on the docks:
Pyle, 20; John T. Mason, Jr.,
The Atlantic War Remembered,
285; Garland, 126–34;
The Sicilian Campaign,
109;
SSA,
86 (
U.S.S.
Sentinel).

Infantrymen drowned:
Pyle, 17;
CM,
213–14; MEB, mss, #R-127, in “Axis Tactical Operations in Sicily,” ts, n.d., OCMH, #R-147, MHI (“
self-demobilization
”); memo, William W. Eagles, Jan. 17, 1951, SM, MHI (
German shepherds
); Norris H. Perkins,
North African Odyssey,
82 (“
poor Dagoes
”).

Dawn revealed:
Karig, 252.

“
white as sharks’ teeth
”: Richard Tregaskis,
Invasion Diary,
23; Pyle, 22: corr, LKT Jr. to Sarah, July 25, 1943, LKT Jr., GCM Lib, box 1, folder 6.

Across the Gulf of Gela:
lecture, “Narrative by Rear Adm. Alan G. Kirk,” Oct. 2, 1943, Pearl Harbor, NHC, 6–7; Charles C. Bates and John F. Fuller,
America’s Weather Warriors,
75; Robert L. Clifford and William J. Maddocks, “Naval Gunfire Support of the Landings in Sicily,” 1984, Monograph No. 5, MHI, 19 (
white phosphorus
); lecture, John F. Gallaher, U.S.S.
Laub,
“Naval Gunfire Support,” Oct. 29, 1943, NARA RG 334, NWC Lib, box 170 (
cruiser shells
).

The first assault wave: SSA,
137; “Operations of II Corps in Sicily,” Sept. 1, 1943, NARA RG 338, 333.5, box 134 (
eleventh-hour transfer
); Samuel Eliot Morison,
The Two-Ocean War,
259 (
Punta Braccetto
); Emajean Jordan Buechner,
Sparks,
66–67 (
grave diggers
); AAR, 180th Inf Regt, July 10–Aug. 16, 1943, 45th ID Mus (“
played havoc
”).

Dozens of landing craft:
Garland, 161; John Mason Brown, 147 (“
dead man’s closet
”); AAR, Amphibious Force Transport QM, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, Aug. 6, 1943, in “Report on Operation Husky,” Army Observers, Amphibious Forces, MHI, 9; Claudia Levy, “Pulitzer-Winning WWII Cartoonist Bill Mauldin Dies,” Jan 23, 2003,
WP,
B6; Bill Mauldin,
The Brass Ring,
150 (“
Nobody really knows
”).

“
The beach was in total confusion
”: William A. Carter, “Carter’s War,” ts, 1983, CEOH, box V-14, VII-7 and 13;
SSA,
139, 140n (
court-martialed
);
The Sicilian Campaign,
53; Garland, 161; lecture, “Narrative by Rear Adm. Alan G. Kirk,” Pearl Harbor, Oct. 2, 1943, NHC, 9–12 (
bangalore torpedoes
); corr, Troy H. Middleton to James A. Norell, Nov. 29, 1960, NARA RG 319, OCMH, 2-3.7 CC2, box 250 (“
less comfortable
”).

Still, as D-day drew to a close:
Precise numbers are elusive because the 45th Division figures are aggregated for three days. Garland, 161n; Clifford and Maddocks, “Naval Gunfire Support,” 21.

That left the British: SSA,
152; Homer,
The Odyssey,
trans. Robert Fagles, 214; Ross Munro, “Landing Fairly Easy for Canadian Invaders,” July 12, 1943, Toronto
Globe and Mail,
www.warmuseum.ca.

“
Some confusion
”: “History of the 50th (Northumberland) Division During the Campaign in Sicily,” ts, n.d., UK NA, CAB 106/473, 17–18, 23, 26; intel report, No. 6910, Dec. 11, 1943, CARL, N-6490 (“
in no way carried out
”); Daniel G. Dancocks,
The D-Day Dodgers,
35 (“
you silly bastards
”).

“
Down door!
”: C. R. Eke, “A Game of Soldiers,” ts, n.d., IWM, 92/1/1, 14; K. G. Oakley, “Sicily, 1943,” ts, n.d., IWM 96/22/1, 2–3; Field Marshal Lord Carver,
The Imperial War Museum Book of the War in Italy, 1943–1945,
14–15.

Ashore they swarmed:
Richard S. Malone,
A Portrait of War, 1939–1943
; Pack, 97 (
wild thyme
); Robin Neillands,
Eighth Army,
220 (
makeshift jetties
); George Aris,
The Fifth British Division, 1939 to 1945,
115 (“
Desert rats
”); John Durnford-Slater,
Commando,
134, 136 (“
the right spirit
”).

up to ten thousand casualties:
Molony V, 52; C. R. Eke, “A Game of Soldiers,” ts, n.d., IWM, 92/1/1, 44 (“
We had learned
”).

More than a third:
Alan Wood,
The Glider Soldiers,
27;
SSA,
160–61.

There was the rub:
Warren, 23, 26; Wood, 27; George Chatterton,
The Wings of Pegasus,
64, 67; Michael Hickey,
Out of the Sky: A History of Airborne Warfare,
100.

Several dozen Horsa gliders:
Hickey, 100; Blair, 76–77 (
at least one hundred hours
); Harry L. Coles, Jr., “Participation of the Ninth and Twelfth Air Forces in the Sicilian Campaign,” 1945, AAF Historical Studies, No. 37, 85 (
barely qualified
); lecture, P. L. Williams, “Airborne Operations Against Sicily,” Sept. 2, 1943, NARA RG 334, E 315, NWC Lib, ANSCOL, L-1-43, W-68, box 168, 3 (
more than half were destroyed
).