The Starting Line

Introduction

    This past April I successfully defended my thesis to complete the Master of Art in History program at Sam Houston State University. Following my defense my committee members encouraged me to expand and polish up my thesis for publication. I was so excited. Like most people who have written something I spent countless hours agonizing over passages and holes that apparently only I could see in my writing. To hear such a thing this group left me feeling elated and I immediately set my mind to doing just that. Besides, publishing a book is one of my life goals. 

Bearkats!

    In the following days I began regathering all of the primary and secondary sources I had spent three semesters pouring over. I reorganized them into binders and dedicated a new bookshelf to the project. I splurged on new highlighters and tabs. At the urging of my urging of my committee chair I began to map out expanding the scope of my research. I opened back up the digital archives of the Ike Skelton Combined Arms Research Library (CARL) that had provided me with so many high quality primary documents without having to travel. 

    When COVID-19 came to the U.S. and necessitated us teachers to work from home I thought I would have so much time to get work done on the book. Then the reality of how much work building an online course and contacting parents would take and three months went by with my research being neglected. Before I realized it the books and binders had built up a layer of dust and dog hair. 

Boudreaux and Muffin. The sources of all that hair.

    As I have got back around to working on the book I thought blogging my way through it would be a good idea. It will let me share what I am working on at that time, serve as a kind of research diary, possibly help others that are trying to research for their own project, and give me an avenue to vent every now and again. 

The Basis of My Book

    In my thesis, titled Achieving surprise at Anzio and Normandy: The importance of diversion in European amphibious operations 1943-1944, I argued that in terms of the amphibious assault stage Operation Shingle that landed two divisions at Anzio, Italy successfully utilized diversionary tactics to achieve surprise and kept Allied casualties low during the landings. Shingle was supported by a wide reaching bombing campaign, a massive land assault, a smaller amphibious landing, and a naval bombardment of another beach. I am aware that in the days and weeks following the Shingle landings the operation bogged down and absorbed many casualties, but that aspect lay outside the scope of my research. I focused on the landing phase. I have had a fascination with amphibious operations since I served four years as an amphibious assault vehicle crewman in the Marine Corps. 

A much younger me in Fallujah late 2004 or early 2005.

    In contrast Operation Overlord, directed at Normandy, France, failed to utilize any meaningful diversionary operations which led to the high casualty rate. I assert that the reason for this was the shortage of the critical Landing Ship Tank (LST). This shortage was not due to any production backup, but due to a divergence in strategy between the U.S. and British leadership. The U.S. commanders wanted to conduct a cross-channel attack at the earliest possible time to engage the Wehrmacht on the continent and relive pressure off the Soviet Red Army in the East. In the American mind Overlord was to be the beginning of the German's end. The British, wishing to counter post-war Soviet influence in Eastern Europe, wanted to continue the Mediterranean strategy and move into the Balkans. The British saw Overlord as a knockout blow to finish off an already faltering Wehrmacht. Because the U.S.  acquiesced to Shingle only six months before Overlord, they allowed vitals LSTs that were to conduct the diversionary Anvil landings in Southern France to be sucked into maintaining the faltering Anzio beachhead. Without Anvil or an equivalent diversionary operation, Overlord failed to achieve the surprise needed to land with low casualties. 

USS LST-379 unloading tanks of C Company, 191st Tank Battalion across a pontoon causeway near Salerno, Italy, 9 September 1943.
US Army Signal Corps, photos III-SC 181221, Box 181M and III-SC 181222, Box 181, now in the collections of the US National Archives

Expanding My Research

    Based on the suggestion of my thesis advisor I decided to push my research back to the entry of the U.S. into the Second World War. That meant exploring the Arcadia and Post-Arcadia Conferences that saw the Anglo-American Allies map out their early strategy and decide of to approach the European theater after the agreement on a "Germany First" policy. This is where I am currently at in my research. As I write this a copy of Winston Churchill's The Hinge of Fate sits to my left full of tabs with two highlighters sitting on it. 

I'm telling the truth. 

    That also meant analyzing the landings in North Africa (Torch), Sicily (Husky), and Salerno (Avalanche). Luckily for me I have two excellent resources to obtain some primary documents from nearby. The Battleship Texas (BB-35) sits as a museum ship not too far from my home. I also occasionally volunteer as a curator onboard the old war wagon. For my thesis I was able to find documents detailing The Texas' service during Overlord, she also sailed of the shores of North Africa during the Torch landings. 

The Mighty T, a fun place to do some work

    The second source I can utilize is located about three hours drive from my home at the Texas Military Forces (TMF) Museum. The 36th Infantry Division, which I served in during my nine years in the Texas Army National Guard, had landed at Salerno as some of the first Americans to land on mainland Europe during the war. The museum happens to provide some of the after action reports of the  division's subordinate units through a digital archive. Once again I am saved on fuel and lodging costs thanks to the internet and the digitization of historical documents. In fact, the convenience of online archives influenced me so much it prompted me to begin another journey.

A slightly older, wiser-ish me training in Camp Swift outside Bastrop, TX

Working on a MLS 

    Obtaining documents through the digital archives of CARL, TMF, and the Eisenhower Library convinced me that online documents were the next step in academic research. Based on that I applied to the Master of Library Science program at the University of North Texas with a focus on Digital Imaging and Archival Studies. So, as I work on writing this book I will also be taking online classes. Sometimes my work on that will find its way into my blog. Its exciting, at least to me, and relevant to anyone looking to conduct academic research. 

The Mean Green

    This summer semester I am taking Information and Knowledge Professions, Information Access and Knowledge Inquiry, and Archives and Manuscripts. Its a full load and a lot of work, but a balancing act is what all grad students learn to do. Sometimes my research will be sacrificed to keeping up with class work, but I will get there. 

Life in General

    My wife Tricia and I, both high school teachers, are preparing for the next school year. She is starting AP Art and Design training while we are both preparing for the possibility of teaching online this year. Luckily my campus went one-to-one and provided us with the learning management system (LMS) Canvas. I have enjoyed using it because it really does make building course content very simple. She has been working with with Google classrooms. 

Going native in Tangier, Morocco 

    We are also in the process of adopting a 12 year old girl. She has been with us for eleven months now. Just this month we have moved from being her fosters parents to being in the adoption process. It might be three months, it might be another year, but we will be officially a family one day. 

    Thank you to my family who puts up with me constantly having my nose in some kind of document. Another thank you to my thesis committee; Dr. Jadwiga Biskupska, Dr. Benjamin Park, and Dr. Jeff Littlejohn for setting me on this path.  

     Finally, I hope anyone reading this enjoyed it and looks forward to my future posts. Please, if you liked it follow me or if you know anyone who might send them this way. 

P.R. Mack Jr.