Terrible Terry Allen; Combat General of World War 2 - The life of an American Soldier by Gerald Astor tells us the story of General Terry de le Mesa Allen. Son of a West Point graduate, Allen grew up on military posts across the country, but mainly in Texas. An adventurous, independent sort, he gets accepted into West Point but does not graduate. He is a cavalryman but fights with the infantry during the First World War. He impresses George Marshall and eventually is given command of the 1st Infantry Division, which he leads during the North African and Sicily campaigns. He and his division assistant commander, Teddy Roosevelt Jr. are relieved from command after Sicily. Apparently, Ike, Bradley, and Patton felt Allen was a poor disciplinarian and ran an undisciplined outfit, so they saw him off after the Sicily Campaign. Oddly, Bradley wanted Ike to fire Allen at the close of the North African Campaign, but Patton demanded Allen be retained to lead the 1st ID on Sicily. Back to that in a moment.
The author leans heavily on Allen's personal correspondence to his wife, son, and various associates. We learn that Allen had financial issues, was concerned with his son's academic and polo performance, and in dealing with a much younger wife who was worried about him, for lack of a better word, straying. Allen was unconventional for the times in that he really cared for the welfare of his men and reasoned that harsh discipline of men in the combat zone was counterproductive to morale, but this attitude seems to have been counter to his superior's views and he paid for it.
Allen strongly believed that lives could be saved by fighting at night. He honed the 1st ID's night combat skills, as well as the 104 ID later in the war, his next command after he had been "rested". Considering the discipline it takes to conduct a military operation at night, it leaves you scratching your head about Ike's and Bradley's perceptions of the man.
Allen liked a good stiff drink and was not shy about using profanity and could keep up with Patton in that department. There is at least one anecdote in the book describing a loud "behind closed doors" argument between Patton and Allen in which apparently they called each other every name in the book and then some. Seeing as how Bradley was a teetotaler and saw profanity as a character weakness, it was probably pre-destined that Allen would get sacked. But given a second chance, the 104th was a model unit and Bradley had to admit that the Timberwolves were "the only" division in the US Army in Europe that could fight at night. And they were successful, even to the point where Axis Sally was calling the Timberwolves night fighting "unfair".
In my opinion, the author spends a little too much time reviewing the man's correspondence. Once you see an example from a letter detailing the man working on paying off debt, seeing a couple more similar passages from other letters gets tedious.
The most fascinating aspect to me was the author detailing the hypocrisy displayed by Bradley in his two autobiographies regarding Allen's performance and sacking. The circumstances regarding Allen are portrayed differently in A Soldier's Story than in A General's Life. Given that in the Lavioe book The Personal Life of Omar Bradley he states that Bradley's second wife told that author that Bradley burned all his personal papers, all you have is Bradley's word in his autobiographys as to the circumstances of Allen's performance. Plus in the book, you learn that Allen was very sure Bradley lobbied for Allen not to get a corps command.
Allen was a complex man but a very good soldier. This book sheds light on the career of one of the US's best fighting division commanders.
The author leans heavily on Allen's personal correspondence to his wife, son, and various associates. We learn that Allen had financial issues, was concerned with his son's academic and polo performance, and in dealing with a much younger wife who was worried about him, for lack of a better word, straying. Allen was unconventional for the times in that he really cared for the welfare of his men and reasoned that harsh discipline of men in the combat zone was counterproductive to morale, but this attitude seems to have been counter to his superior's views and he paid for it.
Allen strongly believed that lives could be saved by fighting at night. He honed the 1st ID's night combat skills, as well as the 104 ID later in the war, his next command after he had been "rested". Considering the discipline it takes to conduct a military operation at night, it leaves you scratching your head about Ike's and Bradley's perceptions of the man.
Allen liked a good stiff drink and was not shy about using profanity and could keep up with Patton in that department. There is at least one anecdote in the book describing a loud "behind closed doors" argument between Patton and Allen in which apparently they called each other every name in the book and then some. Seeing as how Bradley was a teetotaler and saw profanity as a character weakness, it was probably pre-destined that Allen would get sacked. But given a second chance, the 104th was a model unit and Bradley had to admit that the Timberwolves were "the only" division in the US Army in Europe that could fight at night. And they were successful, even to the point where Axis Sally was calling the Timberwolves night fighting "unfair".
In my opinion, the author spends a little too much time reviewing the man's correspondence. Once you see an example from a letter detailing the man working on paying off debt, seeing a couple more similar passages from other letters gets tedious.
The most fascinating aspect to me was the author detailing the hypocrisy displayed by Bradley in his two autobiographies regarding Allen's performance and sacking. The circumstances regarding Allen are portrayed differently in A Soldier's Story than in A General's Life. Given that in the Lavioe book The Personal Life of Omar Bradley he states that Bradley's second wife told that author that Bradley burned all his personal papers, all you have is Bradley's word in his autobiographys as to the circumstances of Allen's performance. Plus in the book, you learn that Allen was very sure Bradley lobbied for Allen not to get a corps command.
Allen was a complex man but a very good soldier. This book sheds light on the career of one of the US's best fighting division commanders.
The Holland book seems to be along the same lines: that the British used artillery etc to save casualties among their "civilians in uniform" and managed a steep learning curve in Normandy - with mistakes.