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

by Gerald Astor

Terry de la Mesa Allen’s mother was the daughter of a Spanish officer, and his father was a career U.S. Army officer. Despite this impressive martial heritage, success in the military seemed unlikely for Allen as he failed out of West Point—twice—ultimately gaining his commission through Catholic University’s R.O.T.C. program. In World War I, the young officer commanded an infantry battalion and distinguished himself as a fearless combat leader, personally leading patrols into no-man’s-land.

In 1940, with another world war looming, newly appointed army chief of staff Gen. George C. Marshall reached down through the ranks and, ahead of almost a thousand more senior colonels, promoted Patton, Eisenhower, Allen, and other younger officers to brigadier general.

For Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa, Allen, now a two-star general, commanded the Big Red One, the First Infantry Division, spearheading the American attack against the Nazis. Despite a stellar combat record, however, Major General Allen found himself in hot water with the big brass. Allen and his troops had become notorious for their lack of discipline off the battlefield. When Seventh Army commander George Patton was pressed by his deputy Omar Bradley to replace “Terrible Terry” before the invasion of Sicily, he demurred, favoring Allen’s success in combat. At the end of the Sicily campaign, with Allen’s protector Patton out of the way (relieved for slapping a soldier), Omar Bradley fired Allen and sent him packing back to the States, seemingly in terminal disgrace.

Once again, however, George Marshall reached down and in October 1944, Terrible Terry was given command of another infantry division, the 104th Timberwolves and took it into heavy combat in Belgium. Hard fighting continued as Allen’s division spearheaded the U.S. First Army’s advance across Germany. On 26 April 1945, Terrible Terry Allen’s hard-charging Timberwolves became the first American outfit to link up with the Soviet Union’s Red Army.

Terrible Terry Allen was one of the most remarkable American soldiers of World War II or any war. Hard bitten, profane, and combative, Allen disdained the “book,” but he knew how to wage war. He was a master of strategy, tactics, weaponry, and, most importantly, soldiers in combat.

Genres: Biography, World War II, History, Military Fiction, Nonfiction, Leadership, American History

400 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2003

About the author

Gerald Morton Astor, a native of New Haven, grew up in Mount Vernon, N.Y. After his Army service in the Second World War, he received a bachelor’s degree from Princeton. He was the picture editor of Sports Illustrated in its early years and worked as an editor for Sport magazine, Look, The Saturday Evening Post and Time.

Besides his accounts of the Battle of the Bulge and the air war in Europe, Mr. Astor wrote of World War II in books including “The Greatest War: Americans in Combat, 1941-1945,” “June 6, 1944: The Voices of D-Day,” “Operation Iceberg: The Invasion and Conquest of Okinawa in World War II” and biographies of Maj. Gen. Terry Allen, a leading combat commander in both North Africa and Europe, and the Nazi medical experimenter Dr. Josef Mengele.

He also wrote “The Right to Fight: A History of African Americans in the Military” and “Presidents at War,” an account of presidents’ evolving assertion of authority to take military action in the absence of a Congressional declaration of war.

Mr. Astor edited “The Baseball Hall of Fame 50th Anniversary Book” and wrote a biography of the heavyweight champion Joe Louis, “And a Credit to His Race.” He collaborated with Anthony Villano, a former F.B.I. agent who recruited informants from the Mafia, in “Brick Agent.”

Reviews

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

A 4-Star account of a very good soldier and commander. He made his own luck, proving over and over how competent he was in battle. In WWI, he rapidly advanced to battalion command in the infantry (he was cavalry by training). He was wounded 3 times and repeatedly left the medical facilities to return to his unit. He led from the front. Allen was always a proponent of night operations.

“Night attacks for a comparatively short advance can be accomplished under the worst conditions. The surprise effect saves lives.”

In subsequent claims about the efficacy of action in the dark, Allen asserted that while he had orders to attack in daylight, the night attack near Aincreville was done on his own initiative. He related the events of the evening to A. J. Liebling: “I had one goddamn company commander who was a pessimist. “This is suicide,’ he said. I pulled out my revolver and shot him in the behind. ‘There. You’ re out,’ I said. You’re wounded. He was glad to get out of it and I sent a second lieutenant up to take the company and he did fine. We took the position with about twenty killed, and if we’d done it by day we would have lost 300.” Allen later said to Liebling, “We took about fifty German prisoners and they were whining as if we didn’t have the right to attack by night. Acted as if we should fight by their rules. The German is arrogant in victory and servile in defeat.”

His unit was part of the occupation force. Without transportation, they had to march for almost a month to reach their designated area near Koblenz. He soon is given command of a regiment. He often has to entertain VIPs touring the occupied areas. Terry Allen is a man who enjoys a drink or two. He meets a kindred spirit on one event:

The letters home suggest a sedate, dull life, but a number of tales suggest that Allen availed himself of the opportunities afforded through his equestrian skills. He partied enthusiastically with all comers. One tale of his escapades says that he arrived late for a soirée and missed the introductions with some of the British guests. He and a charming English officer hit it off, swapping stories while downing drinks into early morning. The next day, someone asked Allen if he knew who his convivial companion was. “No, who?” replied Allen. “The Prince of Wales,” was the answer, and Allen could only manage, an “Oh, my God.”

The story goes that the prince enjoyed Allen’s company so much that he invited him to another gathering, but Allen demurred, feeling he had disgraced himself. The prince insisted and Allen attended—reverting to his usual bon vivant mode.

In WWII, Terry Allen commanded the 1st Infantry Division (Big Red One) for Operation Torch and the capture of Oran. After that, his division was split up and parceled out to various commands. Eventually he gets the division back together. I did not realize that his Big Red One had one of the main battles against the 10th Panzer Division at El Guettar. Allen and his Asst Division Commander, Theodore Roosevelt, Jr, were great leaders, hard drinkers and only disciplinarians when needed. In combat, they were concerned with supporting their men, not how the men looked. That drove Patton and Bradley crazy, eventually leading to Allen and Roosevelt being relieved of duty at the end of Operation Husky on Sicily. Another clear reason for Allen being relieved is that he was getting a lot of positive press while Eisenhower, Bradly, “Beetle” Smith and Patton were not as popular. Lost a bunch of respect for those four. However, George Marshall had Terry Allen on his special “list” and put Allen in command of the new 104th Division, the Timberwolves. The 104th was the unit that met the Russians on the Elbe at the end of the war. Allen was in at the start and at the end. The 104th also had the reputation of being the only division capable of operating at night in the theater.

To anyone who would listen, Allen boasted of his soldiers. “These boys of mine,” he said to Lang, “are convinced they can whip the Boche any day. You can pick any of the boys out of this outfit, truck drivers, artillerymen, riflemen, they’re all good.”

Allen did his best to narrow the usual gap separating officers and enlisted personnel. Pyle said, “As far as I know, Terry Allen was the only general in Tunisia who slept on the ground. All the others carried folding cots or slept in houses, villas, or hotels]. General Allen wouldn’t allow any of his staff to sleep on a cot. He said if everybody in his headquarters did it would take several extra trucks to carry them and he could use the trucks to better purpose.”

Patton, Bradley and other VIPs visit the Terry Allen, commander of the Big Red One in the desert. Patton loses a lot of respect for his antics:

The visitors arrived at the 1st Division CP, a set of tents by an oasis, early in the morning. It had been a long, and quite possibly bibulous, night for Allen and Roosevelt (who appeared still in his bathrobe). The senior officers came upon a number of nearby slit trenches used for protection from Luftwaffe raids. According to Bradley, “Patton strode about eyeing these slit trenches with utter contempt, as though they were cowardly retreats. In his squeaky tenor, he said, “Terry, which one is yours?’ When Allen pointed out his slit trench, Patton strode over, unzipped his fly and urinated into the trench. Imperiously rezipping his fly, Patton sneered at Terry, ‘Now try to use it.’ With this earthy GI gesture, Patton had virtually labeled Allen a coward in front of his own men. I was no less shocked than Terry and I had to wonder if this was indeed good leadership.”

When Carlo D’Este researched this episode, he found that the burly bodyguards for Allen and Roosevelt, armed with stripped-down Thompson submachine guns, unlocked the safeties on their weapons—making a clearly audible noise. “Had either commander given the order, there is little doubt they would gladly have shot Patton where he stood. Patton got the message and left as quickly as he had come. It was an ugly incident, a humiliating experience for Terry Allen and one that did no credit whatsoever to Patton, who always seemed to overact when they came into contact.” Peeing on something of presumed value was a hallmark of Patton’s calculated histrionics.

Both Allen and Roosevelt were loved by the men in the Big Red One. The two generals did not hide in the rear but mingled with the men in front lines.

Bradley related an incident demonstrating how familiar he was with the soldiers: Bradley and Roosevelt had been observing a truck convoy slowly rolling by in the dark. Roosevelt “shouted hoarsely through the night to a passing truck. ‘Hey, what outfit is that?’
“Company C of the 18th Infantry, General Roosevelt,’ a hearty voice called back.”

In its farewell to the deputy division commander, the combat journal of the 26th commented, “Gen Roosevelt ... who had been on the go the minute the gunpowder began to burn, sometimes in the thick of the fight, and sometimes even in advance of the most advanced reconnaissance elements. The Gen. Roosevelt who was as apt to turn up at two in the morning as two in the afternoon, but seemingly prowled everywhere; the General with the slight strut and the unmistakable voice, who greeted old-timers by name, and knew every mess sergeant in the regiment. The same General who had rallied the wavering ranks of men at the beaches of Gela when Nazi tanks stormed to within a few hundred yards of the shore, and personally led anti-tank fire against the armored monsters until the iron ranks of the enemy broke. Where the fighting was fiercest, the struggle in the balance, the men could see the General jaunting along, cooler than the traditional cucumber, encouraging, joking, grinning that gold-toothed grin of his. They would always remember that sudden way of his appearance there when the fighting was heavy and the going rough.”

Although Patton now declared Roosevelt “no soldier,” he had also called him “the bravest man I knew.”

A great account of a soldier's soldier, brave, humble, dedicated, selfless.

[Sweetwilliam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the book. Growing up, I enjoyed the movie, The Big Red One, starring Lee Marvin. The Division has a storied tradition of hard fighting in the world wars to present day. I had always had a suspicion that Terry Allen had got a raw deal when he and Teddy Roosevelt Jr. were relieved of command. Anytime I ever said anything someone would spout off that the men of the 1st Division got in brawls on leave and weren’t natty dressers. So what? This book sets the record straight. Terry Allen was a hell of a war fighter and to him, discipline on the battlefield was more important than wearing a tucked in tie and spats in a fighting hole. I suspect that there was some pettiness up the chain of command and maybe some jealousy. There were a few instances of Allen speaking his mind. There was an incident where the men didn’t salute Eisenhower’s staff car. I really think that some of the upper echelon officers didn’t care for the positive press that Allen was getting in North Africa.

I enjoyed many passages in the book. On page 184 the author talks about some of the trouble that Terry's men would get into on leave. The men of the First were given passes to the rear and went clubbing in Oren for some well-deserved R&R. A correspondent from Yank Magazine described what would happen.

“Passes were not issues until 6: it took an hour to get to the town from the bivouac area and the bars closed at 8. In the second place, members of the 1st were almost the only troops in the overcrowded foul smelling town wearing ODs [woolen, olive drab]. Everybody else was neatly dressed in suntans. Also, most of the rear-echelon troops were wearing campaign ribbons which the men of the 1st had never seen before.

“A riflemen of the of the first would go up to a clerk, point menacingly at his ribbon and inquire: ‘Were you at El Guettar?’
“’No’ the perturbed Clerk would answer.
“’How about Kaserine?’
“’No.’
“’St. Cloud?’
“’No.’
“’Then take off that goddamn ribbon,’ the embittered doughboy would say tearing the decoration from his clerk’s clean khakis and pinning on his own grimy OD shirt.


The misbehavior of the men infuriated Eisenhower, Beetle Smith, and Bradley - all placed the blame on the cavalier attitude of Allen and Roosevelt. An inflammatory remark attributed to Allen was, “Once we’ve licked the Boche, we’ll go back to Oran and beat up every MP in town.” He was quoted “We took Oran once we will take it again.” Whether he actually said these things is unknown.

The book goes on to say “that if it had been up to Eisenhower and Bradley, Allen and Roosevelt would both have been shipped home before Husky[the invasion of Sicily]….but Patton valued Allen’s battlefield swagger and insisted on keeping him at least until the initial phase of the operation is consummated...”

After most of Sicily was secure, Allen and Roosevelt were relieved:

Patton’s message insisted that Terry’s relief would be “without prejudice.” Eisenhower instantly agreed to the stipulation that Allen upon return to the States would receive an equivalent command. In Patton’s diary he wrote, “I got Ike’s permission to relieve both Allen and Roosevelt…on the theory of rotation of command.” Because Eisenhower had not committed himself to similar conditions for R relieved without prejudice Roosevelt, Patton followed up with a telegram, “I specifically said that unless they could both be without prejudice I would no ask for their relief.”

All in all, it was a good read. You get the military history of three generations of Allen’s in the military from chasing down Pancho Villa to WWI and II through Vietnam. Terry Allen developed tactics for night fighting and was skilled at combining infantry with tanks. He was a CO that cared about the welfare of his men.

[William DuFour · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining and engrossing book on leadership and how too provide it and instill loyalty.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terry Allen was to the Army what Chesty Puller was to the Marine Corps. Humble guy who served bravely. It's a shame more Americans know of Patton than Terry Allen. A class guy too.

[Relstuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid biography of one of the leaders that led the men hitting the beach for America's D-Day in Africa, Operation Torch, an amphibious assault landing opening a second front against the Axis powers during WWII.

General Allen (with Teddy Roosevelt Jr, who later earned the Medal of Honor) led the 1st Infantry Division during their combat in Africa through their invasion in Sicily. General Allen was relieved from command and sent back to the states. He eventually returned leading another Infantry division into Germany. This book contains some of his reflections on what good order and discipline is. This is significant in that the appearance that he did not enforce discipline was said to unofficially be a reason for his relief from command.

Quotes from the book that stood out –

On 19 October, the 1st Division climbed onto transports and engaged in a war game that put them ashore on Scottish beaches. On hand to observe the operations was their Supreme Commander, Dwight Eisenhower. In the dark of night, with rain pelting down upon them, the GIs and their officers attempted to demonstrate what they had learned. Companies milled about; columns of soldiers passed one another going in opposite directions. Confusion and disorder reigned. The show received dismal reviews from Eisenhower, who perceived failures at the battalion and company levels. Allen responded with more intensive training exercises, and a generous shuffling and replacement of officers, mostly at company level. Just three weeks remained before Torch would light up and Allen's Big Red One would scramble ashore."

"During this period... ...One of the regiments had a tough canal crossing. The division quartermaster hadn't really done his job right and Allen sent word from his command post that he wanted extra blankets and socks for the regiment. I went to a hospital unit and traded one of our trucks for blankets. Later the quartermaster colonel complained about what I did. I explained, 'You told me to take care of the men.' Allen fired the colonel."

"We got a letter from First Army telling us to turn in the 150 trucks" (issued to help with Operation Red Ball Express to supply Patton). "From my experience in the states, I knew that supplies were supposed to be delivered by the army but rarely got to places where they were needed. That was in the U.S. where we weren't in combat. In Europe we were going to have trucks hit mines, be blown up by shells. Yet, we wouldn't get new ones to replace them and soon we'd run out of trucks. I told the CO of the ordnance company, 'Keith (Smith), I want your men to look over these 150 trucks and pick out the 60 best ones. Turn in the other 90 to Army as directed. Army is so confused they'll never miss them. We go the 60 best trucks and put them in a little pool in our ordnance company. That meant we'd have to find 60 drivers and we only had 150 people in the company. When we went into combat we'd have to be able to move the trucks along with everything else. But the fellows were just tickled to death to have the vehicles and we got the drivers. Sure enough, we went into combat and one of our trucks hit a mine. It was destroyed. We filled out the papers and sent them to Army and asked them to please replace it. To this day [48 years later] we never got the truck. So we just took one of our extra ones and issued it to the infantry. When the war ended, we were the only division not to be missing a single truck. We were very careful; every time we lost a truck, we filled out papers and sent them in. Otherwise, the Army might have gotten nosey and asked how come these people aren't worried about the trucks. We made the requests for replacements but never received a single one. General Allen was a pretty smart cookie. Nobody pulled the wool over his eyes. He knew there was something was fishy about us being the only division on the front that had all of its trucks and the rest of them were crying their eyes out because they didn't have enough. But he never asked any questions."

In his essay on combat leadership, Allen expounded on the issue of why GIs fought. "The average American soldier is a self-thinking individual with basic motives of patriotism and love of country. Once his own unit is committed to battle, his most urgent incentive is the fact that he is fighting for his unit. Therefore, every American combat leader must by training and by his personal example instill the highest degree of combat efficiency and self-confidence into the soldiers of his command so that: HIS UNIT IS WORTH FIGHTING FOR."

Allen defined discipline as "the foundation of teamwork and efficiency in any organization." But he declared it a common misconception to couple discipline "solely with military punishment." Rather it was what the American youth learns... "on school athletic teams, where he must 'play ball' for the good of the team, or turn in his suit."

"Discipline cannot be attained by fear of punishment. It can only be attained by the precept and example of leaders. For that reason any military leader must make sure that his orders and instructions are sound and explicit and they are issued with firmness and impartiality toward all concerned."

[Clarke Wood · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great biography of one of the most distinguished divisional commanders in world war 2. Allen commanded a battalion in World War One and commanded the 1st infantry division in Tunisia and Sicily and the 104th Division in Europe. Allen flunked out of West Point, racking up a pile of demerits, but his leadership in combat was very impressive. He was tactically innovative, aggressive, and his men loved him. He was a very genuine person and was devoted to his soldiers. Many world war 2 books rate American infantry as timid and unaggressive, but the battle reports for the two divisions he led serve as a good counterpoint. He was certainly a flawed man. He drank heavily, was bad with money, was absent from his family most of the time, and did not manage relations with superiors as well as he could have. That being said, he reported to both Bradley and Patton and neither of his superiors comes off too well in the book. While he had a reputation as being indifferent to dress and discipline in his units this really seems wildly overblown.

The book ends sadly. Allen retired after World War 2, and civilian life seemed to diminish his larger than life personality. He had one son, Terry Allen Jr. who followed his father into the military and managed to pass West Point, but barely. He served in Korea and died in Vietnam leading a battalion. It was depressing as the son sounded like a decent man and a good commander in his own right but was sort of destined to go into the military due to his father. He was pretty frustrated in Vietnam, and his marriage blew up spectacularly with his socialite wife running off with a rodeo clown while he was there. He returned home on emergency leave in an attempt to save his marriage and managed to say goodbye to his three girls before returning to die in an ambush. Terry Allen Sr. lived long enough to bury his son.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A interesting read of Major General Terry Allen, if not the best combat general of the second world war then perhaps second to George S. Patton. This story is biographical starting with his early days in Texas and follows him through the early wars including World War I. It gives a family genealogical history and the military tradition from the Mexican American wars through VietNam. A man driven through his care for his men to lead from the front he led the Big Red One through World War II giving his battles, achievements, his protection of his men. Like Lewis B. (Chesty) Puller of the same time period, although Chesty was in the Marine Corps, he never felt you could lead from anywhere except the very front of the battle where you could see and be aware of what was actually happening. His son died a general in VietNam following in the footsteps of the Allen's.

[Steve Dedier · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was one of the better biographies I have read. It references many personal communications and looks at multiple aspects of the Generals character. A great soldier but more complex as a General.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story, but Astor has no style.

[JerryDeanHalleck · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good objective biography of Terry Allen, one of America's best WW II Divisional commanders. If anyone in the MTO was the "GI General" it was Allen, who looked after his men and went easy on the red tape and spit and polish.

The hightpoint is Astor setting the facts straight on Allen's August 1943 relief in Sicily. Seems Omar Bradley had some odd grudge against Allen and Bradley lied about why and how Allen was relieved of 1st Division (Bid Red One). Bradley claimed that he was responsible for Allen's relief and did it because of Allen's poor combat performance.

In fact, it was Patton who relieved Allen, because Patton thought Allen was tired after 8 months of combat. Patton had given Allen a great performance evaluation after Tunisia and demanded the Big Red One for the Sicilian campaign. Patton further praised Allen's combat performance in Sicily, and both Patton and Ike expected Allen to given another Divisional Command in the USA, or promoted to Corps Commander.

Most interesting tidbit: Bradley in Summer 1943 was bypassing Patton and sending letters/messages directly to Ike.

[Jfarley]

My kind of dirtbag. He and Ted Roosevelt turned the 1st Infantry Division into a mob of hooligans, but they certainly could fight. Didn't polish the brass, didn't have the proper background, Bradley and Patton did him in... but he came back.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best combat commanders of all time. A great read.

[Barbara Hudgell]

My dad was one of his Timberwolves, so I heard how great he was. Glad the book supports the stories.