The problem of commanders being out of touch with their troops was becoming endemic throughout the U.S. General Horrocks said he was “filled with admiration for the extreme gallantry displayed by the raw GIs.” The 84th Division secured its objectives in the Battle of Geilenkirchen, one of the hardest fought actions at the battalion, company and platoon level in the European theater. troops received hot food and dry socks, in order to boost morale. Horrocks ordered the 43rd Wessex Division, the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, and artillery and specialized tank units to support the Americans. “This was something I had to put right without delay, because of the appalling wintry conditions which the 84th were likely to meet in this their first experience of battle, opposed by experienced, battle-hardened German troops.” corps and divisional commanders rarely, if ever, visited their forward troops,” recalled Horrocks.

paratroop divisions, whose commanders literally lived with their forward troops (and, of course, with the exception of Patton), the normal U.S. “It soon became obvious that, with the exception of the U.S. Horrocks reported later that he was “able to meet and chat to a number of these fine-looking young soldiers.” And he soon discovered a front-line problem that reminded him all too much of his grim World War I experiences in the trenches. “A three-star general,” answered Horrocks. The GI looked at him incredulously and asked his rank. Horrocks got out of the jeep gingerly and replied, “I am a Britisher–and what’s more, your division has just been placed under my command.” When he reached the division area, Horrocks was halted abruptly by an American sentry, who leaped out from behind a tree, pointed his rifle menacingly at the general’s stomach and shouted, “Who the hell are you?” 84th Infantry Division had been placed under his command for the attack on Geilenkirchen, north of Aachen, on the Dutch-German border. One chilly morning in November 1944, Lieutenant General Brian Horrocks, commander of the British XXX Corps, climbed into a jeep and was driven to the front to “smell this new American battlefield.” The untested U.S. Book Review: Citizen Soldiers (by Stephen Ambrose): WWII CloseĪuthor Stephen Ambrose tells the story of the American foot soldier’s experience in Europe.

Citizen soldier stephen ambrose