CHAPTER 11
Kasserine Pass Offstage
“I have nothing to do and don’t seem to be getting anywhere”
THE BATTLE of Kasserine Pass in Tunisia would develop in February, and this American disaster would threaten to disrupt the plans so carefully laid at Casablanca.
To learn what decisions reached at Casablanca pertained to North Africa, Patton flew to Oudja “in my B-25” on January 28. He saw Clark, who had just returned from talking with Eisenhower in Algiers. Clark “was too friendly and I feared a stab in the back at any moment, but none came. He told me the damnedest thing I have ever heard.”
The final attack in Tunisia, Clark said, was to be launched by a group of Armies consisting of Anderson’s First and Montgomery’s Eighth, both British and both to be commanded by another British officer, Alexander. The American troops were to be under the II Corps, which, together with the British V Corps and the French XIX Corps, was to be in Anderson’s Army.
Patton exploded. “Shades of J. J. Pershing! We have sold our birthright and the mess of pottage is, in my opinion, the title of Allied Commander to General Marshall” for the cross-Channel attack. “I am shocked and distressed.”
The command arrangement in Tunisia seemed “so absurd” that he doubted whether the attack would ever come off. There were too many “boches in Tunisia now, with Rommel yet to come in,” and he thought that the Allied forces would be unable to evict that many men by May 1, “as hopefully planned.”
“I truly think that the whole set up is the result of clever politics by the British and selfish ambition on our part . . . Ike will be a sort of War Department” – that is, detached from the battlefield.
The next operation in the Mediterranean was to be an invasion of Sicily. It was to be carried out by a force half British and half American, both commanded by a British officer, probably Alexander, “though Clark” he thought, “is trying to get hold of it. It would be safe physically, and, if successful, would give him great credit.”
Apparently I am to command the U.S. forces .. . My luck will have to be pretty good and the Lord on the job to put it over. One is inclined to think that fighting ability is at a discount. However, I think that I was fortunate in not being Deputy Commander-in-Chief to Ike. I guess destiny is still on the job. God, I wish I could really command and lead as well as just fight.
What bothered Patton most about Sicily was the prospect of his subordination to a British commander. This seemed to be the pattern being established in Tunisia, where Alexander was eventually to take command of the Allied ground forces.
In Libya, with Montgomery still in pursuit, Rommel eluded the capture and destruction of his Army. In January 1943, he began to send units into southern Tunisia, and to improve the fortified Mareth Line, which he would use as an obstacle against the approaching British. Rommel would establish his headquarters there at the end of the month.
On January 23, three months to the day after opening the El Alamein battle and after an advance of 1400 miles across Libya, Montgomery’s Army entered Tripoli, which had been destroyed by the departing Axis troops.
According to the plan formulated at Casablanca, as soon as Montgomery brought forward his forces and was ready to attack Rommel, Alexander was to fly from Cairo to Tunisia and direct the coordinated operations of Montgomery in the south and Anderson – facing Arnim – in the north. By crushing the Axis forces in Tunisia, the Allies would clear the entire north shore of Africa. Across the Mediterranean, Axis-occupied Europe, from Spain to Turkey, would then presumably be vulnerable to invasion.
What disturbed Patton was that the British seemed to be running the show. In his view, they were usurping the important positions of command, even those that rightfully belonged to him. Eisenhower was being relegated to the status of a figurehead, and British aims and methods were likely to prevail.
Still harking back to Pershing’s unwavering commitment to maintaining an independent American command in World War I, Patton was not only xenophobic; he was also out of date. The appointment of Marshal Ferdinand Foch as supreme Allied commander in the latter months of that war had changed the conditions of coalition warfare in World War II – at least for the Allies if not for the Axis. But then much of Patton’s resentment and indignity and hurt burst from his frustration, his enforced inactivity. A proved commander in combat, he was unemployed. It must be someone’s fault, he was sure – the British, Eisenhower, Clark, Bedell Smith – and he searched for a scapegoat on whom to vent his emotions.
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Beatrice, January 30, 1943
I saw Wayne [Clark] day before yesterday and he gave me the picture of what is to come. If he is right, and I believe he is, we, that is Dwight, Wayne, and me, and every one else have been sold for a dish of potage. It is truly dreadful. I just can’t believe it will come off. If it does come off, it will be one hell of a bloody mess with no credit to us [Americans]...
Don’t talk to the Secretary [Stimson] or the people who live at [Fort] Myer [including Marshall] about what I have just said but listen if they talk to you ...
The President was truly great. Another high person was really horrid.
On that day, in Tunisia, at an obscure mountain trail called the Faid Pass, German troops attacked and defeated the small French garrison guarding this opening through the mountain range known as the Eastern Dorsale. No one knew it, but this was the initial blow of what would develop into the battle of Kasserine Pass.
The engagement would affect Patton, but not at once. For the moment he seemed doomed to suffer while he watched others fight.
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Handy, January 3
I am firmly of the opinion that the discipline, military bearing, and neatness of the troops trained in America is not up to the standard necessary. Every time a new convoy arrives, I am impressed with this fact. The soldiers are sloppily dressed, they do not salute, they do not take care of themselves, and their officers do not insist that they correct these defects. It takes us about a month after they get here to get them up to anywhere the standard of the ad Armored Division ...
In the training of the troops to make a landing, viciousness and speed must be stressed. They must hit the beach running and continue to run until they are shot down . . . Languorously meandering over the sand hills will not get anyone anything but a grave.
His idleness continued to bother him. Hoping that Sir John Dill would casually mention his boredom to Marshall, Patton wrote: “I am not getting much fighting. However, I hope that this will be corrected in the not too distant future.”
Diary, February 1
The Arab idea of hospitality is profusion. Mama must have been part Arab.
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Beatrice, February i, 1943
While I hate to be idle here, I too rather think it is a good place to be for the nonce. I think that the current arrangements may make a hell of an explosion at home, and I will be on the outside looking in.
This P.M. I am . . . to spend the night in the Palace so I told George [Meeks] to put in lots of clothes and dressing gowns etc as I feel sure all my things will be inspected while I am at dinner.
When the air-raid signal sounded during the night, Patton conformed to the regulations, got up and dressed. It was a false alarm, so he returned to bed. Unable to fall asleep, he began to think about events in the past. He recalled the dangerous blood clot that had been removed from his lung in 1937. Had he then died, who would have directed the landings near Casablanca? The thought prompted him to write Doctor P. P. Johnson, the surgeon at the Beverly Hospital in Massachusetts, who had performed the operation. “I expect,” he said, “that there are many other people who could have done the job [in French Morocco] as well or better,” but he was grateful for Johnson’s skill and devotion, and he thanked Johnson “for giving me a chance to be here.”
He also described the sinking of several transports and the rescue of 400 men, some of them badly burned by oil. Only four died. “I was up with them most of the night,” and the remarkable technique of treating burns amazed him.
People that looked like pieces of bacon would be carried in and after a little . . . spraying with some kind of drug and the use of blood plasma, they seemed perfectly comfortable . . . You would have certainly enjoyed the evening as it was, I believe, a great demonstration of what modern surgery can and does do.
Diary, February 3
Clark called me to meet him at Oudja and go with him to Algiers ...
Ike talked in glittering generalities and then said as nearly as I can remember, “George, you are my oldest friend, but if you or anyone else criticizes the British, by God I will reduce him to his permanent grade and send him home. The reason that I have not promoted you is that I want to promote three of you, and one of the others [Fredendall] is reported to have talked against the British. If he has, by God I’ll bust him. In any case you will get promoted in less than a month.”
Later I asked Clark if I had been accused. Clark said no, and that Ike had talked to him the same way. Clark thinks General Marshall told Ike to do it to all of us. “Cromwell, beware ambition, by it the angels fell.”
Patton told all the heads of his staff sections and all his major subordinate commanders that there was to be “no criticism of Russians, British, French or any others.”
Fearing that Patton might misconstrue his remarks, Eisenhower wrote to assure him that the Allies would always need fighting generals. Yet Patton sometimes made a bad impression because he was “quick-witted,” had “a ready and facile tongue,” and seemed to act on impulse rather than on “study and reflection.” Friends of Patton knew that much of what Patton said was “a smoke-screen,” but others in authority lacked that knowledge. Eisenhower therefore advised him to count to ten before speaking. His “intense desire” was to see Patton advance as rapidly as possible, for no one in the theater was a more loyal and devoted friend than Patton.
Diary, February 5
Got a secret letter from Ike in which he advises me to be more circumspect and less flip in my conversation on military matters. He means well and I certainly have thus far failed to sell myself in a big way to my seniors.
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Eisenhower, no date
Let me start by assuring you that I do want your advice . . .
For years I have been accused of indulging in snap judgments. Honestly, this is not the case because, like yourself, I am a profound military student and the thoughts I express, perhaps too flippantly, are the result of years of thought and study.
Again, both you and I have been fortunate in long and intimate associations with many eminent men . . . It may be that I am not sufficiently over-awed in the presence of high personages and therefore speak too freely, whereas others less used to associating with the great speak with more reticence and in consequence giwe the impression of considered thought, whereas their hesitation is really due to embarrassment...
Again please accept my sincere thanks for your thoughtful consideration of my interests, and your repeated efforts to have me promoted. I shall never let you down.
Diary, February 6
Wrote a reply to Ike but will sleep on it.
He never mailed the letter.
Diary, February 8
Had the cafard [blues] all day because I have nothing to do and don’t seem to be getting anywhere.
Letter, Beatrice to GSP, Jr., February 6,
Darling Georgie, George [Marshall] hadn’t been home an hour when he called me from his house to tell me all about you and how fine you were at the conference and what a magnificent showing your troops made and how everyone there noticed it.
Then Malin [Craig] called me to say that he had been to a lecture in which G. [Marshall] had said the same and more of it. He especially wanted me to tell you this: Whatever propaganda may have been circulated against you in the past by your ex-classmate [Pa Watson, West Point Class of 1908, the President’s military secretary] is now washed up as the person who may have listened to it has now seen for himself what you can do and apparently appreciates you as never before, and has said so.
Yesterday I had tea with the “Harrys” [Stimsons] and when he came in he said: “Well, I’ve been lugging this citation around in my pocket for days hoping I might see you.” He then pulled out your citation from the Sultan – “Les lions dans leurs tannieres tremblent en le voyant approcher.”
Oh, oh, how glad I am I am not a lion . . . [Stimson] spent yesterday afternoon with F.D.R. and said that he [the President] said the grandest things about you and your troops without knowing anything of your friendship; pretty nice, I thought...
Fred [Ayer] is very sore about all this “cheap publicity” you are getting, but I have written him that you made your protest . . . and if he only read the other Generals with the same interest he does you, he would see how far ahead yours is and quit worrying ...
You are in a crossword puzzle.
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Beatrice, February 8, 1943
My French has gotten to a bad phase. At first I was satisfied if I could make my meaning clear. Now I try to talk correctly and I fear get on much worse unless I use some sentences I have memorized. However they all say I have improved, so I suppose I have. One can hardly talk only French for six or seven hours with people who understand no English and not get a little facility.
Worrying about what Devers would say about him when Devers reported to Marshall on his inspection trip to North Africa, Patton wrote him a flattering letter:
I certainly enjoyed the brief visit we had, and was particularly interested in your first hand view of the situation confronting us here in Africa . . . The show that the troops put on for the President . . .would have done your soldier’s heart good to see the tremendous impression of force and discipline presented.
Many of the troops coming here give me the impression of lacking training in those soldierly qualities which you have always stressed . . . It generally takes me about two months to get them up to your standards.
He need not have worried. In Devers’ report, his description of Pat-ton’s command was more than complimentary:
The appearance of the camps and apparent discipline of the soldiers, particularly with regard to saluting, was outstanding in comparison with other units visited ...
Patton has established excellent relations with the French and the natives. Noticeable was the smartness with which French soldiers – and civilians – saluted American officers . . . A luncheon was given for several French and native dignitaries, at which mutual self-respect was highly evident...
It was the concensus of the [inspection] party that of all commands visited, General Patton’s was the finest.
His West Point classmate John C. H. Lee stopped by and informed Patton that Eisenhower had his fourth star, Gruenther his second, Harmon of the Air Corps his third. Patton’s reaction: “Happy day.”
Devers wrote to tell Beatrice that Patton was doing an exceptional job, had the best trained and disciplined troops of any command Devers had seen, and was on top of the political situation. If Patton were in Tunisia, Devers said, he would have Rommel by the throat and throttle him.
On February 14, as the battle of Kasserine Pass opened in earnest, Patton left Algiers for Tripoli in a B-17. “On way, the crew fired their guns to see if they worked and we all got badly scared.”
In Tripoli Patton met many of Britain’s distinguished officers: General Sir Bernard Paget, head of home defenses who was visiting North Africa; Alexander, “very quiet and not impressive looking"; Montgomery, “small, very alert, wonderfully conceited, and the best soldier – or so it seems – I have met in this war"; Lieut. General Sir O. W. Leese, “who wore plus fours and a little coat of his own design but was and is a very able soldier” – he would command the Eighth Army later in Italy; Lieut. General Sir Miles Dempsey, who would fight in Sicily and southern Italy, then command the Second Army in Europe; Lieut. General Sir Bernard Freyberg, who “started life as a dentist in New Zealand, got the Victoria Cross at Gallipoli and in two wars has been wounded 18 times – quite a man, rather fat but with a fine mouth"; Brigadier Sir Brian Robertson, son of the field marshal in World War I; Lieut. General H. D. G. Crerar, who would command the First Canadian Army in Europe; Major General Briggs, an armored division commander “whom I liked a lot.”
Briggs said that Montgomery was “the best soldier and the most disagreeable man he knew.” It was also said that “Montgomery commands and Alexander supplies.”
Except for Montgomery, Freyberg, Briggs, and Robertson, I saw nothing out of the ordinary. Most of them are the same non-committal clerical type as our generals. I am about the junior [in rank] and possibly the oldest [in age], certainly the oldest looking general here.
Returned to Algiers, he had lunch with Eisenhower and talked excitedly about his visit with the British professionals.
With members of the AFHQ G-3 section he discussed the invasion of Sicily, which seemed to be “a desperate operation, especially as at least two of my divisions will not have had battle experience.” The shores were mined and wired, and if German troops bolstered the Italians, the landings “will not work, but I shall do my best . . . I have always been lucky and I am going to need all I have.” Yet, “What I fail to see is what real value we will achieve if we do win [in Sicily].” It.was, after all, only an island. Successful operations could hardly be developed into a prolonged offensive against vital objectives.
Patton dined with Eisenhower, together with Paget and several others.
Ike and Paget talked for a long time. Ike certainly makes a fine impression when he talks. I was proud of him. I think I could do better in the same job, but I seem to lack something which makes the politicians trust Ike.
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Beatrice, February 19, 1943
D. [Eisenhower] has realy developed beyond belief and is quite a great man. He has certainly been nice to me. In fact I seem to have got more of a job than W. [Clark], but that remains to be seen.
Diary, February 19
Too wet and foggy to start [for Casablanca] so I talked with Admirals Hall and Kirk on [the Sicilian] operation. Hall was fine and I felt better, but we all realize it is a damned poor bet. Still, it is an honor [for me] to be trusted with the American part of the plan. I feel I will win. I feel more and more that I have a mission; then I lose my confidence, but get it back. The real need for a man will be after the peace in US. I could do something there, but must first demonstrate great combat leadership and have the troops with me.
Left at 3:30 in very bad visibility . . . We nearly hit several mountains and I was scared till I thought of my destiny. That calmed me. I will not be killed in a crash. Landed O.K. in about a foot of water.
Spent night with Clark. He is most polite. I think he wants to hook up with me [on the Sicilian operation].
Heard Harmon has been ordered to take over [in Tunisia].
On the following day, he stopped at Rabat “to tell Harmon goodbye. He has a very bad job, taking over a beaten and scattered division in face of the enemy.”
The battle of Kasserine Pass, which had defeated and dispersed the Americans, was at its climax. On February 14, while Patton was flying to Tripoli, Axis forces had attacked French and American troops in Tunisia. Arnim struck westward from the Faid Pass and in a relatively large-scale tank engagement at Sidi bou Zid seriously hurt the 1st Armored Division. Rommel, having moved his army into the Mareth Line, sent a strong detachment to Gafsa and provoked an Allied retreat.
On February 17, Arnim’s tanks drove the Americans out of Sbeitla, and Rommel’s force pushed American and French units out of important airfields at Fériana and Thelepte.
Having fled in some disorder about 50 miles across the parched plain between the eastern and western mountain ranges, the Americans, aided by the British and French, tried to halt at Kasserine Pass what appeared to be an irresistible Axis march. If Tebéssa, an important supply center, and Le Kef, the key to the Allied positions, were lost, Gonstantine would be threatened, and the Allies might have to abandon Tunisia altogether.
With Trommel now directing the offensive, a two-pronged attack opened on February 19, one smashing from Sbeitla to Sbiba, the other penetrating Kasserine Pass. The battle raged for four days.
Meanwhile, Alexander flew from Cairo to Algiers on February 15, to prepare to take command of the ground forces in Tunisia. He spent the following three days inspecting the front. He was appalled by the confusion and doubt he discovered in the American sector. On February 19, with Eisenhower’s approval, he assumed command of the Allied ground forces and directed the defense against Rommel.
Informed by Alexander that Fredendall seemed to have lost control of the fighting, Eisenhower summoned Harmon to Algiers and issued him peculiar instructions. Harmon was to go to Tunisia to take command not of the II Corps or of the 1st Armored Division, but rather of the American forces in the battle.
Harmon arrived at Kasserine Pass early on February 23, a few hours after Rommel, unknown to the Allies, decided to call off his attack. Convinced that the Allies had brought too much strength to the area for him to triumph, and conscious of Montgomery’s approach to the Mareth Line, Rommel broke off the offensive and sent his men marching back to southern Tunisia.
Although Rommel failed to gain a strategic victory, he nevertheless considerably damaged the Allies, and particularly American morale.
It must have occurred to both Eisenhower and Patton that if the former had appointed the latter his Deputy Commanding General as Marshall had suggested, the American rout might never have happened.
On February 22, Patton heard an account of the fighting in Tunisia. “Apparently John’s [Waters’] battalion,” he noted in his diary, “was destroyed. I have no news of him.”
Diary, February 23
Long talk [with Clark] . . . He feels that Ike has sold out to British and that they talked him into not putting in the Fifth Army and [thereby creating] an American sector [in Tunisia]. He also feels that Alexander talked Ike into not attacking Gabes on January 20th, as [had been] planned, so that this could be a British victory. He may well be right. If so, it is too terrible for words. Some heads will fall if the show aborts, as it may well do.
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Beatrice, February 23, 1943
Jake [Devers] was here for a day, very secretive, but D. [Eisenhower] says he has passed his prime with G. [Marshall] and will fade out...
Montgomery (who is a sort of Stone Wall Jackson type) and I were the only ones with gray hair. I felt awfully old and looked it ...
John’s battalion was practically wiped out but he is thought to be safe. Harmon went up to take command . . . and will let me know. The show was very bad – very bad indeed.
We went to a movie called Road to Morocco, and found it “utterly crazy but I liked it as it was the first movie I had seen since October”
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Summerall, February 24,1943
I am somewhat regretful of being so far from the scene of actual fighting, but I trust the Lord, who has always looked after me, will see that I eventually get into it again.
He moved his headquarters to Rabat.
He inspected the 2d Armored Division. “They are still playing at war. Guns not dug in and vehicles crowded. I raised hell.” “They have forgotten a lot,” he told Beatrice.
Our men are willing to die but don’t yet grasp the fact that it is better to kill than be killed. It is pretty discouraging.
I feel just like a bird in a room who can see the out side through the window and beats himself to death trying to get out. Some day the glass will break or the window be opened.
“I can now chin myself three times,” he noted, “two days ago, I could only do it once.”
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Stimson, February 28, 1943
Sometimes I think that much of what happens certainly is predestined and probably my not being in this fighting in the east may turn out for my good ...
I am working very diligently to revivify the training of the troops . . . As you can readily understand, it is very hard to keep up enthusiasm and yet, very necessary, and I believe we are having considerable success...
I just got through reading with great interest your article on what we have accomplished . . . It certainly paints in very vivid colors the amazing achievements you and General Marshal have accomplished for the Army. I do not know what we would have done without you,
He inspected the 3d Division and was displeased. “Wore helmet and pistol so as to impress men with the need of being properly equipped.”
Tortured by his inactivity, Patton wrote Marshall’s aide, Lieutenant Colonel Frank McCarthy, on the flimsiest sort of excuse, hoping that McCarthy would casually inform Marshall that
We have left the palace at Casablanca and have moved to Rabat in excellent though less gorgeous guarters. I am very glad to be here as it makes it much more simple to inspect and train the troops, and gives more of an opportunity for exercise, which I am convinced is as necessary as anything else to the successful conduct of the war.
A copy of Devers’ report of his inspection tour reached Patton, and he was grateful for Devers’ remarks.
You will never know how much I appreciate and value . . . the kind things that you say concerning the troops here. I am trying to follow your advice and possess my soul in patience, but it is really pretty hard . . . not [to] have a chance to fight. However, I . . . hope that eventually I may get into it.
Letter, GSP, Jr., to his brother-in-law, Frederick Ayer, March 2, 1943
By the time you get this you will have probably heard that John Waters is missing in action . . . However, there is still a chance that he may have escaped ...
Personally knowing John, I do not think that he surrendered, but it is very important to make little Bea and also Bea senior believe that he did ...
Eisenhower, with whom I just talked on the telephone, considered his action one of the finest performed in this war and has given him the Distinguished Service Cross.
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Beatrice, March 2, 1943
I just finished a letter to Little B. which is not a success as I am not too good a liar ...
There is still a chance that John too may turn up ...
D. is giving a two minute radio talk on March 14 on the occasion of the West Point dinner. All of it will hinge on John as the perfect example of a cadet and officer.
If [his son] George had been in John’s place, I could not feel worse...
I feel terribly sorry for B.
Diary, March 2
Harmon just came in and told me John Waters was missing in action at Sidi-bou-Zid . . . His battalion was cut off by a German attack of 80 tanks ...
According to Harmon, Fredendall is a physical and moral coward. Harmon did well . . . and drove the Germans from the pass of Kasserine. He said it was due to what I had told him on a fishing trip about clearing a pass by capturing the heights. That is what he did with his infantry. Fredendall never went to the front at all and tried to make Harmon the goat. Harmon won the battle . . . I fear John is dead.
In the United States, a radio broadcast described Patton as a combination Buck Rogers, Green Hornet, and Man from Mars,
the rootin’, tootin’, hip-shootin’ commander of American forces in Morocco . . . If you like your military leaders on the colorful side, then you’re going to like George Patton because he has enough dash and dynamite to make a Hollywood adventure-hero look like a drugstore cowboy . . . He’s barking a mixture of blistering profanity and official orders . . . He’s consistently out front. Every man in Patton’s command knows he wouldn’t ask any of them to execute an assign^ ment which he wouldn’t tackle himself . . . It’s truly in character for Patton to have a strong premonition that he’s going to a spectacular death in battle— in a tank, at the head of his men. He’s described the death scene to his wife so often that now she believes it. Maybe that explains Patton’s amazing courage . . . a flair for the dramatic . . . You grab the enemy by the nose; then you kick him in the rumble seat . . . a running blast of his usual brimstone language . . . a man whose greatest ambition is to meet Marshal Rommel in a personal tank battle, just the two of them, squared off in a duel to the death.
Diary, March 4
Nogues loaned me his horse . . . Wilbur and I had a nice ride.
When I got back at 4:40, Ike had phoned for me to be ready to leave tomorrow for extended field service and to pack tonight. I phoned Beedle Smith, Ike’s chief of staff, and asked what it was about. He said I may relieve Fredendall. Well, it is taking over rather a mess but I will make a go of it. I think I will have more trouble with the British than with the Boches.
“God favors the brave, victory is to the audacious.”
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Beatrice, March 4, 1943
[Ike] will call again to tell me where to go. I think I am to replace Lloyd [Fredendall] but don’t know and any how it may not happen ...
Of course I don’t expect to be killed but one can never tell. If I am, I will take lots with me.
Diary, March 5
Am leaving in a few minutes for Algiers. Hope for the best.
His long wait had ended.