A third American attack: letter, T. Riggs to parents, June 25, 1943, PMR, LOC, box 4 ("beautiful and uncomfortable"); William S. McElhenny, 1st AD, ts, n.d., OW, MHI, box 1 ("Come on!"); AAR, 1st Bn, 6th Armored Inf; AAR, 60th Inf, March 2224, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 7535; Camp, ed., "Tankers in Tunisia," 15; G-2 summary No. 6, Apr. 2, 1943, II Corps, "Report on Operation, 15 March10 Apr., 1943," CARL, N-2652A ("Here one can find"); Robertson, ASEQ, ts, n.d., 1st AD, 288 ("shootin' gallery").

Patton had again: letter, R. F. Akers, Jr., to C. B. Hansen, Jan. 12, 1951, CBH, MHI ("Pink, you got"); war diaries, 1943, CBH, MHI, 8-A, S-10; Blumenson, The Patton Papers, 19401945, 197 ("my conscience").

Ward stood: diary, E. C. Hatfield, March 24, 1943, OW, MHI; AAR, E. C. Hatfield, 1st AD, March 27, 1943, OW, MHI, box 1 ("Sergeant could you"); AAR, CCC, NARA 407, E 427, 601-CCC-0.3, MarchApr. 1943; NWAf, 556; Robinett, Armor Command, 209; CBH, 1943, MHI; Scott, OH, OW, MHI ("Damned inadequate"); Blumenson, The Patton Papers, 19401945, 198 ("made a man").

Two days later: diary, March 27, 1943, OW, MHI; Blumenson, The Patton Papers, 19401945, 199.

The stalemate: OW to "All Personnel, 1st AD," March 27, 1943, PMR, GCM Lib, box 12 ("Search your soul"); AAR, "Report of Operations, 1st AD, Maknassy, 12 March10 Apr. 1943," NARA RG 407, E 427, box 14767; NWAf, 575; DDE to GCM, Apr. 3 and 24, 1943, Chandler, 1066, 1101.

There was truth: Blumenson, The Patton Papers, 19401945, 221; Lang, "Report on the Fighting of Kampfgruppe Lang," MHI; Gugeler, ts, OW, MHI, X-138 ("With some diffidence"), 141 ("Look, Brad"); Rolf, 199 ("quite useless"); OW note, Apr. 4, 1943, OW, MHI; diary, Apr. 4, 1943, OW, MHI ("Bradley gave").

Harmon would arrive: Harmon, Combat Commander, 12325 ("stupid questions" and "party is all yours"); E. N. Harmon, OH, Sept. 15, 1952, SM, MHI.

If outwardly gracious: OW, OH, May 5, 1957, FCP, MHI (chief of staff); PMR to OW, Apr. 20, 1943, PMR, GCM Lib, box 12 ("deepest gratitude"); OW, DSC awards packet, NARA RG 338, Fifth Army, A 47-A-3948, box 56.

Ward was a good soldier: OW to L. E. Oliver, Sept. 27, 1943, OW, MHI ("My record"); Boatner, 599; DDE quoted in GCM to OW, May 5, 1943, Pentagon office correspondence, GCM Lib, box 90, folder 4 ("too sensitive").

Night Closes Down

With the Americans: AAR, II Corps, "Report on Operation, 15 March10 April 1943," CARL, N-2652A; Knickerbocker et al., 94; S-1 log, 18th Inf, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 5941; Carter, "The Operations of the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry at El Guettar," 23; Arnbal, 75; NWAf, 56469.

Moreover, the 9th Division: AAR, "Report on Operation Conducted by 9th ID, Southern Tunisia, 26 March8 Apr. 1943," NARA RG 407, E 427, box 7326; D. T. Kellett, "El Guettar: Victory or Stalemate?," Military Review, July 1951, 18; AAR, 39th Inf Regt, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 7501; Carter, "Carter's War," IV-44; Phillips, The Making of a Professional, 76, 80, 97 ("big galoot"); "Hold Fast," 1945 booklet on 9th ID; Knickerbocker et al., 71; Doubler, 29495.

An intelligence estimate: AAR, "Report on Operation Conducted by 9th ID" "Report on Defense of Hills 260 [sic] and 369," May 23, 1943, II Corps engineers, NARA RG 338, box 147 (five dugouts); Heinz Werner Schmidt, With Rommel in the Desert, 266; author visit, Apr. 2000.

Hill 369 prevented: AAR, 47th Inf, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427, box 7514; AAR, 9th ID, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427, box 7348; Phillips, El Guettar, 2431 ("lighting up"), 37 ("You sons"); David E. Gillespie, ed., History of the Forty-Seventh Infantry Regiment; AAR, 10th Panzer Div., March 27, 1943, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 225; Mittelman, 93-101.

Worse yet: AAR, "Report on Operation Conducted by 9th ID" Randle, "The General and the Movie," Army, Sept. 1971; Parris and Russell, 310; William M. Lee, ASEQ, n.d., 26th Inf Regt, 1st ID, MHI; Johnson, One More Hill, 55 ("Just lay in my hole"); AAR, 47th Inf, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427, box 7514.

Alexander visited: AAR, II Corps, CARL N-2652A (professed satisfaction); Phillips, El Guettar, 38 ("In all my career"), 4347; Mittelman, 101.

North of Highway 15: Marion Hunt and Duane R. Sneddeker, "Over Here, Over There," Gateway Heritage, winter 1993, 48 ("We baked"); AAR, 1st ID, "GafsaEl Guettar," March 31, 1943, possession of Roger Cirillo; author interview, Albert H. Smith, Jan. 24, 2000; "History of the 26th Infantry in the Present Struggle," FDM MRC, box 301, 9/6281; Martin, The GI War, 56 ("Night just closes down"); Mason, "Reminiscences and Anecdotes," 54 ("fussed and fumed"), 136.

Late on March 29: AAR, "Report on Operation, 15 March10 Apr. 1943," II Corps, CARL, N-2652A; NWAf, 56971 (a fourth time); Kellett, 18 (little chance of success); Blumenson, The Patton Papers, 19401945, 200 ("I feel").

With Patton's protest: C.C. Benson, "Some Tunisian Details," Field Artillery Journal, Jan. 1944, 2; Moorehead, 13637 ("From a hundred wadis"); D'Arcy-Dawson, 187 ("I saw tanks hit"); "Unit History, 1943," 899th TD Bn, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 23879; NWAf, 571; AAR, "Report on Operation Conducted by 9th ID," March 30, 1943; Wellard, 80; Blumenson, The Patton Papers, 19401945, 202 ("We seem").

The Axis line drew back: GSP to DDE, March 29, 1943, Patton files, DDE Lib, PP-pres, box 91 ("Nasty, grim"); AAR, 9th ID, Apr. 2, 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 7348; AAR, 9th ID surgeon, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427, box 7348; AAR, "Report on Operation Conducted by 9th ID" NWAf, 575; Phillips, El Guettar, 70; Randle, Safi Adventure, 216; Mason, "Reminiscences and Anecdotes," 69 ("most severe").

The stuck-everywhere period: Linderman, 256 ("cell-by-cell"); Howe, The Battle History of the 1st Armored Division, 217 ("everybody ordering"); TR to Eleanor, Apr. 8, 1943, TR, LOC, box 9.

Patton took it badly: Blumenson, The Patton Papers, 19401945, 204205; CBH, Apr. 1, 1943, MHI; Bradley and Blair, A General's Life, 147; Bradley, A Soldier's Life, 63; Butcher diary, DDE Lib, PP-pres, box 166, A-314 ("Every bone"); Hansen, 4/79; Pyle, Here Is Your War, 232.

"Forward troops": Coningham, Patton messages, DDE Lib, PP-pres, box 91; daily intel report, Sunset No. 47, Feb. 20, 1943 and Sunset No. 49, n.d., NSA files, NARA RG 457, SRS 1869, box 1; Tedder, 41011; Laurence S. Kuter, "Goddammit, Georgie!," Air Force Magazine, Feb. 1973, 51; D'Este, Patton, 483; Blumenson, The Patton Papers, 19401945, 207208, 211 ("I hope the Boches"); Bradley, A Soldier's Story, 6364; Carter, "Carter's War," CEOH, IV42.

If choler infected: Pyle, Here Is Your War, 24142.

What Rommel called: Clifford, 390 ("clean, straight"); Ellis, On the Front Lines, 17 (slaughterhouse blood); L. J. McNair, "The Struggle Is for Survival," radio address, Nov. 11, 1942, Vital Speeches of the Day, 111; training memorandum #22, AFHQ through II Corps G-3, "History of the 26th Infantry in the Present Struggle," MRC FDM, box 301, 9/36; GSP Jr., "order of the day," "History of the 26th Infantry in the Present Struggle," MRC FDM, box 301, 9/35.

nearly 6,000 casualties: "Report on Operation, 15 March10 Apr. 1943," II Corps, CARL, N-2652A; D'Este, Bitter Victory, 62 ("Perhaps these American"); G-2 summary #7, Apr. 19, 1943, II Corps, NARA RG 407, E 427, box 7334; Samuel D. Spivey, A Doughboy's Narrative, 73 ("we really learned"); "History of the 26th Infantry in the Present Struggle," MRC FDM, box 301, 10/24; Herschel H. Husinpiller, "Armored Infantry in Africa," ts, n.d., Fort Benning Infantry School Library, 7 ("A soldier is not"); Parris and Russell, 308310; Pyle, Here Is Your War, 106 ("They lost").

A very thin membrane: "Intelligence at HQ First Army, Nov. 1942May 1943," ts, May 23, 1943, National Archives of Canada, RG 24, vol. 01, intelligence 10719 ("serious menace"); William E. Faust, ASEQ, ts, 1990, 1st ID, Divarty HHQ, MHI, 39 ("We became ruthless"); letter, printed in Minneapolis Tribune, Apr. 11, 1943, MCC-YU ("Here Arabs live"); Thomas A. Kindre, OH, 1994, G. Kurt Piehler, ROHA; Tom Gendron, OH, 1977, 1st ID, Michael Corley, possession of Paul Gorman; Howard D. Ashcraft, As You Were, 10, 17 ("to watch them dance").

At a training camp: Schrijver, 118; "History of the 26th Infantry in the Present Struggle," MRC FDM, box 301, 9/90; McManus, 67 ("We made them dig"); D'Arcy-Dawson, 107, 125, 133 ("It is not pleasant").

After Kasserine: author interviews, Edward Boehm, Nov. 26, 1999, and Jan. 4, 2000; Edward Boehm, "My Autobiography During World War II," ts, 1997, possession of Roger Cirillo.

Such atrocities: inspector general report, July 13, 1943, NARA RG 492, MTOUSA, records of the special staff, box 2011 ("three out of five").

But other crimes: "Historical Report of the Provost Marshal Section of the Atlantic Base Section," Oct. 5, 1942, to May 31, 1943, NARA RG 492, provost marshal general, box 2228; Giraud letter in memo, Apr. 3, 1943, NARA RG 331, AFHQ micro, R-204-F; memo, J. C. Holmes, chief, AFHQ liaison section to G-1 (personnel), May 3, 1943, NARA RG 331, AFHQ micro, R-204-F; memo, NATO provost marshal to G-1, May 6, 1943, NARA RG 331, AFHQ micro, R-204-F.

Some of the most appalling: "Report of the Battalion Chief of Leon Tenneroni," Bone, Apr. 21, 1943, in "Inspections and Investigations by Inspectors General and Other Officers & Reports Of [sic]," vol. II, serial #8, HQ NATO, June 6, 1943, to CG, 8th AAF, "Report of Security Investigation," NARA RG 492, MTO, Records of the Special Staff, box 1043; "History of the 98th Engineer (General Service) Regiment," Aug. 17, 1941May 1944, NARA RG 407, E 427, Engineers, box 19556; WWII U.S. Army executions, JAG, history branch office, U.S. force, ETO, 8-3.5 AA, v. 1; memo, "comparison of executions during WWI and WWII," U.S. Army JAG to undersecretary of war, Apr. 22, 1946, author's possession.

"I Had a Plan...Now I Have None"

"a soft feel": TR to Eleanor, Apr. 6, 1943, TR, LOC, box 9; Destruction, 37475 ("last man" and "Non e stata").

It was not especially good: Adrian Stewart, Eighth Army's Greatest Victories, 189; Jackson, Alexander of Tunis as Military Commander, 189; Benson, "Some Tunisian Details," 2 ("Attack and destroy").

They swung at air: Wellard, 80 ("abreast like a Spanish fleet"); AAR, "The El Guettar Operation, Intelligence Report," Benson Force, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427, box 3126; Blumenson, The Patton Papers, 19401945, 213; NWAf, 577; "Report on Operation, 15 March10 Apr. 1943," II Corps, CARL, N-2652A; Hoffman, Stauffenberg, 17780; Boatner, 534.

Within an hour: Parkinson, 89 ("Hello, Limeys!"); Gordon, 169; Hill, Desert Conquest, 272 ("somebody besides a Nazi"), 300.

Eisenhower was jubilant: DDE to John S. D. Eisenhower, Apr. 8, 1943, Chandler, 1083; DDE to E. E. Hazlett, Jr., Apr. 7, 1943, Chandler, 1081 ("It seems").

He was just: DDE to A. D. Surles, Apr. 6, 1943, Chandler, 1080; DDE to GSP, Apr. 5, 1943, Chandler, 1073 ("my policy").

Proximity to the British: Tedder, 406 ("The only way"); Lewin, Montgomery as Military Commander, 178; Brooks, ed., 15772, 191; Butcher diary, DDE Lib, PP-pres, box 166, A-282; "Reminiscences of Hanson Weightman Baldwin," 1976, John T. Mason, USNI OHD, 4375 ("anybody except that son of a bitch"); Morgan, Past Forgetting, 115 ("a thorn in my side").

As if to compensate: DDE to GSP, Apr. 5, 1943, Chandler, 1073; Blumenson, The Patton Papers, 19401945, 220, 218.

Yet in his ecumenical: B.A. Dickson, OH, Dec. 13, 1950, SM, MHI; Bradley and Blair, A General's Life, 14445 ("speechless"); Bradley, A Soldier's Story, 59 ("This war's"); DDE to Alexander, March 23, 1943, Chandler, 1056; DDE to GCM, March 29, 1943, Chandler, 1059; DDE to GSP, Apr. 5, 1943, Chandler, 1074 ("your corps").

One final chance: author visit, Apr. 2000; "G-2 Report on Tunisian Campaign," June 12, 1943, 34th ID, Iowa GSM; Vaerst, "Operations of the Fifth Panzer Army in Tunisia," MHI, 18; Arnim, "Recollections of Tunisia," MHI, 91; Forty, The Armies of Rommel, 177; Carell, 340; Blaxland, 219 (powers of German sergeants).

This was a mistake: Ryder, OH, Feb. 21, 1950, G. F. Howe, SM, MHI ("go out in that area"); "The Tunisian Campaign, 34th ID," Dec. 13, 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427, 334-0.3; msg "to all officers of the 34th Div., 11 March 1943," 201 file, Charles W. Ryder papers, DDE Lib, box 2 ("creeping paralysis"); Clem Miller, Some Things You Never Forget, 109; Davies, 103107; Hougen, The Story of the Famous 34th Infantry Division; AAR, 109th Medical Bn, n.d., in "109th Med Publications," Iowa GSM.

Belatedly, Alexander realized: Nehring, FMS, MS #T-3, vol. 3a, MHI; Macksey, Crucible of Power, 229, 257.

At eleven a.m. : Macksey, The Tank Pioneers, 18691 ("watch your step"); Hansen, 366; Blaxland, 211; Liddell Hart, "Notes for History, Talk with Crocker," July 9, 1943, LHC, 11/1943/46; AAR, IX Corps, n.d., PRO, WO 175/97.

It was regrettable: "The Tunisian Campaign, 34th ID," Dec. 13, 1943, NARA RG 407, E 427, 334-0.3; Ryder, OH, SM, MHI; Caffey, OH, Feb. 1950 SM, MHI ("I had a plan"); NWAf, 58385; Destruction, 37780; Harold G. Bull, OH, Sept. 21, 1950, SM, MHI.

Now another officer: Louis-Marie Koeltz, "Memo on meeting held April 6, 1943, at the command post of General Ryder," 1950, trans. for author by Claudia Brown, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 225; Robinett, Armor Command, 126; Alexander, OH, SM, MHI; letter, J. T. Crocker, Sept. 8, 1950, and memo, Gordon H. A. MacMillan, n.d., both in memo, H. B. Latham, Cabinet Office Historical Section, to G. F. Howe, Sept. 25, 1950, NARA RG 319, OCMH, box 229.