Engineer Memoirs
Q ..
After you were there with the 92d Division for a while, you became an infantry
task force commander. Can you tell me how this came about?
A ..
Our commander, General Almond, like General Wood, the assistant division
commander, subscribed to the theory that there were no good units and no poor
units; only good commanders and poor commanders. They set very high standards.
They insisted that we be assigned the finest white officers in the Army because,
they maintained, it took good officers to lead poor soldiers. Because Generals
Almond and Wood insisted on results, we lost a lot of good white battalion
commanders. Seven out of the division's nine infantry battalion commanders were
either wounded or killed in one week. As a result, there was a critical shortage of
infantry officers in the division. Since I had a very good executive officer in my
engineer battalion to whom I could turn over the command, I was assigned the
command of an infantry battalion.
Q ..
Do you remember your executive officer's name?
A ..
Yes. Major Alvin Wilder, a very good man. Wilder later worked for me in X
Corps in Korea. I had two other white officers. One was Captain Creston
Alexander. The other was Captain Nicholas Piccione, who was born in Italy. This
was helpful because he organized large numbers of Italians-those too old or too
young to fight-to repair roads and do other work in rear areas.
Q ..
As commander of the infantry task force, what operation were you involved in?
A
After I'd commanded the infantry battalion for several weeks, the corps commander
got together with our division commander and came up with a highly ingenious
plan. I would lead a task force composed of an infantry battalion, a company of
engineers, a company of tanks, a signal platoon, and a platoon of medics and move
into the enemy's rear. The plan was to have us wade in shallow water along the
beach when the tide was out. We were then to cross a sand bar where the
Cinquale Canal exited into the sea. The plan was to have us march inland about
a kilometer and a half along the beach and then turn 90 degrees and march another
kilometer. The idea was that we would move into the enemy's rear while attacked
along the high ground. My job was to get the German reserve to attack my task
force. This would allow our division to take its objective without the Germans
having the benefit of their reserves. In other words, my task force was to act as
a decoy and lure the enemy's reserve into attacking us.
We started out fine, but when we got on the sand bar at the front line, my lead
tank hit a mine. We were then heavily shelled by mortar and artillery fire. One
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