Dickenson County herald. [volume] (Clintwood, Va.) 1939-195?, 1943-10-07

dOly Tile uISL LlLIl0 III military Ills
tory that an engagement between
tanks and cruiser took place. Any
how, they paid off on the cruiser.
The original plan called for Gen.
Matt Ridgway's airborne troops to
work with the First. However, on
sd" day there was a big wind, and
the lads who took to the silk were
blown all over the island. Instead
of being able to consolidate accord
ing to plan, the airborne lads ganged
up in groups of six to ten and just
improvised as they went along.
The beauty of our army, as I see
it, is it's infinite capacity to impro-
wise. If the scheduled plan goes
awry, the boys can dream some
thing up on the spur of the moment.
Mentally, our kids are elastic. That
night the airborne lads just went
awandering all over the landscape,
popping off at anything they saw
alive, and this considerably baff1ed
the orthodox Eyetie and German de-
lenses, which didn't think it quite
sporting.
If you think that I am blindly,
hopelessly impressed by, and de-
voted to these kids of ours-if you
think that am prejudiced and COM
pletely lopsided ON the subject of
our American troops here in Sicily
why, you're absolutely right.
For three years I've been with
every army but our own, and it is
pretty exciting to see our kids in
action and realize that they are as
good or better than any other army
you've ever seen, and this includes
the Russian army as well as Mont
gomery's admittedly great Eighth
army-I have Travelled with both.
Any American who isn't delirious-
ly proud of our army should have
his head examined. I am just try.
ing to say that they took Sicily Il
know the British and Canadians had
important parts, but we're not con-
sidering them for the moment)
against great odds.
Acted Like Veterans.
But let one far better qualified
than /, have the floor. Alex Cliff
| ford is the war correspondents war
correspondent. This brilliant Eng
lishman, who writes for the London
| Mail, has studied warfare for many
years. II got the surprise of my
life" he told me. I've been with
the veteran Eighth army for long
time and naturally didn't expect
much from comparatively green
outfit like the First division You
can only learn to fight by fighting
| But somehow this bunch had learned
it without having many fights! In
action they were cool, absolutely,
and they acted like veterans!"
Then he went on, thoughtfully:
"When tough artillery fire came at
them, they didn't bunch up as green
troops always do. They famed out
beautifully. They're good fighters,
| and cruel fighters, too, and they are
| the best disciplined outfit ever saw.
''They storm town and have a
tough time with casualties and then
| they walk in. Instead of getting
tough with the local inhabitants or
with prisoners, what do they do?
They share their chocolate, their
cigarettes, with them, when all their
instincts must be to slaughter them
as they think of their own casualties.
That's what call great discipline"
That's what very expert British
observer thinks of our army. Who
am I to disagree with him?
The Eighth army of Monty's had
no cinch either. They landed south
of Syracuse and headed for Cata-
MIA. South of the city, the maps
showed lovely plains which should
have been fine adaptable fighting
terrain for Monty's desert-wise tank
lads. But alas! the plains were far
too marshy for tank warfare.