North Africa Campaigns

[Bob Nokes]

From the HyperWar web site: "The most exhaustive treatment of the campaign remains George F. Howe, Northwest Africa: Seizing the Initiative in the West (1957), a volume in the series United States Army in World War II."

 

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-MTO-NWA/index.html

 

Landings at Fedala - History, Map, and Order of Battle (including 36th Engineer Regiment):

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-MT...-MTO-NWA-7.html

 

Mehdia to Port-Lyautey - History, Map, and Order of Battle (including 540th Engineer Regiment):

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-MT...-MTO-NWA-8.html

[Walt's Daughter]

Thanks kid! The Hyperwar site has some very good "stuff", and I've been using them for reference material for years.

 

As always, am always looking to make sure "my boys" get mentioned, because as any you sons and daughters of engineers damn-well-know; "our boys" are often times left off of rosters, etc. Boils my blood, as a daughter and also as a historian. I can oft times be heard to scream within my office walls, "Where are the damned engineers?"

 

Operation Goalpost - Western Naval Taskforce

 

9th Infantry Division

Other 60th Infantry Troops (Ninth Inf Div)d

 

d Including 1st Battalion, 540th Engineer Regiment

 

But... even with this exhaustive study, where are is my beloved 540th Engineer 2nd Bn? Aha; not listed. I think that may tend to perturb "my boys"!

 

They were part of Operation Blackstone - Western Taskforce

 

 

Operation Brushwood -Western Naval Taskforce

 

3d Infantry Division

1st RLG (reinforced), 7th Infantry a

2d RLG (reinforced), 30th Infantry b

 

a Including Battery A (less 4th Platoon), 443d Coast Artillery (AA) Battalion, and 1st Battalion, 36th Engineer Regiment.

b Including Battery B (less 1st Platoon), 443d Coast Artillery (AA) Battalion, and 3d Battalion, 36th Engineer Regiment.

 

Same goes for the boys of the 2nd Bn of the 36th Engineers, who landed At Algiers! They had quite a fight, as part of the Eastern Naval Taskforce.

 

It just seems a shame that these units, as well as numerous others, get inadvertently left out of so much recorded history.

 

For a very exhaustive study of the engineers in North Africa, do not forget my favorite source:

 

The Corps of Engineers - The War Against Germany - Authors: Alfred M. Beck; Abe Bortz; Charles W. Lynch; Lidia Mayo; And Ralph F. Weld - Publisher: Department of the Army

 

Which I am proud to say, is now available online (it's HUGE)!!! It's a downloadable ZIP file.

 

http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/USA-in-WWII/Set-5-of-7/

 

So between these two sources, you should get a pretty good feel of the endeavors of the 36th and 540th in North Africa.

[colinhotham]

M1 we know "your boys" were in the thick of it and I praise you for always keeping that in our minds.

I can say from what I know, that Gen Patton had cause to be very grateful to the engineers during

Operation Husky. They played a big part in getting the US 7th Army to Messina!

 

Colin.

[Walt's Daughter]

Good morning Colin:

 

Yes, Gen Patton was VERY proud of his boys. Several of the engineers I know, remember meeting him when the General spoke to them in North Africa and in Sicily, and later in the campaign too. I remember my dad speaking of Patton, when I was a young girl in Detroit.

 

One of my favorite Patton stories is this:

 

Dear Marion:

 

You indicated your desire to hear of General Patton and I happen to have a brief anecdote that you may enjoy.

 

My unit had stopped at a chateau near Nancy, France for a brief overnight; our first night under cover in a couple of months. One of the fellows found a collapsible top hat which were quite popular in France. The next day, in the back of a 6X6 truck with about a dozen other Engineers, I pulled off my helmet, put on the top hat and was doing my rendition of Maurice Chevalier's "'Thank Heavens for Little Girls". About the time I got started, a jeep flew by and our truck suddenly came to a screeching halt. Who should appear at the tailgate, except the old man himself with his pearl handle revolver strapped on. He shouted. "who was that SOB with the top hat on" to which I responded . He directed me to fall out and for the next two or three minutes, dressed me down with every word of profanity I had heard of and then some, also dwelling on my family lineage in the same tone. I was dirty, unshaven and scared to death. He reached over and grabbed my shirt pocket flap and I thought he was actually going to hit me. He asked if that pocket had a button on it to which I affirmed resulting in another barrage regarding wearing of the uniform. After he finished with me then he glared at the men in the truck and shouted out, "you engineers boys are doing a damn good job, keep it up" and with that he was gone.

 

The occasion got my CO's attention and he got my mine. Any words Patton left out were deftly covered by the CO.

 

General Patton was a professional soldier; egotistical as hell, but a real soldier.

 

Needless to say, I became the recipient of barbs from the whole company for weeks on end.

Hope you enjoy my experience. I didn't!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Respectfully,

Bill Douglass