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"An enigma: a person of puzzling or contradictory
character."
PART I
13 June 1944
Carentan, France
My initial encounter with Pyramid Six, the Command Code Name
for Brigadier General Maurice Rose happened near Auville in Normandy,
France, on 13 June 1944, after I had been assigned to his Headquarters
Command of Combat Command "A" of the 2nd Armored Division.
The Army Code Name for the division was Powerhouse. Each unit
of the division was assigned a Code Name beginning with the letter
"P" - CCA Hqs Code name was Pyramid. Others were: 66th
Armored Regiment - Python; 17th Engineers - Pioneer; 41st Infantry
- Princess; 142nd Signal - Pyrotechnic; 82nd Recon -Prowler,
etc.
Placed on alert and on short notice, our full strength Combat
Command "A" had been detached from the division, along
with additional support units, and had been sent to augment the
light infantry fire power of the 101st Airborne Division in their
desperate fight to retain control of the city of Carentan; then
under attack by the German 6th Paratroop Regiment and the 17th
SS Panzer Grenadier Division.
A week after landing on D-Day, the American 101st Airborne
Division Regiments, including the 501st, 502nd, 506th and the
327th Glider Infantry Regiments with depleted numbers from casualties
in all ranks, running low on ammunition and supplies, were fighting
the enemy and exhaustion as their adrenaline was spent. In this
precarious situation they were in danger of being over-run by
superior forces, including enemy tanks, which would have resulted
in the loss of the critical corridor connecting First Army's
V and VII Corps; thereby placing Lt. General Omar Bradley's entire
beachhead force in extreme jeopardy had this happened.
TIMELY ARRIVAL
On June 12th, after being alerted by Ultra, the secret code
breaker, General Omar Bradley learned of the German High Command's
plan to launch a counter-attack to divide the V and VII Corps
boundaries. Bradley immediately directed V Corps Commander, Major
General Leonard T. Gerow, to order Major General Edward H. Brook's
2nd Armored Division's Combat Command "A" under BG
Maurice Rose to move to Carentan without delay. The Corps orders
were issued for an "Infantry led counter-attack, supported
by armor." in hedgerow terrain of the countryside bocage
totally unsuited for tank warfare. Advancing over the hedgerow
was suicidal for the infantry and the tanks had to run up the
steep bank with their soft undercarriage exposed to the anti-tank
guns lying in wait. Crossing the trail intersections meant risking
machine gun fire from the Germans who had zeroed in on these
keys points, not to mention the snipers.
The 327th was to attack from the north, the 501st from the
northeast and the 506th from the southwest, followed by the 502nd
that would pass through the 506th. After the scheduled hour for
the counter-attack to jump off had passed, the weary 101st troopers
still held fast to their foxholes at the IP start line, without
attempting to move out as had been ordered. The absence of a
key Airborne Battalion Commander, who was not at the line of
departure, where he should have been taking charge, only added
to the confusion.
Unlike their sibling 82nd Airborne Division, not all of 101st
Airborne Division soldiers were volunteers; many were non-volunteer
draftees lacking the famed 82nd "All American" Airborne
Division's esprite de corps. As such, they were not (volunteer)
airborne jump-qualified; instead, one regiment was infantry glider
borne troops who were referred to as "legs" by the
airborne jumpers who landed in the D-Day drop zone via parachutes.
One week after landing, it no longer made any difference how
you got there, via chute or glider, it was a fight for survival
and every man counted on the man next to him - with or without
jump wings.
THE GENERAL TAKES COMMAND
The CCA Headquarters was already in place, waiting for the
General to arrive. We didn't have long to wait as he appeared
in his jeep with the red plate on the bumper with his one silver
star, accompanied by a lone motorcycle driver. Hardly much fanfare
for the gladiator's arrival. He appeared to be a tall person
as he stepped down to be saluted and greeted by his XO (Executive
Officer), Lt. Col. Benjamin Mart Bailey, Jr. Maps were spread
on the canvas covered hood of the jeep as his key staff members
stood by during the brief discussion. Orders were given to "Mount
Up" and move out.
We watched as Brigadier General Maurice Rose, growing impatient
by the minute, unable to locate a 101st field grade officer and
with the airborne troopers continued failure to move out, began
walking up the road alone. Ignoring any possible danger, he walked
past the stunned troopers remaining in their foxholes on the
side of the road. They looked on with utter amazement as he strode
by them as though on parade. Compared to all the rest of us dressed
in military issue clothing, he stood out in his distinctive dove
gray Cavalry jodhpurs (trousers), tank jacket and highly polished
riding boots; a general's personal dress code was a privilege
and prerogative. His penchant for Cavalry garb was acquired during
his early days with the horse Cavalry at Fort Riley, Kansas and
the Panama Canal Zone.
His Army issue .45 Colt pistol was worn in his web waist belt
holster, with the companion eight-inch knife blade sheathe inserted
into the leather seam behind the flap. They were his inseparable
pair of personal side arms in battle, a habit formed in North
Africa and Sicily. While in his jeep, as the situation dictated,
he often cradled a Thompson sub-machine gun when on the move
with one of his task forces, using it on more than one occasion.
His Aide seated in the rear jump seat was armed in a similar
fashion with a Thompson as well; in addition to his driver carrying
a Thompson in the boot.
Upon seeing a company grade officer from the "Screaming
Eagles," in a clear voice heard by all within range, he
said in a firm voice, "Captain, let's get your men out of
their holes and moving forward. We are going on the attack and
I mean right now!" The firmness and tone is all that the
order required. Whether it was the awe inspiring scenario of
a general personally leading an attack or the long line of tanks
and armored field artillery pieces formed in two columns abreast
behind him and his staff, it was all that was needed. The troops
lining the sides of the road started coming out of their foxholes.
Hesitantly at first, the troops led by their Captain, began to
move forward to commence the attack to retake that section of
the City of Carentan. They had lost it in the last skirmish when
they were forced to fall back under superior forces and heavy
enemy fire.
DEATH DUEL IN THE FIELD
At the same moment, unknown to either field commander, the
German or the American, the German forces began their attack
at exactly the same hour against what they thought were the thinly
defended and lightly equipped paratroopers. Now out of their
foxholes and out in the open, having left their defensive positions,
the Germans were vulnerable to the firepower unleashed by the
heavy tank guns of the 2nd Armored 66th Armored Regiment and
the 14th Field Artillery howitzer batteries, backed by members
of the 41st Armored Infantry Regiment attached. The battle was
joined.
One Task Force attacked west along the Carentan-Baupte Road
at 1400 and followed by the 502nd Parachute Infantry, passed
through the 506th Parachute Infantry, driving westward. A second
Task Force attacked along the Carentan-Periers highway. Both
columns receiving close support from the 14th Field Artillery
Battalion.
The Germans were totally caught off guard by surprise. Despite
their determined assaults and with armored support, they were
repulsed each time, suffering a high number of casualties, including
500 men killed and over 1,000 wounded. CCA suffered eight men
KIA, including two officers. Conversely, only six of the enemy
were taken prisoner, indicating the fanatic fierceness of the
close combat fighting that ensued.
While in the city of Carentan, we came under some heavy shelling
so I took cover in the first convenient place I could find, a
bookstore. A soldier from the 101st Airborne had the same idea
at the same time and we collided in the doorway. He turned out
to be a friend of mine I had met on the Liberty ship that had
brought us overseas together Jim Magruder. In one on my letters
I wrote home to my folks, I wrote that Magruder and I had met
in "Some where in France". By mentioning that he was
in the airborne, I was able to slip that by the censors and by
doing so, they would know of my location in Normandy, as the
presence of our division in combat had not yet been released
for publication.
THE BAND OF BROTHERS
Carentan was saved and the danger of splitting the two Corps
areas was passed. Fifty years later, men of 506's Easy Company
in Stephen Ambrose's book "Band of Brothers" would
express their gratitude for Combat Command "A" of the
2nd Armored arriving in a timely fashion, without whom their
fate might well of have had a far different outcome.
"Whoever does not have the stomach for this fight, let
him depart. Give him money to speed his departure since we wish
not to die in that man's Company. Whoever lives past today and
comes home safely will rouse himself every year and on this day,
show his neighbors his scars, and tell embellished stories of
all their great feats of battle. These stories will teach his
son and from this day until the end of the world, we shall be
remembered. We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; for whoever
shed his blood with me shall be my brother. And those men afraid
to go will think themselves lesser men as they hear of how we
fought and died together." --- William Shakespeare wrote
in Henry V, the words of the King on the day of the great battle.
We did not learn until long after the war was over just how
close we came to losing the Omaha Beachhead, had the Panzers
been able to drive the wedge between the thinly defended V and
VII Corps boundaries at Carentan and the Vire River. If Hitler
had released the full armor reserves in France to Rommel, the
Allies would have been over whelmed and thrown back into the
sea.
As the only American armored division then on the Beachhead,
the 2nd Armored alone would not have had sufficient firepower
to stop them. We had nothing in our arsenal to compete with heavier
German King Tiger's sloped frontal armor plate, equipped with
the famed dual purpose 88, nor the Mark IV and Mark V with the
high-velocity 75mm cannon -- against our thin-shelled light Stuart
(37mm) and Sherman (75mm) tanks with inferior weapons. We were
outnumbered and outgunned.
THE GENERAL KEEPS HIS WORD
During the early days in the Carentan area as Veno, Hull and
I, were repairing a line from the Command Post, we saw a jeep
rapidly approaching with the red metal plate attached to the
front bumper with two silver stars - meaning a two star general.
We stopped repairing and testing the splice in the line, stood
at attention and gave him the required hand salute. Standing
upright in the jeep, holding onto the grab bar attached to the
jeep dashboard, (Standard Operating Procedure for our 2AD generals)
he returned our salute. His driver stopped the jeep and backed
up to where we standing - it was our Division Commander, Major
General Edward H. Brooks.
Obviously he knew we were wiremen, but he asked what unit
we were in and when was the last time we had a hot meal. We said
CCA Hqs and that we had been eating K and C rations for over
a week. He mentioned the critical importance of his wire communications
- to that extent, his Aide carried a EE8A Field Telephone with
needle-nose alligator clips attached to a short lead that he
could use to clip on to any telephone line to connect to his
headquarters for an up to the minute situation report. With that
he said he would send someone up with a hot meal. Another salute
and he was gone. The pat-on-the-back from the CG was nice, but
the promise of a hot meal was better. In less than an hour, a
Mess Sergeant from some outfit brought us two marmite containers
with breaded pork steaks, among others things. The Sergeant wasn't
hanging around so we ate what we could, gave him back his cans
and stuffed the leftover pork steaks in the glove compartment
to eat later. We forgot about them and all too late we had to
throw them away.
After being relieved, CCA was returned to the division assembly
area to prepare for movement to an area Northeast of Caumont
to take a position on the line to relieve the British Seventh
Armoured Division, known as the "Desert Rats" from
their North Africa combat experiences. We remained here until
17 July 1944 when we were relieved by the British. The Combat
Command "A" then assembled in the area of La Catherine,
France, to await movement orders for the St. Lo Breakout.
PART II
THE MAN BEHIND THE MASK
Another incident regarding General Rose's character that I
recall also happened in Normandy in early July 1944. We had taken
over defensive holding positions on the Caumont Line, south of
Livry, and placed in a static situation; punctuated only by artillery
duels. Infantry patrols were sent out nightly to capture prisoners
for information. In the meantime, the beachhead continued to
rapidly expand, unloading troops and supplies behind us in preparation
for the expected St. Lo Offensive and Breakout.
Our Headquarters Command Post was dug in behind the cursed
and damned hedgerows with camouflage nets hung over all vehicles
and equipment; hopefully to escape detection from our nightly
German visitor from the air, named Bed Check Charlie, photographing
our "hidden" locations. This in turn would result in
frequent and heavy artillery barrages that would rain down on
us the next day.
Lt. Colonel Jesse M. Hawkins, Division G-2, ordered the Wire
Section of the 142nd Signal Company to install a public address
system located at an advanced point in the woods, half way between
our front line and the enemy positions. Our 142nd Signal Wire
Section Chief, Technical Sergeant Thomas McFarland, was awarded
the Silver Star (2AD G.O. 30, dated 23 May 1945) for bravery
by volunteering to make the wire installation of the P.A. system.
Messages were then broadcast in several languages, encouraging
defections by the Polish, Russian and German troops facing us.
The first night it had a modicum of success with three deserters
who came in, willing to speak over the public address system
to their fellow Wehrmacht soldiers to validate the American promises
of their safe passage of surrender.
On this day both of our wire vehicles received damage from
shell fragments from tree-burst shellfire that landed in the
crab apple orchard, although we had painstakingly covered the
jeep and truck with camouflage nets to avoid detection. My field-pack,
out in the open, was destroyed when ripped with shell fragments.
Fortunately for me, it was not on my back at the time.
BRAVERY & COWARDICE
While on the receiving end of an artillery barrage, when suddenly
the cry "medic" was heard from one of our men who was
wounded. Disregarding the continuous in-coming harassment fire
we were taking, XO Lt. Col. Bailey, Jr., searching for our Medical
Officer, Captain John Ryan, M.D., found him hunkered-down in
his foxhole. After an exchange of heated words, Col. Bailey gave
him a direct order (ultimatum), which Ryan "reluctantly"
obeyed, to immediately go to the man's aid. Our 27-year-old West
Point Colonel (Class of 1939) earned a lot of our respect at
that moment and in the days and nights that followed. Times like
this motivated us to dig our hole deeper as soon as the incoming
shellfire let up. It was not an uncommon early morning occurrence
to see the dirt flying out of holes presumed to having been thought
adequate the night before.
To compound matters, Lt. Col. Carl I. Hutton's 14th Field
Artillery Battalion 105 mm Howitzer Batteries were located immediately
to our rear, less than half a mile, firing counter-battery fire
around the clock. In return, the 14th (and us) drew counter-battery
answering fire and we received the short rounds from the German
88s in retaliation, also around the clock. The well-positioned
enemy forward observers called for random firing at all hours.
Movement was kept to a minimum by day and only at night outside
of our foxholes by necessity. Answering the call of nature was
done quickly and with some personal peril.
The frequent rains that fell intermittently daily didn't help
matters much in our cramped and often-muddy foxholes we dug in
the ground at the base of the 10-foot high hedgerows. We had
the choice of attempting to cover the entrance to our hole in
the ground with our raincoats or wearing them to try to keep
our smelly gas impregnated clothing from becoming more caked
with mud - neither option worked well. Even the damn mud was
unfriendly. We had given up on the porous tent shelter-half as
a cover during the first few nights of rain. My foxhole buddy,
Larry Hull and I would continually chop away at the decades old
tangled roots from the hedges above us, enabling us to dig deeper
into the damp soil beneath - after one week it soon appeared
to have the beginnings of a tunnel!
In spite of the present danger of sporadic incoming shellfire,
General Rose had a small olive drab field tent erected behind
one of the earthen hedgerow banks in the command post area nearby.
He would be seen seated on his folding canvas chair, using his
EE8A field phone, studying maps on the table, issuing orders;
disregarding and seemingly oblivious to the danger of the incoming
rounds.
MILITARY DISCIPLINE
On another occasion, I witnessed two of his top tank commanders,
Colonel John "Peewee" Howell Collier, 66th Armored
Regiment CO and LTC Lindsay Herkness, 66th 2nd Bn CO, standing
at attention directly in front of the tent as he sat facing them,
tapping the side of his boot with his riding crop (another old
habit from his Cavalry days). He was briefing them in detail
on their respective assignments and what he expected from their
tank units. I was amazed by the rigid code of formalities while
periodically incoming shellfire was landing close by in the fields
in front and behind us. At this time, I could only think of the
old cliché, "Discretion is a more important value
than valor."-- but not the General, regardless of what the
two colonels and I might have been thinking.
Strict military courtesy was constantly observed in his presence
and that included all of his field grade officers, including
his Executive Officer Lt. Colonel Benjamin Mart Bailey, Jr. (KIA
23 AUG 44 near St. Andre, France). Needless to say, the same
standards held true for all enlisted men, of course. The motivational
factor was respect and fear! His icy stare from those cold dark
eyes was more than enough to make a junior grade officer duck
for cover. He was never known to rebuke a subordinate in the
presence of others, but capable of rendering a biting tongue
lashing in private when circumstances warranted. A strict disciplinarian,
he conducted himself in a manner that earned the respect of his
staff - with one notable exception. A junior grade staff officer,
Captain Shadrack Turner, said privately to Lieutenants Louis
Bifano and Philip B. Reisler, "That son-of-a-bitch (Rose)
is going to get us all killed!" Captain Turner requested
to be relieved from his staff position and the request granted
at Tidworth Barracks, England.
His battalion and task force commanders knew from past experiences
that he would never give them an order that he would hesitate
to carry out himself. That is not to say that he did not push
men to their limits, and sometimes beyond, to achieve his success
on the battlefield, regardless of the calculated costs of men
and equipment. Nevertheless, when given an assignment and objective
by a superior, he expected casualties and issued the orders that
knowingly sent men to face death without hesitancy on his part.
At times, he could be rightfully accused of micromanaging
by constantly prodding the task force commanders to "Keep
pushing. Keep moving." as he monitored their radio nets
and conversations. Not only did he insist upon maintaining radio
contact with them, but also he always positioned himself, along
with his staff at or near the point of attack as he constantly
tempted fate by riding the razor's edge to command at the front
line.
PART III
THE PROMOTION
After the Breakout at St. Lo, BG Maurice Rose's demonstrated
sang-froid demeanor as a hard driving relentless taskmaster were
recognized by both the VII Corps Commander, Lt. General J. Lawton
Collins and First Army CO, General Omar Bradley, as the leader
needed to take command of the faltering Third Armored Division;
then under the command of Major General Leroy Watson; who was
relieved, reduced in grade to Colonel and reassigned, to be replaced
by Brigadier General Maurice Rose on 7 August 1944.
Maurice Rose, a man without many intimate and close friends,
after more than two decades spent climbing the solitary ladder
of success in military service, departed the 2nd Armored Division
exactly in the same manner he arrived - alone. When he received
the promotional transfer he failed to keep with tradition and
did not request joint transfer orders to retain his Aide de Camp,
his personal Orderly nor his jeep driver to accompany him --
all who had served him faithfully and shared his dangers. They
were left behind, returned to the personnel pool and quickly
forgotten. The loner was moving on.
It was the Old Soldier's unwritten creed that when the Army
cuts your PCS (Permanent Change of Station) transfer orders,
all old debts are cancelled, IOUs forgotten and once close friendships
end. Maurice Rose had acquired this custom early in his career
as a soldier. He steadfastly focused solely on the present and
his future, obviously not concerned with the past or the obligations
of conscience. The philosophy being when one door in life closes,
another opens. This self-serving role of an egocentric would
occur in his private life as well.
Was this questionable psyche that of a man driven by un-bridled
ambition to rise to the top or simply one more of the numerous
heretofore-unknown quirks and flaws in his character? At the
young age of 19, while recovering in an Army hospital he claimed
his religious preference was Protestant, so did he truly convert
to Christianity, as falsely rumored after his death? There is
no record of his baptism or confirmation to the Christian faith.
Or had he become an apostate and renounced his faith as a Jew?
Others suspect he remained a closet Jew who"went along to
get along"? No one knew him intimately and his reputation
as an enigma grew with the myths surrounding his life. His personal
religious preferences/beliefs and two marriages, the first to
a Mormon and the second to an Episcopalian, remained a closed
subject with which no one had knowledge until fifty odd years
after his death.
This saga of the man, who enlisted as an Infantry Private
at age 17 in World War One, was wounded in action, received a
commission as a Second Lieutenant and rose through the ranks
to where he was promoted to Major General and placed in command
of one of the three existing full heavy (1st, 2nd and 3rd) armored
divisions of 14,500 men whose destiny he controlled, was about
to begin.
History would now commence to record his specific military
achievements beginning with the Battle For Mons, Belgium, with
his soon to become famous "Spearhead" 3rd Armored Division,
the tip of the spear of the VII Corps, in the remaining months
of the war. He had finally reached the pinnacle he had sought
all his life - his own division. He came well prepared for the
challenge to mold the command to his strident demands in very
short order. The early years spent under Generals Patton, Harmon
and Brooks served as his informal textbooks making him the ideal
staff officer. Generals Collins and Bradley could not have made
a wiser choice. They could not have chosen a more qualified and
dedicated warrior needed for the task. The "Spearhead"
Division had their decision-making problems at the command level
and not down at battalion and company levels. This time the Army
had for once put the square peg in the square hole.
THE MUSTANG ARRIVES
While lacking a commission from West Point or one of the other
accredited military academies, and without a basic college degree;
this promotion to a combat division commander was heralded by
his troops as their "Mustang Officer" who rose from
a rear rank buck Private to the top. That he had paid his dues
is an understatement. His tactical reputation and respect would
become legendary with his men of the 3rd Armored Division as
well as others of the famed VII Corps and the First Army.
Less than eight months later in the spring of 1945, just before
the close of hostilities, while leading this decorated unit in
the last campaign, he would lose his life on the battle field;
leaving behind to mourn his loss, his elderly parents and two
women, each with a son - both women having named their only child
after the father, Maurice Rose. That is the abbreviated life
story of Maurice Rose, the son of a Rabbi, who was a Jew by birth
and Christian by choice, The Mustang General -- The Man From
Colorado.
This article first appeared in the 2nd Armored
Division Association Bulletin in the June issue 1987 and in the
3rd Armored Division Association Newsletter dated June 1987;
it has been edited and revised.
Publication or reproduction, in part or whole,
is prohibited without written permission from the author, Don
R. Marsh. All rights remain the sole property of The Marsh Family
Trust.
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