Terrible Terry Allen: Combat General of World War II - The Life of an American Soldier

See Larger Image	Written By: Gerald Astor Average Customer Rating:


Binding: Hardcover Format: Bargain Price Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 400 Publication Date: 2003-04-01
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Editorial Reviews: In October 1944, Terrible Terry was given command of another infantry division, the 104th Timberwolves and took it into combat in Belgium. Hard fighting continued as Allen and his Timberwolves spearheaded the U.S. First Army's advance across Germany, ultimately linking up with the Red Army on 26 April 1945. Terrible Terry Allen was one of the most remarkable American soldiers of World War II or any war. April 1945.
Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: Decent Biography of a True Fighting General Comment: Gerald Astor's "Terrible Terry Allen" is a good but uneven treatment of one of the most enigmatic American commanders of World War II. Because Terry Allen never rose higher than a division commander, in one way it is unusual that a biography was written about him; but after reading this book, you'll understand why this man (who commanded two separate divisions in the European Theater and was a true fighting general) deserves a biography. Astor tells the story of Terry Allen's life, from a brief introduction with his parents' background (his father was also an Army officer), briefly discusses his childhood, and then focuses on Terry Allen's military career - which included service during the Mexican incursion and truly heroic service as a battalion commander in World War I. Of course the majority of the book discusses Allen's World War II service. In World War II, Allen served as the commander of the First Infantry Division (from which he was relieved during the Sicily campaign, a move that has been discussed at length but never fully explained) and then the commander of the 104th Infantry Division during its train-up in the United States and its campaign in Europe. Astor sometimes tells this story by quoting from letters that Allen wrote him while at war. At other times he is notably silent on what Allen was thinking or feeling. Sometimes, the book is more of a chronicle of the units that Allen was leading than of his actions. This is of course is the result of writing about someone who was only a division commander: his papers were not preserved like others were; his aides and staff did not keep their own detailed memoirs; and he was not a prolific letter writer and diarist the way some commanders (such as Eisenhower and Patton) were. Also of note: this book had a good collection of maps (very important in any military history work) but the paperback binding was beginning to separate during just one reading. Despite these drawbacks - many outside of the author's control and a natural product of writing on someone without a large body of documentary evidence -- there isn't another good resource on the life of Terry Allen. For this reason, I recommend this book to anyone interested in World War II. Customer Rating: Summary: Missing in action Comment: First, full disclosure. Had my father been home when I was born, I'd likely have been named Terry Allen Aubrey. But my father was fighting with the 104th (Timberwolves) at the time. The first platoon sergeant he'd had was wounded and home in time to name his son Terry Allen Hodges. There is a Viet Nam memorial in Ionia, Michigan, carrying, among others, the name of Terry Allen Towne. Astor does not tell us why men would name their sons after their division commander. The reality is that the Timberwolves knew what fighting was, and they knew the cost they paid, and they knew how much worse it was in the other divisions. Terry Allen saved their lives. Part of it was night fighting. Night fighting, particularly before the development of night vision devices, is not like daylight fighting but in the dark. When I was at Ft. Benning, the introduction to the extensive block of instruction on night fighting was a lengthy reading from the Timberwolves' after-action reports. During a break, I told the instructor that I didn't need to be sold. I'd learned it at my father's knee. The instructor told me that there's always somebody in each course who tells him that. The Timberpups' fathers can tell their sons. But Astor doesn't tell his readers. Generals can worry themselves sick about casualties, but Terry Allen did something nobody else did and got enormous results. The connection is, I think, inadequately made. At one point, Allen, dismissing his prospects for promotion to something above division level, says he was jumped past well over a hundred more senior officers to get the First Division and, implicitly, has that many enemies. Logically, that means he's at the end of his career. What Astor misses completely is what caused the highest levels of the Army to reach past well over a hundred senior officers, all of them well qualified, and pick Allen. In the small, interwar club of the old professional Army, everybody knew everybody. Talents, weaknesses, vices, and baggage were all common knowledge. Astor tells us that Allen was occasionally reprimanded for sloppy personal appearance. That is practically inexcusable. Turning out immaculately in the prescribed uniform is reflexive in any private, and doubly so in officers who've passed through the demanding, detail-oriented, infuriating inspections of various commissioning schools. Not looking "right" is almost unimaginable. Allen was known to have a drinking problem. In the Army, this is not as bad as having a hangover problem. A company commander I had once remarked that there used to be "twenty-seven day" sergeants, but then (1970) no officer could afford to indulge a three-day drunk following payday. Allen, for whatever spectacle he might have made of himself, apparently showed up for work. During the interwar period, Allen spent some time in the Southwest in the cavalry, and some time at the Infantry School at Ft. Benning. Like many of his colleagues, he was loth to see the end of horse cavalry, and even drew up a table of organization and equipment for modern cavalry. He specified light automatic weapons not then existing. I have no idea how this was received by those to whom he showed it. They may have seen it as an exercise in nostalgia (and perhaps shared a laugh or two), or they could have thought Allen was hopeless. Due to an imprudent investment, Allen was trailed by a debt problem which he did not completely pay off for many years. Taking care of this was a constant worry in an era where bouncing a check could get an officer dismissed from the service. Commanding a peacetime unit of any size offers the officer in question a great opportunity. He may--must--let his subordinates do the work. "Work them hard but let them work," is a piece of advice that goes back a very long way. He must keep track of results, keep track of details, but keep a distance from the day-to-day work. With the time freed from the grind, he must, if he is to progress, look at a bigger picture. How can he improve his unit? What other ideas can he put into useful form and "sell" to his commanders? What contingencies can he foresee and plan for? Allen had that opportunity and apparently made the most of it. For later on, Marshall and others reached past scores of more senior officers, officers who did not worry about debt, who did not drink to excess, who were impeccable in their dress, who were also well qualified, and picked Allen. But we have no idea how Allen showed himself superior in potential to so many colleagues, or how much better he had to be to overcome his faults. As an idea of the scale, the Timberwolves were the 104th Infantry division. There were a few more, possibly up to about 110. There were a dozen armored divisions, and with everything, possibly almost two hundred division-equivalent formations, not counting the Air Corps. So Allen jumped over a number of officers sufficient to command more than half the two-star commands available. WHY? WHY? HOW did he impress Marshall and company? We have no clue. I find that the biggest disappointment in the book. However, Astor gives us a glimpse of what it means to be a professional officer when he relates Allen's WW II burdens. It might be thought that commanding an Infantry division in combat is enough. But Allen still had his occasional ventures with booze and his debt. His wife, not surprisingly, was more and more concerned for him, like millions of others, and needed reassurance. His son needed encouraging letters. His sister, an Army nurse, was undergoing a slow nervous breakdown and Allen was trying by letters to manage as best he could her situation. That Allen could be a superb division commander during this time is testament to the hard, almost brutal, mental and emotional control a professional officer must have over himself. As another reviewer noted, general officers whose highest command was a division in World War II are rarely the subjects of biography. What set Allen apart is not shown. Yes, Allen was a good commander, according to Astor. Why men would name their sons after him is left to those men and their sons. Those not in that privileged group are not enlightened by Astor's book. Having said this, I must say that it is an excellent book about the career of a fine officer, a good look at part of our history, and a lesson that personalities matter, even in the structured climate of the military. Men, as one of Heinlein's characters remarks, are not potatoes. They are not interchangeable. And which one of them happens to be at a particular nexus of events makes a huge difference. In this, Astor is crystal clear. Customer Rating: Summary: Terrible Terry Alan: Underdog Comment: I'm actually surprised Terry Allen was promoted to general. He didn't graduate from West Point, his discipline of his troops was lax in comparison to other generals, and he obviously wasn't in the club with Bradley, Ike, and Patton. While Patton did stand up for him in the invasion of Sicily, Ike wanting to can him, Patton insisted he remain in command of his Big Red One. Patton would do things like pee into Gen Allen's slit trench in front of Allen's men, effectively calling him a coward in not so many words. Two of Allen's men took their tommy guns off of safe into fire mode with an audible click at which point Patton left. I would recommend this book to any WW II buff. Customer Rating: Summary: Best U.S. Combat Commander of W.W.II Comment: "The Greatest Soldier of World War Two" - This is one of the many accolades said of Major General Terry de la Mesa Allen by other Generals who knew him. He has also been credited with being the best U.S. combat commander of WWII. There are quite a few similarities between General George S. Patton and Major General Terry de la Mesa Allen in that they both: · trained at West Point (Allen did not graduate, but finished his education at the Catholic University), · served in the U.S. Cavalry during World War I as officers, · became generals during World War II, · were aggressive in their campaigns and always attacked, · lost commands for "political" reasons, · and both were very controversial. There were also definite differences between the two: Whereas Patton loved the limelight, and never missed an opportunity to distinguish himself, Allen was very low key, shied from publicity, and who liked his liquor. Patton graduated from West Point, Allen flunked out twice. Known as aggressive fighters, Patton was not terribly concerned with casualties but Allen was continually looking to keep the casualty rate as low as possible. While Patton and Allen were both outspoken, Patton tried to play the "Army" game...Allen did not play the game, which irritated his superiors. Allen was loved and respected by the average "G.I." in both Army Divisions. He was considered the enlisted man's General. Terry Allen was the only American WWII general to train and lead into combat two Army Divisions: The 1st Division (a.k.a. the famous "Big Red One"), and the 104th Infantry Division ("The Timberwolves"). Under his command, the 1st Division helped conquer Sicily. Later, the 104th Division, led by Terry Allen was the first Army Division to make contact with the Russian Army (they met somewhere between the Mulde and Elbe Rivers). The 104th Division under Terry Allen, set a record of 195 days of consecutive combat contact against the German Army. While Gerald Astor has corrected a historical oversight by writing Terry Allen's biography, he definitely fell short of the excellent mark of a great book. I found the book to be slow moving during the first few chapters of "Terrible Terry Allen", and dwelled too much on minute details (such as the letters to his wife), while completely skipping over very important events in his life. While it is still a good book in that it describes a very controversial and brilliant military man, it comes up short describing "the total man". I would normally rate it at 3 stars, but give it a 4th only because it is the only book of its kind on Terry Allen. Customer Rating: Summary: Terrible Book about Terry Allen Comment: It should not be surprising that a book written by someone who is trained neither as a soldier nor a historian, about a consummate warrior like Major General Terry Allen, disappoints. It is most unfortunate, however, as Allen was one of the real characters among the US Army leadership in World War II and his life must have been a fascinating one. This book reads like a first draft --one that cries out for a firm, knowledgeable editor who will cut the extraneous material and force the author to answer all the questions that could make this a great book. As only one example, before World War I Allen was sent as a new 2nd Lieutenant to the 14th Cavalry Regiment on the Mexican border. What was a cavalry regiment in 1914? How was it organized, trained,equipped and led? What was life in the 14th like? Where did the 14th Cavalry go and what did it do in the years Allen was with it? There is plenty of secondary material out there to answer these questions but scarcely a word in this book. Allen claimed he participated in the last mounted charge with sabers by the US cavalry. This is a STORY. What happened? When? Where? Why? How? The author makes a silly try at connecting Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa's attack on US troops in Columbus, New Mexico, with inflated body-counts in Vietnam but the writer passes up another STORY and one relevant to Allen's development as a combat leader. Was Allen at Columbus? What happened there? What did Allen do? Throughout we get page after tiresome page of Allen's letters to his wife, but little context. Why? What is the point? Before taking over the legendary 1st Infantry Division, The Big Red One, in the early days of World War II Allen commanded the all-black Second Cavalry Division which included 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments -- the famous "Buffalo Soldiers." What effect did Allen have on the 2nd Cavalry Division? What effect did the division with its strong cadre of long-service, regular Army, African-American troopers and NCOs have on Allen? We are never told. Finally, for reasons that elude this reviewer, we get the full story of Allen's son's defeat by the Viet Cong as a battalion commander in the 1st Division in Vietnam. This in a book that gives us little of the important detail of when, where and how The Big Red One fought across North Africa and Sicily under General Allen. Why? Where is that editor? We are left with a pradox: a polo-playing, loud-mouthed, combative drunk, who did not study his profession in peacetime, and refused to instill and demand discipline in war. Yet this officer trained and led into battle two of the best US Army combat divisions in World War II? How could that be? Sadly, we get few insights from this book. More Reviews