Ghostly Inaccurate
My father served with the 10th Armored Division from Nov 43 until it was inactivated. I recently purchased Prefer's book hoping to learn more about the 10th AD. I only started researching the 10th two months ago, but was able to find several substantial errors in Prefer's book. First, on page 180, he has Lt. Col. James O'Hara being killed in action. However, I recalled O'Hara in a video about the 10th (made circa late 50's) and was prompted to check an old 10th Veteran's Association Directory from 1972. The directory has Col. James O'Hara alive at that time. In addition, he is not listed on the 10th AD KIA list, which should be adequate documentation that the author has committed the cardinal sin for a journalist or historian -- an error in fact. In an earlier portion of the book, Prefer has the 10th AD Combat Command A at Bastogne to assist the 101st Airborne Division. Actually, Combat Command B (not A) was sent to Bastogne a full day before the 101st arrived at Bastogne. As I recall, Combat Command A was sent to defend north and east of Luxembourg.
These errors may be minor, however, they caused me to question the author's credibility, and left me wondering with each new account if he was making similar errors while deailing events of which I had no knowledge.
While this book is promoted as being mainly about the 94th, perhaps the author should have named it accordingly instead of leading people to believe it's about the XX Corps (which it is clearly not). Other than brief mention of the 10th AD and some attached units, no discussion is provided about XX Corps.
I was further amazed to find that the author in his reference material has not cited the work of Corps Commander Walton Walker, XX Corps Through Hell and High Water. One would think such a source would have added to research for a book about XX Corps.
Overall, I found Ghost Corps (which until this time I had only heard of the 10th AD being referred to the Ghost Division, and no such nickname bestowed on XX Corps) account to be disjointed, inaccurate, and a very poor attempt to document the gallant efforts of XX Corps.
In Honor of the 94th Division
The author's stated reasons for adding to the plethora of existing accounts of World War II battles and battlefield units was twofold. First, Nathan Prefer felt too much had been written about the highly publicized engagements "where the might of the Allied, usually American, forces overwhelmed a stubborn defense or defeated a massive counterattack". He wanted to present an account of a battle "where American soldiers fought on relatively equal terms with their opponents and prevailed". His treatise therefore provides a round by round analysis of one such face to face fight - the Saar-Moselle Triangle campaign (January 13th to March 24th, 1945). (Prefer actually combined two campaigns into one: The Saar-Moselle Triangle [January 13th to February 23rd] and the Saar-Palatine Triangle [February 24th to March 25th]).Eisenhower in his "Crusade in Europe" devoted just two lines to the Saar-Moselle Triangle: "The XX Corps, under General Walker, eliminated resistance in the Saar-Moselle triangle by February 23, and a bridge-head was established over the Saar. The Siegfried defenses were penetrated and Trier was captured March 2". Although Eisenhower acknowledges the outstanding qualities of the individual American soldier, his book addresses the "big picture" and wasn't about to present the fire-and-movement tactics of platoon, company and battalion size units - a necessary element of face to face combat. Prefer however needed these detailed accounts to make his point about a fight "on equal terms".
The second reason Prefer wrote "Patton's Ghost Corps" was to honor the men of the XX Corps, especially the 94th Infantry Division and the many other units which took part in the engagement.* Lieutenant Colonel Keith E. Bonn, in his foreword to the book, makes this point for the author.
Military tomes and monographs have a common problem, providing foldout maps. These allow readers to follow the thrusts and parries that are the substance of every battle. It is a distinct distraction to constantly refer back to page 40 (the location of the map) as the reader moves from page 41 to page 78. Even more important, would be the inclusion of a general situation map that allows a reader to see the "details" as part of a "bigger picture". Prefer failed to furnish such a map forcing me to locate one of my own.
All in all, Prefer did accomplish his two goals. After reading the book, one is likely to accept his thesis (at least for this battle) that American troops did prevail when the odds were even. And he certainly did succeed in honoring the men of the XX Corps.
*In addition to Eisenhower, Omar Bradley in "A Soldier's Story" and Martin Blumenson (Patton's Biographer) in "Patton" also gave short shrift to the XX Corp and its accomplishments. These slights, plus the total absence of any mention of units or personnel of the 94th Division in Stephen Ambrose's 1997 best seller "Citizen Soldiers" would have been more than enough to motivate Nathan Prefer to write "Patton's Ghost Corps".
Excellent book on lesser known victories
When the German Army launched its counteroffensive against the Allies in the Battle of the Bulge, Lieutenant General George S. Patton turned two of his three corps north to pierce the attack, leaving one corps, the XX, to hold an area previously held by three. But the XX Corps didn't defend, it attacked. Despite harsh weather, depleted strength and stiff German resistance, the XX Corps achieved remarkable success in the lesser known battles of the Saar-Mosell Triangle and the Saar Campaign. The story of the XX Corps in these campaigns is really the story of the 94th Infantry Division which attacked and fought off counterattacks by veteran German units until, assisted by the 10th Armored Division, they captured Trier, a key city to Germany's defenses. Nathan N. Prefer's Patton's Ghost Corps does an excellent job of following the action of these forgotten battles. Using archive records, interviews and other unpublished sources, Prefer fleshes out the less glamorous work of the Third Army and the German forces. In the process, he gives a clear picture of what the fight into Germany was like for the American infantryman. The XX Corps, commanded by Major General Walton Walker, earned the name 'Ghost Corps' because it moved so fast and so often, the Germans couldn't keep track of it. The 94th Division under Major General Harry J. Maloy, did Walker's bidding as it kept pressure on the German's opposing them. The book is at its best describing platoon-level action. Prefer paints well the scenes of wounded soldiers lying in an inch of freezing water on the floors of captured bunkers; men who actually feel lucky they are not in the trenches where the chances of death are greater. American infantrymen battle tanks with bazookas and set up machine gun posts on the only dominating feature on the landscape: giant piles of horse manure. The action see-saws back and fourth as each side generates temporary momentum before being forced back to their starting positions. After three months of frustrating battle the 10th Armored Division joins the XX Corps and exploits the hard work of the 94th Division. Here is where the book takes off. As the 10th rolls forward, the Germans, already weak from their bloody slugfest with the 94th, simply crumble. From February 21 to March 24, the two divisions smashed the German lines, crossed the Saar, took the strategically important town of Trier and established the XX Corps firmly on the Rhine River. The capture of Trier became famous in Patton folklore. On March 2, General Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered Patton to bypass Trier, believing only four divisions could capture the city. Patton sent a message to Eisenhower stating "Have taken Trier with two divisions. What do you want me to do? Give it back?" Patton's Ghost Corps is an excellent story of a forgotten front in the ground war of Europe. It can be enjoyed by both the serious researcher or anyone interested in the U.S. Army's ability to overcome adversity. Kevin M. Hymel
