He nearly stopped typing for a second when he started on a new batch of papers. It was some pretty juicy stuff on the US Army. They must have cleared him or it was a major screw up. Ours is not to reason why, but to type till we die. Looks like a series of invasions are planned, with the first to be at a port named Trieste. He couldn’t even begin to say the names of two of the others. Luckily, you didn’t have to pronounce anything when you were typing. You just typed.
These numbers look huge. 25 divisions here, 10 more there and another 25 on Sicily waiting to board landing craft. There were mentions of the Black and Baltic seas. How the hell were they going to get into there (he thought).
The next page was a map. It was a very crude map of the so-called Soviet Empire. He looked at it for a second, and then returned to typing.
Figure 34 - Hand Drawn Map of The Soviet Empire 1947
He wondered, how they were going to reproduce that map. Probably give it to some former New York Times cartoonist. The Reds sure were making headway. I hope these invasions work, otherwise the world is in deep trouble. If he didn’t know what he knew about the situation as a whole, he would probably be sympathetic to the peaceniks as they were being called.
This very vocal group wanted to leave Europe behind and worry about our own economy. It’s not like anyone in Germany, France, or even Britain is going to pay for all the bombers and tanks we were making to save them from the Reds. But, by reading and absorbing the information he had access to through his job he realized that this was a fight to the finish, and it was either us or them. There was no sitting this one out. With the population and resources of Eurasia, Stalin could become a very large threat to the US in a matter of a decade. Already there were rumors of German prototype bombers that could reach New York from Germany. Who knows how far another generation of rockets could eventually fly.
No, we had to stop them now before it was too late. Speaking of late he had to wrap it up. Lunch time was nigh. Let’s see … 114 words per minute. Not bad.
Figure 35 - Typewriter Copy Holder
Chapter Fourteen:
The Commanders
Figure 36 - Walton “Johnny” Walker
Figure 37-Troy Middleton
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On a historical note: General Walton Walker had acquired the nickname “Johnny”. His drink of choice was Johnny Walker brand Whiskey. No one dared to call him Johnny to his face.
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On a historical note: General Walton Walker had acquired the nickname “Johnny”. His drink of choice was Johnny Walker brand Whiskey. No one dared to call him Johnny to his face.
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Bulldog Unleashed
Newly minted Four Star General Walton “Johnny” Walker looked at the man like he was an ant. The comment by the reporter was inane and General Walker did not suffer fools. He looked right through the man and kept on walking. The reporter had asked the General how he had got the nick name “Johnny”. The rest of the press corps was speechless.
Walton Harris Walker was born in a small town in Texas. Both of his grandfathers were Civil War generals. His parents were teachers. He attended military school and then West Point. He fought in the Vera Cruz Expedition, as did many a future Second World War officer, including Dwight Eisenhower. During this time Walker and Eisenhower became great friends.
Walker went on to become the Executive Officer of George Marshal and command the 5th Division in World War One where he won the Silver Star. All in all, it was a typical career for a Corps Commander during the last war. His advance had been a combination of who you knew, luck and skill.
Certain men are made for combat. US Grant, Napoleon and Walker’s ultimate commander in Europe, George Patton. Walker made Patton look like a public relations expert. He never met a reporter he liked and none of them liked him.
He was a gruff, tough commander not given to sentiment, reticent of manner, and short of speech. He was not popular with his troops, but they would and did follow him anywhere. He was Patton’s bulldog and led the XX Corps of Patton’s Third Army to victory in Germany. His command moved so fast and aggressively that it gained the moniker “The Ghost Corps”. His command would show up just when it was needed and no one knew how he did it. He just did.
This is the man Ike wanted to command the landings in Trieste. Trieste was considered the most crucial of a cascading series of actions that would end the war quickly. Walker was the man that Ike wanted to confound the enemy until it was too late.
Walker and his First Army were to storm ashore in Trieste and move quicker than any US army ever has. They were to continue on to Vienna, forming a defensive line along the way that could withstand attack from both the east and west.
Then, the next move would be up to Stalin and the Stavka’s. How they reacted, would determine where and when the remaining attacks would occur. It was a giant chess game that could end up killing millions. The moves about to be made were on a colossal scale and fraught with victory or defeat.
Ike knew that the American public was sick of war. There could be no more “broad front strategy” like he orchestrated in World War Two. This new slashing and dashing strategy was like nothing anyone had ever seen or contemplated. The plan was made possible by the enormous amounts of amphibious invasion resources available for his use.
All the equipment and supplies for the invasion of Japan had never been disposed of. It was in warehouses all over the Pacific and now, it was concentrated where ever Ike wanted it to be. Douglas MacArthur came up with the concept but Ike would implement it.
Having Ike in command was in itself a brilliant piece of strategy. Dwight Eisenhower was not known for bold moves, or for basing his plans on lightning warfare. He had over seen a more controlled and contained offensive in Europe. He had been widely criticized for his caution. Many a critic (including his own subordinates) claimed that if he had given the supplies that Patton, Montgomery, or even Walker had asked for, the war would have ended six months earlier with the Russians still in Poland.
This criticism would actually work in Ike’s favor. The Soviet Stavka would never imagine that such a bold strategy would be executed by Ike. Hopefully, the Reds would reject what was before their eyes, until it was too late and had underestimated the man behind the plan.
Ike called Walton “Johnny” Walker “a fighter in every sense of the word”. He was counting on Walker to become the “Ghost Army”, showing up in unexpected and confounding locations. General Walton Harris Walker was the man for the job now that Patton past away.
Walker imagined that his First Army was going to move into position, sink its teeth into the enemy’s throat and not let go like a bulldog. The Reds would be fixated on the “Ghost Army.” Tito would be demanding support from units all over Eurasia.
As soon as the Red’s plans were clear, Ike would strike again and again and again, slicing army after army into smaller isolated pockets of starving individuals, no longer a cohesive force, no longer an army and no longer a brutal dictatorship capable of defending its homeland.
Forever the Quarterback
General Troy Middleton was going through his daily physical therapy for his knees. He had severely injured them a number of times playing football for the Army. When he had joined as a private and worked his way up to officer they had discovered his talents for leading men on the football field. Once again, he would be leading men in the field. This time the field would be between Trieste and Vienna.
He had been un-retired from the Army once again. This would be the third time if you were counting. The first time was just before World War Two. His good friend Ike had cautioned him that war was coming and that the Army would need his talents, but Louisiana State University called with an offer he could not pass up. That was until the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Once again, he put on some stars and eventually led the VIII Corps in battle throughout the war. In fact, he was the VIII Corps’ only commander, this added to his stellar career in Wor
ld War One, the forming of the ROTC at LSU, along with leading the last major offensive of the Great War and planning the invasion of Sicily as well as leading the attack.
His ailing knees had once caused him to leave combat and return to the states just before a crucial time for the Allies. When General Eisenhower was told that Middleton had returned to the states because of his painful knees he is quoted as saying “I need him back. I don't give a damn about his knees; I want his head and heart. And I'll take him into battle on a litter if we have to.” He returned to duty shortly thereafter and was assigned a personal physical therapist for the remainder of his military career.
His return to the VIII Corps in July, 1946 was used as a marketing tool to entice former veterans to reenlist and to once again fight for and with their commander, General Middleton. Always the quarterback, General Middleton visited a number of wavering former colonels and majors encouraging them again to serve their country. His efforts had paid off with over 43% of the Corps returning vets. This was the highest ratio of any former corps.
He missed Patton but could easily work under General Walton “Johnny” Walker. Walker was a bulldog and Middleton liked dogs. One of his regrets was a falling out he had had with Patton over a cartoon. A soldier in his corps became very famous as a cartoonist by creating the characters Willey and Joe. Patton wanted the soldier to stop drawing irreverent cartoons. The soldiers name was Bill Maudlin and would become world famous for his cartoons. Patton ordered Middleton to transfer Maudlin. Middleton defended the cartoonist and refused unless he had the order in writing. Patton backed down and shortly thereafter was relieved for slapping two soldiers in a hospital visit. Their relationship was never quite the same.
Most of this is forgotten to all but the most curious and diligent historian. He is historically remembered for his decision to hold Bastogne at all costs against the German onslaught during the Battle of the Bulge. Without holding Bastogne the outcome of the battle might have been very different and it was his decision and then his defense of that decision that won him praise and metals from his commanders Patton and Ike.
There would likely be a number of Bastogne like defenses in this initial invasion of this new war. The VIII Corps was the tip of the dagger that was going to be plunged into the belly of the current Soviet Empire. He was going to twist that dagger and wait for the Reds to respond. His job was to first race to Vienna.
That part was easy in his estimation. The Reds were stretched very thin and would be totally caught off guard at such an aggressive move by NATO.
Depending on how the Soviets responded he was to hold a defensive line from the expected attack as the Reds desperately would try to isolate his corps and open up their own supply lines in the south. His job was to counter their attacks and to hold a line running one hundred miles southwest of Vienna to Graz. He had good terrain for defending both east and west. A combination of mountains, rough terrain, rivers and even canals made the line defensible. The Soviets will have a hard time bringing to bear enough forces to launch a coordinated assault on his lines.
The other corps were also critical to the operation. Vienna to Graz was the key to the defense, and the Reds would have to pay dearly in oil to reach a point where they could form an attack. All the time the Army Air Corps and the Navy would be pounding away at their supply lines and keeping ours safe.
Vienna could very well become another Bastogne, and he had to hold until the other assaults occurred. These attacks by NATO would further isolate and drive more daggers into the body of the Red Menace. The plan called for three deeper thrusts by dagger point after his initial penetration.
If the late MacArthur, Ike and he had planned correctly, the upcoming Battle for Vienna would be the thrust that started the internal bleeding that would eventually terminate communism. His dagger point would nick an artery and the longer the enemy tried to reach the area the more they would bleed. In this case, it would be fuel.
The prevailing wisdom was that the Reds had 4 more months of fuel to conduct normal operations worldwide. Just reaching his area of incursion would cost them a month’s supply. To launch a coordinated assault from both the east and west would cost them another two weeks’ worth. Then another dagger would be thrust into their innards. To reach that gaping wound would cost them another month’s worth of fuel.
If the VIII Corps could hold the line during the initial attacks, the plan would succeed. If anyone could hold it would be the VIII Corps and the men who held Bastogne against all odds. The corps had done it before, and they would do it again by following the leadership of the army’s best quarterback.
One hundred thirty seven thousand troops, many suffering sea sickness, were embarking onto transports from Tunis and were on their way to Sicily. At least, that is what they were told. They were actually on their way to Trieste.
The ruse had worked, and a dozen intercepted messages from known Red spies in Tunis had confirmed what the NATO leaders wanted to portray to their enemy. The messages all basically said the same thing, “replacement troops for the forces on Sicily were in route and expected to start debarkation tomorrow. In actuality, their trip would be over six times longer.
The Navy’s task force of combat ships blanketed the space between Tunis and Sicily from the ocean bottom to the air above. This was going to be an overwhelming naval operation close to the scale of Normandy. In tow were a number of much-improved Mulberry Harbors. These massive floating structures were actually a series of intricate parts made up of “Bombards and Phoenixes” that were floating breakwaters, “Whales” which were the actual floating piers, “Spud Piers” which is where the ships tied up and “Beatles” supporting them all with large pontoons. [cxxxii]
These artificial harbors would make up for the damage the Allies did to what was the best harbor in the Mediterranean in World War Two. Supplies for the VIII Corps dash to Vienna and the defense that followed would depend on these harbors.
Leave it to the British to come up with annoying names for things. Middleton thought, why can’t they call them floating piers, docks and pontoons? His mind quickly returned to the task at hand. He had to motivate his division commanders to new heights. They would have to move and move fast without regard for their flanks for the first five days. They had to brush aside all opposition and get to Vienna while at the same time setting up a defense line facing both east and west for a hundred miles.
The VIII Corps would also be out of the range of the Navy’s air cover and would have to quickly set up their own airfields after capturing the dozen or so sites identified by G2 along the route to Vienna.
Included in his convoys would be the mechanics, construction workers, material, spare parts, etc. needed to start an air force from scratch. The planes would be ferried in as the airfields became clear, much like Guadalcanal and the Philippines. The air assets were his to command directly. He decided when and where they would be based and their missions.
Their overall mission was interdiction. They were to range far and wide to harass and destroy any Soviet forces closing in on the Corps defensive positions. Their major objective was the Red’s fuel supplies. This was their Achilles Heel. This was their greatest weakness at the moment, and the one that NATO had to exploit.
Immobilize, contain, bypass and then defeat your defenseless enemy. That was the plan on both a tactical level and a strategic level. Don’t give the Reds the chance to pull off a Stalingrad. Fight them on your terms not theirs.
Figure 38 - Mulberry Harbor
Chapter Fifteen:
Doctor B. F. Skinner
Figure 39 - Burrus Fredrick Skinner 1946
Bingo
If the ORCON pigeon-guided missile demonstrations for Admiral King were a success, the Pentagon would have to realize the danger the Soviet missiles posed to the US Navy. ORCON was short for Organic Control. Captain Claiborne had started to prepare him to present his ideas to the Navy’s weapons experts. It seemed the military mind worked differently than the mind
of an academic. In the end, it was decided that Claiborne would do most of the talking when they met with Admiral King.
During the meeting, the Admiral seemed to warm up to the idea. Then, he became visibly alarmed at what he was hearing. He stopped the presentation after a few minutes and picked up the phone and started to roar orders. The demonstration was to commence ASAP and when Admiral King wanted something done…it got done.
They had chosen an old World War One destroyer for the demonstration. USS Bulmer (DD-222/AG-86) was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II. She was named for Captain Roscoe Bulmer, and was the last warship of the Asiatic Fleet in commission.
Bulmer was launched 22 January 1920 by William Cramp and Sons; sponsored by Miss Anita Paor Bulmer, daughter of Captain Bulmer; and commissioned on 16 August 1920.
The destroyer’s final mission was to try and survive an attack by a missile guided by a bird, a pigeon to be exact. Dr. Skinner’s pigeons were trained to peck on a translucent plate that had a semiconducting surface. The tip of the bird's beak was covered with a gold electrode. A single contact with the plate sent an immediate report of the location of the target to the controlling mechanism. They were conditioned to peck at the image of a ship. In this case, it was the USS Bulmer.
The Bulmer was stripped and its engines replaced. The old girl could reach a speed of 35 knots. A mechanical steering and throttle mechanism was installed that made the destroyer zig zag, almost at random, while moving. A lever was thrown and the ship got underway after a 10 minute delay giving the crewman enough time to exit the ship. She was designed to maneuver at high speed for 30 minutes. Then, her engines would shut down.
World War Three 1946 Series Boxed Set: Stalin Strikes First Page 107
