Engineer Memoirs
Q ..
OK. Would that hold true of people like [Omar] Bradley and Patton and Montgomery?
A ..
Well, I don't remember ever having met Patton over there. We were never part of
Third Army, and he came after we
England. [Dwignt] Eisenhower, Bradley, and
Montgomery all visited my battalion while we were in England. I wasquite
with Bradley's apparent knowledge of events important at the battalion level-and of
what an engineer battalion was supposed to do.
It
that he and Eisenhower visited my battalion on two successive days.
Having the supreme commander and the Army group commander visit was quite an
occasion in any case, so I wasn't really looking at subtle differences between them. Of
course, it was very clear that they were operating on somewhat different problems.
Bradley's discussion, as he addressed the officers of the division, was obviously aimed
at the ground war and what he saw as the coming invasion of Europe. It was clear that
Eisenhower was looking at the somewhat larger picture-the political and
aspects of it. My limited association didn't lead me to any feeling other than that they
knew what they were doing. My contact with Montgomery gave me, in that one very
brief visit, the impression that he was a very aloof and self-centered individual. This was
when we operated briefly under Montgomery in the later stages of the Battle
of the Bulge. His headquarters seemed to have a different approach to command
compared with others, but again, that's a point of view at a fairly low level.
Q ..
Would you have specifics on Montgomery?
A ..
He used a system of personal spies whom he called liaison people. They were
deliberately set up to bypass all the intervening chain of command. This hardly seemed
to me to be the best way to operate.
Q ..
And you saw this particularly in the later stages of the Battle of the Bulge?
A ..
Yes.
Q ..
You said that Bradley impressed you because he seemed to appreciate the place of the
engineers. Was that correct?
A ..
Yes.
Q ..
Was this a problem for the other commanders - n o t appreciating the engineers?
A
I won't say it was a problem. It just happened that during this visit he observed us
believe it was mine training. He seemed to not only know what we were
doing, but why, and his reaction impressed me.
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