Patton’s lines stretched down west of the mountain passes on the Western Dorsal leading to Sibiba, Sbeitla and Kasserine, which were all still in German hands. CCA of 2nd Armored was still facing off against the bulk of 21st Panzer Division at Kasserine Pass, the 1st Infantry Division was deployed to screen and defend Tebessa, and the 34th was still in its defensive position well south astride the road leading to Ghafsa.
The American Army was now like a great wave that had rolled eastward, expanding in a wide crest as it went, until all its divisions were in line abreast, with no real reserve in hand to allow for a concerted offensive anywhere. The arrival of the 337th Division had done much to allow the Germans to stabilize their line in the center, and now Kesselring felt that he could finally hold.
As for Montgomery, he still had his 6th and 10th Armored Divisions trying to take Souk Ahras, but was foiled by the stubborn defense of the Hermann Goring Division and most of 10th Panzer. On the coast, he had forced the Germans to give up the port of Bone, but they had done so only to shorten their lines and consolidate their defense. Kesselring’s boast concerning Montgomery was true. Anything the British general could claim as a conquest had been given to him by the Germans. Try as he might, Monty could not make any further progress either.
Then the rains of late February and early March came in one deluge after another, and the roads became ribbons of mud. It was a stalemate, which was exactly what Kesselring had been trying to achieve, like a skillful chess player, knowing he could not beat his opponent, but playing for the draw. After of few weeks of inconsequential probing attacks and artillery duels along the line, a meeting was called by Eisenhower to assess the situation and see what could be done to get the offensives rolling again. Patton, Bradley and Montgomery were in attendance, and for the first time Patton had to voice the same complaint that had been on the lips of the Germans for so long.
“The front is now so broad that we’ve had to keep both armored divisions right on the line. I’ve got no Sunday Punch I can throw—nothing in reserve.”
“In one sense,” said Eisenhower, “that has also forced the Germans to spread out their panzer forces on defense as well. We know what they can do if they concentrate two or three of those divisions on the attack. Now it looks as though the Germans are playing defense.”
“And they’re damn good at it,” said Bradley. “Ike, we could use another infantry division or two. Then we could pull the two armored divisions off the line, and have something substantial in hand to pick one point on the German front and punch right through.”
“My thoughts exactly,” said Patton.
“Well gentlemen, you may just get your wish,” said Ike. “We’ve been training up Troy Middleton’s outfit for the Sicily operation, but if we don’t shake things loose here, that will never happen. So I’ve got authorization to move the 45th Infantry here to Algeria now, and I can also get you Matt Ridgeway’s 82nd.”
“An Airborne Division?” said Patton, with a dubious look on his face.
“It was training for Sicily as well,” said Eisenhower, so we got this crazy idea. Montgomery wanted that port at Bone, and it didn’t look like the Germans would give the place up. Well, he sent in two Commando units for an end around on the coast, and it shook things up. The Germans gave up the port and fell back to consolidate their lines. So we got to thinking about Ridgeway. We’ve got the transports, and we can protect them. What do you two think about an operation where we plop down the 82nd behind enemy lines—the whole damn division?”
There was a light in Patton’s eyes. “I like it, Ike,” he said quickly. It’s audacious, and I’ve always said that audacity was good for a first down if you put some guts behind it. You give me the 45th and I can pull the whole of 2nd Armored back. The 82nd will be out there like a good wide receiver, and then I’ll run the damn football with Hell on Wheels—right up the middle. You pick the spot, and I’ll gain ground for you. I’ll get you that touchdown.”
“Good enough,” said Eisenhower. “Let me show you what we have in mind.” He walked over to the map. “I’m sending in the 45th to Truscott so he can take over this segment of the line here, relieving all of 1st Armored and also CCB of 2nd Armored. George, both those divisions go back to you again, and I want you to move down here. There’s a secondary road through this narrow mountain spur northeast of Kasserine. That’s your axis of attack for 2nd Armored. Then I want Old Ironsides up here on this road to Sbeitla, which is right where we want to drop Ridgeway and the 82nd. He’ll cut the main road and rail to Kasserine, and if you can punch through these mountain passes quick enough, we’ll put both their 15th and 7th Panzers out of a job. What do you think?”
“It’ll be dangerous,” said Bradley. “We’ll have to make a night drop, and we’ll need clear weather. What do you think, George?”
“Magnificent. I wish I had thought of it. Then again, if I had Ridgeway and Middleton last month I might already be in Sbeitla, and then some.”
“I’m sure you would,” said Eisenhower. “The way we figure this is that if we can grab Sbeitla, the Germans will have to give up Kasserine, Thelepte, and probably Ghafsa right along with them. From Sbeitla, we could go right up this road towards the pass at Faid to threaten Sfax, or take Highway 3 northeast towards Kairouin and Sousse. We could cut the German position right in two.”
“Will we have enough to do the job?” asked Bradley.
“We’ll get a little help from the British. They’ll bring in an independent infantry brigade to relieve our 3rd Infantry on Monty’s right flank and allow Eddy to move it towards Le Kef. We figure that Truscott could then pose a credible threat in that sector, which will force the Germans to keep it well defended. That’s when we drop the 82nd and then you get rolling, General Patton. We want to kick this thing off by Saint Patty’s Day, so I’ll be moving a lot of new units in. We’re building out this command as 7th Army, and it’s all yours George. I can also give you two more Ranger Battalions, two independent tank battalions, a tank destroyer battalion and engineers, so you’ll have something in the cookie jar. And we’ll beef up the artillery with seven more battalions at the Army level. That’ll give you some clout for that breakthrough operation.”
Patton was elated. Just when things looked to be slowing down in the mud and rain, the promise of all these reinforcements, and an operation sanctioned by Eisenhower himself, buoyed his spirits. “Ike,” he said, “you’re a man after my own heart. But I’d like to make a little request if I might. You say there’s a couple armored battalions at the Army level? Well I’d like to mate them up with some armored infantry, and throw in some of that artillery to boot. That would create another independent combat command—a nice little running back that I can push through any hole we find in the enemy line, and I know exactly who I want for it—Creighton Abrams. If there any man who loves the armor like I do, its old Colonel Abe.”
“Abrams? Isn’t he with 4th Armored in the UK?”
“A damn waste of a good officer if he is. Let someone else do the training. I need men like Abrams here on the battlefield. Now, we’re rooting out the slackards. I don’t know what you decided to do with Fredendall, but now we’ve got our money on some really good numbers. Truscott is top notch and so is Harmon. You get me that infantry and Creighton Abrams, and I’ve got my A Team ready to roll. We’ll get to Sbeitla, and all the way to Faid Pass.”
“Alright, George,” said Eisenhower, “I’ll see if I can pull some strings.”
Patton would take the old “Blade Force” units that he had been using as a kind of armored cavalry unit, and then move in those two medium armored battalions, the 70th and 753rd. Then all he needed was some mechanized infantry, and Eisenhower would wheedle away the 10th Armored Infantry from 4th Armored in the UK and have them shipped over while the army waited out the rains. Patton found an engineer battalion, and he already had three new armored artillery battalions at the Army level with the newly arriving 5th Armored Artillery Group. When he rolled all that together, he had his new Combat Command, and Creighton Abrams was going to be the quarterback.