The only concern Eisenhower still expressed was whether the mechanized forces could get through those narrow mountain passes all along the Western Dorsal. “We’ve got good aerial photography of the whole area,” he said. “Job one is to get to Sibiba with a two-pronged attack. I want you to hit them from the north along this road through Rohia, and then hammer at them from the west on the road to Thala. Once we get Sibiba, a detachment can continue down Route 71 towards Sbeitla, and that will put them behind any German defense of Kasserine Pass. The main effort, however, will be to continue east, but that’s where I get worried.”
“Looks like some tough country that way,” said Bradley.
“It is. This big mountain spur here is impassible to armor, but there is a gap you can use between Ket el Amar and El Bechita.” He fingered the area on the map. “Now this northern spur here, Djebel Abiod, can be crossed by infantry if need be. The Hathob River flows north around that, and there are some tracks that could be passable to light armor.”
“Sounds like we’ll need infantry there,” said Patton. “I know I’ve robbed Truscott of 1st Armored again, but maybe I could talk him out of an RCT of the 45th Infantry. They could sweep that area and find routes for the armor.”
“I’ll see about that,” said Ike. “But getting that gap at El Amar will be the main thing. Once you get through there to El Bechita, you’ve got good open ground to the passes at Faid. There are two of them. See this long narrow ridge running north and south? This pass at the north end is called Sidi Faid. That’s the rail gap to Sousse. The one down south here is Faid proper, on the main road to Sfax.”
“Won’t we want Fondouk?” said Patton.
“If you can take that, all the better,” said Eisenhower. “Once we get through the Western Dorsal, we’ll have another meeting to discuss where we make our main thrust.” He looked directly at Patton when he said this. “And George, before you get to running off into the blue, I want to know about it.”
“Well hell,” said Patton. “Once you complete a good long pass, you don’t have your receiver stop and ask which way he ought to go. If we get to either port it’s a touchdown.”
“I understand what you’re saying, but you stay near a radio just the same.”
“Fair enough, Ike.”
“Alright, there’s a lot more that goes into this. We’re dredging the port at Philippeville so it can receive liberty ships there, and opening up Bone to receive supplies and equipment. Tank replacements for our forces will come in through Philippeville and load onto transporters to move to Tebessa. GQ thinks we can move over 90,000 tons through Philippeville this month. Beyond that, we’ve received a lot more rolling stock for the rail lines. We can move 40 trains per day now through Constantine, with 10,000 tons each. We also just received 4,500 new trucks through Casablanca and Oran, and we’ll get another 2000 per month from this point forward. That should keep you rolling, gentlemen, so have at ’em.”
It was a logistical base that would have had the Germans drooling. They barely had that many trucks scattered through all their divisions, and their use of the rail lines remained limited to available rolling stock, which was scant. This tremendous logistical advantage would be the real hammer that would smash the German defense in Tunisia, not Patton’s tanks, no matter how gallant and aggressive they were. The Allies could use even a minor port like Philippeville and move 90,000 tons through it, and this was vastly augmented by shipments to Oran and Algiers. By contrast, in the month of February, the Germans received no more than 25,000 tons through the much larger ports of Bizerte and Tunis, a shortfall of 55,000 tons.
“One more thing,” said Bradley. “Terry Allen’s 1st Infantry Division fights like hell when they get at the Germans, but otherwise they run around like drunken schoolboys. I’ve had complaints from every Mayor in Algeria, and when that division moved through Tebessa, they practically razed the whole damn city. Discipline starts at the top…” Bradley let that hang there, and Patton’s eyes narrowed with this, for he was fond of Allen’s fighting spirit, and Bradley hadn’t run this one by him before voicing it like this, right before Eisenhower.
“You’re asking me to replace Allen?” said Ike.
“I think we ought to take a look at that,” said Bradley.
“Now hold on here, Brad, we never discussed this.” Patton was quick into the ring on this one. “Allen’s got the kind of fire in the belly I need out here. He did a damn good job holding the line at Kasserine and Tebessa.”
“Right, and then they tore the place apart.”
“Come on Brad, it wasn’t that bad. Hell, I’ll personally see that anyone who suffered damage unrelated to combat gets full restitution. You’ve got to remember that fight was against Rommel, and two good Panzer Divisions.”
“Well those troops have more than fire in the belly,” said Bradley. “They’ll sniff out a bottle of whiskey better than a bloodhound could, and half the time they just run amok. I know Allen’s as good as they come, but he doesn’t train or drill those troops any more, and frankly, the whole damn division has a big fat chip on its shoulder.”
“Who would you want to replace Allen?” asked Eisenhower.
“What about Huebner? He’s a straight shooter, and a damn good soldier too.”
“George?” Eisenhower looked at Patton, always the diplomat.
“Ike, I think we should stay with Allen. I know that division has been a little loose, but when it counts, I can rely on those sons-of-bitches to get the job done. That’s all that matters. Now I’m not one to tolerate loose discipline, but I’ll admit I’ve given the 1st Infantry a lot of latitude. Tell you what…. I can put on my war paint and scowl with the best of them. What if I hash this out with Allen after this operation? You don’t whip a dog before you put him into a fight. Once this settles down, you give me a week or two and I’ll tighten things up with the Big Red 1. This isn’t the time to relieve a man like Allen, not on the eve of battle. What do you say, Brad?”
“George, you can scowl with the best of them, and if you think you can straighten that bunch out, be my guest. But if we do get to Tunis and Bizerte anytime soon, I don’t want 1st Infantry anywhere near them. I’d like to see both cities still standing when we get ready for the jump to Sicily.”
“Leave it to me,” said Patton, and Eisenhower deferred any change of command pending the outcome of this new operation. Patton was correct—changing the man at the top just before a fight wasn’t the best idea, but he privately took Bradley aside and told him he would consider what he asked.
No one knew it at the time, but this little affair was another small point of divergence, and one that would matter. Allen was supposed to go back to the States, get his face on the cover of Time Magazine in August of 1943, and then take command of the Fighting Timberwolves—the 104th Infantry, the following year. That unit would become one of the toughest and hardest fighting US divisions of the war. Allen would make sure they lived up to their motto: “Nothing can stop the Timberwolves!”
In this history, he would never meet them.